Sermon – Luke 1:47-55 – Rejoicing the Coming of Jesus

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard

Sermon – Luke 1:47-55 – Rejoicing the Coming of Jesus

Pitts Creek and Beaver Dam Churches

Fourth Sunday of Advent

December 18, 2011

It's almost here. Christmas is upon us: the last minute gifts, cleaning the house for guests, changing the oil in your car before the long trip. Either you are almost ready for the holiday or maybe you haven't prepared at all. For Christians, Christmas requires preparation and that's why we have Advent, to prepare ourselves for the coming of Jesus Christ. But sometimes there is no way to prepare. Suddenly things change and the world around us seems to have turned upside down. Today we will be looking at how Christmas looks to someone whose world is suddenly turned upside down. But first, let's pray.

“Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen.” (John Calvin)

A couple of weeks ago I was at the Atria nursing home in Salisbury. I was conducting a worship service and administering the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. I do this on the first Sunday of every month at the request of the Session of Pitts Creek because two of our long time members now live there. We hold the worship service in the living room of Atria and several other people also attend. Two weeks ago after worship I noticed that one participant was not moving his wheelchair and was blocking others from going back to their rooms. One woman told me that that is the way it is for him now. He often is seen in his wheelchair unable to move waiting for someone to help. I offered to push him to his room. When we got there he tried to get out of his wheelchair and into a recliner, but he couldn't. He asked me to pull on his belt using my arm to replace the strength he longer had in his legs and helped him into his chair. After he got settled, we talked for a few moments and he told me that his disease had taken from him all the hopes and dreams he had for his retirement. And it occurred to me that for this man the world had turned upside down.

The world seems to turn upside down whenever, through no fault of our own, all of our hopes and dreams are suddenly gone. I don't have to tell you about this. I supposed that all of you have experienced this from time to time. As your pastor I hear about these things.

Last week the Marva theater put on a play about the world being upside down at Christmas. The main character, George Baily, had numerous hopes and dreams of a wonderful life. He wanted to travel the world and experience different cultures. But over and over again these hopes and dreams were dashed by things out of his control. George Bailey lived in an upside down world. The point of Its a Wonderful Life, is that an upside down world can be put right side up at Christmas, with the help of an angel from God.

We all try to put our upside down worlds right side up at Christmas. We do this by remembering a time when the world seemed to be right side up by getting those old Christmas tree ornaments out of the attic, baking cookies and sweet potato pies, sending cards to friends we haven't heard from all year, and visiting family. These are all efforts on our part to put an upside down world right side up. But we quickly find out that this is all an illusion. As soon as the tree ornaments are back in the attic and all the cookies are eaten we realize the world is still upside down. The problem is that there is really nothing we can do to turn an upside down world right side up, unless, as George Bailey found, God intervenes.

And this brings us to the story of a young Hebrew girl living in the Roman province of Galilee sometime around 4BC. This young teenager, suddenly and through no fault of her own, found herself pregnant. Her world suddenly turned upside down. Imagine for a moment the conversation she might have with her parents. “Mom and Dad, I'm pregnant, but I've never been with a man. An angel told me God did this.” I have two teenage girls, exchange students, living in my house and I'm not sure how I would react if either of them said something like this. How would you react? Mary probably imagined this conversation with her parents, and according to Luke she didn't go to her parents with this news, at least not right away. Rather Mary first went to see Elizabeth, her trusted older cousin to talk with her about the world turning upside down.

When Mary arrived at Elizabeth's home she had to be amazed because Elizabeth's world had been turn upside down too. Elizabeth, who had prayed for a child for years and had just about given up getting pregnant when suddenly she was expecting a child. She was overjoyed. God had turned her upside down world right side up and Elizabeth realized that this was a great blessing. The truth young Mary learned that day is that sometimes when God acts in the world it seems like the world is turned upside down. Being an unmarried teenage pregnant girl would certain seem to be upside down. But in reality the world was already upside down and all God did was to put it right side up again. And that was precisely what God was doing with Mary. What Mary saw as being upside down was really right side up with a savior coming into the world.

This meeting with Elizabeth caused Mary to rejoice because God had blessed her richly by turning her world right side up, and she burst into song. Mary knew that God had chosen her to carry a savior who would turn the world right side up again. The song she sang is now known as the Magnificat. Listen to how different is sounds from the highly commercialized messages we usually hear at Christmas.

LUKE 1:47-55 46bMy soul magnifies the Lord, 47and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; 49for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. 50His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. 51He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. 52He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; 53he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. 54He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, 55according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”

When God sets the world right side up those who are oppressed by tyrannical governments and living in refugee camps are freed and allowed to go home. Those who live under crushing poverty are made rich. Those who experience hunger and lack of drinkable water will experience abundance. And those who had already been richly blessed by God will remember what God said to Abraham:

Genesis 12:1-3 ...‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’

I recently saw how God is putting the world right side up by blessing the poorest among us at the Samaritan Shelter. Last year they built a new wing for homeless women and families. Just recently the kitchen in the old section was remodeled. The shelter is becoming a beautiful place because of all the gifts it received from people like you. At the shelter people who have no place to sleep can find a bed, people who are hungry can find a meal, and people find fulfillment serving the needs of others. In this place God has turned an upside down world right side up.

So this Christmas remember that if your world is upside down you can't change it by putting some old ornaments on the tree. You can't make the world turn right side up by baking cookies and a sweet potato pie. But you will see God putting the world right side up if, like Mary you have a savior growing inside of you. So my prayer for you this Christmas is that Christ will be in you, that you will experience God's love for you with great joy as God turns your world right side up.

Lord Jesus we come to us who live in a world that is upside down. You already know what we have been through and how our hopes and dreams have been dashed. Put a savior in our hearts to rekindle our hopes and dreams and help us to be a part of the right side up world you are creating. We name the savior who is coming to set the world right side up. It is Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.