An Advent Sermon

Sermon on the Angelic Salutation

All Saints’ Episcopal Church

Morristown, TN

21 December 2008

Henry G. Selby

“May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be always acceptable in thy sight, O Lord my strength and my redeemer.” AMEN

Hineni: Here am I Lord.

Hineni: It’s what Abraham says to God when he is called upon in Genesis to sacrifice his son.

Hineni: It’s what the prophet Isaiah says to Yahweh when God calls him in the sixth chapter of that prophetic book.

“Here I am Lord.” It’s not what Adam says after eating the forbidden fruit. Adam hides.

And then this miracle:

Ave Maria, gratia plena, dominus tecum. Benedicta tu in mulieribus, et benedictus fructus ventris tuis Jesu.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

Gabriel, an archangel of importance to Muslims, (Djabreel), Jews (Gavri’el) and east Tennessee Christians Gay-breel). Often seen in our tradition as the archangel of mercy (contrasted with St. Michael, the archangel of Justice).

Gabriel, whom Isalm believes revealed the Qu’ran to Muhammed.

Gabriel, who first appears in the Hebrew Bible in the book of Daniel.

Gabriel appears to the very young girl, Mary, and greets her. She is perplexed. What kind of greeting is this? It’s not shalom aleichim: peace be with you. That would have been the usual greeting.

No, it’s “Hail.” It’s “O favored one.” It’s “you are blessed and so is the baby you will conceive.”

This to a mere child. Probably between 14 and 17 years old.

Yikes. No wonder the Gospel writer says that she was perplexed. What would you feel? What would you say? That’s my first question for you this morning.

Here’s an unmarried girl, still a virgin according to the writer of this Gospel whom we traditionally view as a physician, who is told that she is to bear a holy child, the son of the Most High. What does Mary say? She says, How is this possible?”

And Gabriel answers, citing Mary’s aged cousin Elizabeth’s pregnancy as proof: “With God, nothing is impossible.”

Now my second question to you this morning is just this: Do you believe that with God nothing is impossible?

Today is the 4^th Sunday of Advent. We near the end of this lovely reflective season and we stand at the door of Christmas. In four more days it will be here. And I’m excited! I’m a little worn out from the secular side of things: shopping and whatnot, but not too much. I just hope I’m not too worn out to see the Christmas miracle: to look into the manger and see the baby Jesus, my God made flesh; incarnate.

My little girls are home, but they’re all grown up now. Lillian and Caroline are with us this morning. Hank is now 10 and in 5^th grade.

I will not see quite the same kind of miraculous countenance in them as they come downstairs on Christmas morning as in years past. But all the same there will be holy moments. The miracle still occurs. It is maturing within them.

Let me show you a present. A “Little Drummer Boy” sort of a thing. This rocking cradle is poorly made. There’s a few nails not hammered true; they’re bent over. The yellow paint on the angel has run down in visible drips, as has the pink paint on much of the rest of this thing. The cuts were made with a hand held coping saw, and the cradle most assuredly does not rock gently. It is, as I’ve said, poorly made.

But it’s the best that I could do at age 9 when I made it for my six year old sister’s Christmas present. She celebrated her 51^st birthday yesterday.

Beka never crawled normally as a baby. Her speech was, as we say, “delayed”. She was about 14 months old, I was pushing her in her stroller, when she had her first grand mal seizure. The first of many. The greatest medical minds at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, the same great doctors who had trained my father, told our parents that she would never walk or talk; that she would be little more than a vegetable. That it would be best to put her in an institution and, I quote “to forget you had ever had her.” My mother and father did not follow the doctors’ orders.

And in June of 1975 my sister walked across the stage of Wando High School in Charleston, South Carolina, with her certificate of completion. License in hand, she also drove us home from that ceremony. My parents believe in miracles. So do I.

Beka’s speech is difficult to understand. She is ataxic, meaning that she walks funny. Her handwriting requires use of the Rosetta Stone.

In addition to a smorgasbord of neurological problems, she is severely obsessive compulsive. Functioning as a family was, how can I put this? Challenging.

She is also the most highly decorated volunteer at the VA hospital in Charleston. She also holds a part time job for which she is paid.

My sister is a miracle. My parents taught me to believe in word, but mostly in deed, in miracles. And like my children’s, my faith is maturing within me.

My sister is a miracle. But so are you. And so am I. And the miraculous is all around us if only we have eyes to see. Can I argue this? Yes. Because like young Mary, you have found favor in God’s eyes. Because God loves you so much that he became flesh and blood and then offered himself for you . . . and for me.

Is my heart ready to receive Him? Is yours? That’s why we’re here today. What were the words of our collect? “Purify our conscience, Almighty God, by your daily visitation, that your Son Jesus Christ, at his coming, may find in us a mansion prepared for himself.” What was the lesson from second Samuel? That the Lord will make YOU a house? Or the psalm proclaiming the miraculous greatness of the Lord?” Or the Epistle saying that, yes, we gentiles are inheritors of the Kingdom. The mystery is revealed! It’s a miracle!

Has Advent made you ready for the Christmas miracle? That’s my third and final question for you today. It’s not too late. We can get ready today. We must get ready today. The time is at hand. We stand at the door to Christmas.

Mary believes the archangel Gabriel when the angel says, “with God nothing is impossible.” And it is at that moment, unlike Adam who runs to hide, that Mary says, “hineni”. Here am I, Lord. Let it be according to your Word.

Our little people, the 2 year olds, 3’s and 4’s at our school were asked what they would give the baby Jesus as a birthday present. Among the variety of gifts they had in mind were “a John Deere tractor, one of my dolls, a pacifier, a talking Lightning McQueen, a birthday cake, a rose and a little heart, a backhoe, a hug, and . . . are you ready for this? A sky full of stars. These gifts are so beautiful that I’ve posted them on the bulletin board in the parish hall.

Our children are ready for the Christmas miracle. They’ve got the right idea. Nothing sums it up better than what little Zoe Kraus would give Jesus though. Zoe said, “I would give him myself”.

And today we have the young mother Mary, saying Here Am I. That’s the lesson for us today. That’s the model. That’s what we need to see the miracles all around us.

The Adam in us wants to hide, but Advent says “come out.” My sister was a hopeless case, but Advent says “hope!” My little cradle is poorly made, but Advent says “prepare!” The scientist in me says “how is this possible?” but Advent says “With God, nothing is impossible.” The prophet says that the Lord needs a home. Advent says, “in our hearts, Lord. In our hearts.”

Come to Bethlehem. I’ll meet you at the manger.

Hineni. Here am I lord. Let it be according to thy word.

And now unto God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, be ascribed as is most justly due, all might majesty, power, dominion, and glory, both now and evermore. AMEN