Sermon, December 23, 2018

Micah 5:2-5 & Luke 1:46-55 “A Song of Faith”

Rev. Dr. Brian Jones

One of the inevitable things about Christmas is the memories it invokes. Memories of family, of gifts. The sights and smells of the season as people make Christmas cookies or other baked goods. And perhaps, more than any other season, the sounds. The sounds of Christmas music. I don’t know if any other season of the Christian year has as many favorite hymns and songs as Christmas does. And with them, the anticipation of singing them. Let’s be honest, Christmas music is different. We all have our favorite Christmas songs. We have our favorite Christmas hymns. And we want to sing them. And that’s hard if you are the person who picks out the hymns for each Sunday. It’s hard, because if you want to be liturgically correct, you don’t sing Christmas Carols during advent. You sing Advent songs. But if you do that, you run the risk of not getting to someone’s favorite Christmas Carol. We only have a finite number of spots for songs. Which makes it difficult to add a new song. because that means you have to, potentially, remove an old favorite. And I’ll guarantee you’ll miss someone's favorite. Try as you might, you’ll miss someone’s all- time favorite hymn, and they’ll let you know about it. Why didn’t we sing such and such this year? I don’t know of a season that invokes joy in music more than Christmas, and not just with our sacred hymns. We have secular Christmas songs, as well. By the way, I don’t have a problem with secular Christmas music as long as it’s not blasphemous or profane. Here’s my theory. Music is a gift from God who created it. So anytime you engage in one of His gifts, it, potentially, brings us closer to Him. It has to be appropriate. Like all of His gifts. A good meal is a blessing from God, gluttony is not. So, I have no problem with hearing White Christmas or the Christmas Song, Grandma Got Run Over… well, Ok, that’s probably pushing it a little bit, and I’m sorry you have that song stuck in your head now. Although, since God created laughter, it’s not so bad, either. So what is your favorite Christmas song you must sing. Oh, maybe it’s Silent Night and the quiet peace it invokes. Or the glory of Joy to The World. We always went to the 11:00 candlelight service when I was a kid. And singing Joy to the World at Midnight because it was Christmas! A great memory. So what is the Christmas song you find yourselves singing over and over? For me, there is only one. I’m a United Methodist through and through, and a Wesleyan to my core. So for me, it has to be “Hark, The Herald Angels Sing”. Great song, wonderful tune. And thick and rich in theology. Peace on earth, and mercy mild, God and sinner reconciled. Veiled in flesh, the Godhead see. And what about this, Mild He lays His glory by, born that we no more may die, born to raise us from the earth, born to give us second birth. That’s some good stuff right there. But we all have our favorites. But there is another song that we ought to sing. One that perhaps more than giving us good feelings or a catchy tune, might actually change the way we live, a song that perhaps might become the theme song for our lives, not just at Christmas, but every day. It’s the song of Mary we read this morning. The Magnificat. Mary is told that she will bear the Son of God, a Virgin birth, the Messiah, who will save the world and redeem all of creation. And we immediate see why God picks Mary. Because she doesn’t start worrying and fretting. Unlike the prophets from Moses and on, she doesn’t argue that God must have gotten it wrong, and surely He meant to give this “blessing’ to someone else. No, Mary’s first response is to burst out in song, giving God praise for allowing her to be a part of the redemption of the world. I think there is something holy and powerful about that moment that we often miss. The Bible clearly says each of us has a purpose. God has a plan and a purpose for all of us, And at some point, God is going to confront you with His plan for you. And you have two choices. You can complain, and you can question God, wondering what He is thinking. Surely somebody else ought to do this. Or you can sing with Mary. Giving God praise that He has a plan and a purpose for your life. Now, it could be being a part of a miracle as it is for Mary. But that call could be to reconcile with someone you’ve resented for years. Or inviting a neighbor who's lonely to be a part of your family for Christmas. Whatever it is, do you meet God’s call on your life with complaints, or do you lift up your voice giving God praise that He has a plan for your life, a purpose for you. Let me say, clearly, God needs more singers like Mary in the world. People who joyfully follow God’s calling on their lives. Mary’s song reveals to us that not every calling of God on our lives is easy. Sometimes being a disciple can be difficult. People around you are not going to understand. It’s amazing how often I’ll talk to someone who honestly feels they are doing what God wants them to do, and when they meet resistance, they assume it must not be from God. After all, if God wants me to do this, it should work out. I shouldn’t fail, otherwise, why would God have me do it. But how sad and ultimately self-defeating it is to base our ability to follow God solely on their success and failure. After all, who are you to decide if something is failure or not? Who are we to only accept the calling of God when it seems easy or it makes sense? The Christian who insists on guarantees, who will only follow if they are successful, misses out on the greatest adventures God has for them. A month or so ago, a young man gave his life trying to reach a remote people on an island off the coast of India. He was warned not to go. And I am the first to admit, he went about it all in the wrong way. The moment he set foot on the beach, he was killed by a volley of arrows. I heard some secular radio hosts sort of mocking him, saying well it must not have been God who called him to do that or he wouldn’t have died. And I thought, but does God only call us to human measures of success? Sometimes God calls us to what seems to be failure in the eyes of humanity, sometimes he calls us to take the difficult road. And we can either not go, complain, wait for a guarantee, or we can be like Mary and begin to sing. Following God, gracefully obedient to Him, singing all the way. I don’t want to miss the adventures God has for me. I want to be like Mary, I want follow, not dragging my feet, but singing a song of joy. What about you? How do you want to live? Mary sang a song of faith. Take some time this afternoon and reread this passage of Scripture. Notice how Mary sings of God’s blessings in the past tense. It’s known as a prolepsis. A prolepsis is when we speak about a future event as if it’s already happened. It’s a figure of speech that is the ultimate act of faith. Mary is so sure that God will bring about what He says He will do, that she treats it as a foregone conclusion. It’s an assumption that if God said it, He will be faithful, so why even question Him or doubt. For us, it would be analogues to how many of us pray. At the end of the day, we look back and pray, thanking God of all He has done for us that day. But what if you prayed that way at the beginning of the day? What if as you prayed to God your prayers were in the past tense because you were so sure that God would not fail you, that He would bless you? That’s another level of faith, isn’t it? How might the song of your life change if you began to sing it the way Mary does? Singing with faith knowing that God will answer, singing even when the road is hard and others don’t understand? Singing and gladly following? That is a song we all need to hear, not just at Christmas, but every day. Amen.