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This morning the anticipation is at a fever pitch as we gather to celebrate the fourth Sunday of Advent. We have been waiting and preparing for four
long weeks. Mary is exceedingly great with child. She is about to birth Jesus into the world. And she is really ready. The labor pains are about
to begin.
We are really ready. As soon as the service is completed this morning, our Christmas greeners will spring into action. And our children’s pageant
costumes are waiting in the wings. When we return for the 4:00 service, the nave will be beautifully adorned with pink angel wreaths, magnolia, holly,
and all manner of Christmas loveliness. And, “all the company of heaven” will be at the manger- angels, and sheep, shepherds and wise men, and probably
a few dinosaurs and skunks (the poets in our midst.) They’ll all be here, gathered around Jesus, Mary and Joseph to celebrate the baby’s birth.
Baby Jesus is almost here, but not quite yet. We get to live in Advent anticipation a few more hours. We can’t quite see him, and yet he is in full
view. All we have to do is to look at Mary. She is, quite literally, “magnifying the Lord”. She sings to us today through the words of the “Magnificat.”
The Magnifcat is one of the most beautiful poems in Scripture. It has probably been said and sung more than any other “poemsong” in history. Mary says,
“My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God
my Savior,”
for he has looked with favor on the
lowliness of his servant.
Surely from now on all generations
will call me blessed;
for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.” (Luke: 1: 46-49, New Revised Standard Version)
We can almost see and hear Mary, “great with child,” singing forth these words as she prepares to bear Jesus. He’s not here yet, but we can hear him
through Mary’s timeless lyrics. Her song is our song.
We have our very own Mary in our family this year. My stepdaughter, Amy, is eight months pregnant. She and her family arrived at our house for Christmas
a few days ago. My little granddaughter, Taylor, is five. She is preparing to be a big sister. The two of us have been gathering around her mommy’s
tummy to marvel at the new baby we are waiting to meet, the one who will make her a big sister, and the one who will make me a grandmother again.
Yesterday, Taylor was talking to me while I was getting dressed. She was holding her book up, rendering her own creative version of Jesus’ birth. After
a while her story turned into a song. Like the gospel writer, Luke, she began singing the story through a series of canticles. Each of her canticles was
different in tone and emphasis. The first one was very lively and upbeat. It went something like,
“Let’s do the Jesus dance,
let’s do the Jesus dance.
Let’s clap and shout and really sing,
let’s do the Jesus dance.”
Then she shifted into a song that was more meditative and slower in tempo.
“Mary has a baby in there.
God, help her –
she feels so sick sometimes.
Her baby is God.
Her baby is God.
Mary has a baby in there.”
This got my attention. I stopped brushing my teeth. (Imagine my delight- another theologian in the family!) Taylor was interweaving her story with
Mary’s story, relating what she sees happening to her mom and thinking about how her life is going to change. (She had told me earlier in our visit
that her mom “feels bad sometimes and has to lie down to feel better”.) After a while, she shifted back into “let’s do the Jesus dance”, and began
spiraling around the bathroom again.
Taylor’s articulation of Christian vocation is the best I have ever heard. Bringing God to the world is a joyous thing, but its hard work and it
doesn’t always feel good. Where we are this morning, that in-between place of “almost and not yet,” is the Christian journey in a nutshell.
Bringing God into the world is hard work. It makes us feel tired and achy sometimes, but it is cause for great celebration. We groan with labor pains
when we cooperate with God to bring new life into the world, then we rest, and then we “do the Jesus dance” again. Amen.
