“From Generation to Generation…We Tell the Story” a Christmas Eve sermon on Luke 2:1-20

Luke 2:1-20
“From Generation to Generation…We Tell the Story”
Preached Saturday, December 24, 2022/Xmas Eve

For many people, a central way to observe Christmas - right up there with exchanging gifts, family get-togethers, and candlelight Christmas Eve services…is watching and re-watching our favorite Christmas movies.

What are people’s favorite Christmas movies - one you have to watch every year? Go ahead, shout them out, share with each other. What are your favorite Christmas movies? 

Let congregation answer.

So now we ask - why are these our favorite Christmas movies? I’d venture to guess it’s the way they make us feel. The nostalgia, the warmth, the feel-goodness. And I’d also venture to guess that it’s the message they share with us: a message often of goodwill to our fellow humans, of generosity, of righting wrongs, of hope for a better future.

My favorite Christmas movie is A Christmas Carol …actually, it’s A Muppet Christmas Carol which celebrated its 30 year anniversary this Christmas season. Along with the classic Dickens Christmas ghost story we get shenanigans from Gonzo and Rizzo. But really, any re-telling of A Christmas Carol is going to be near the top of my Christmas story favorites.

Just this week I watched Spirited starring Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds which follows Scrooge, now dead and having filled the role of Christmas Present trying to redeem a media specialist who excels at causing outrage and division for the gain of his clients - a man who has been deemed “Unredeemable.”

We might think - another retelling of A Christmas Carol? Does this story really need to be told again?  When you Google “How many adaptations of ‘A Christmas Carol’ are there?” The wikipedia page lists 33 film adaptations of the movie! And that’s not even counting the other mediums of theater and tv. Why do we tell this story over and over? And I think it’s beyond that Hollywood is out of original ideas. We tell the story over and over because we need to hear that every single one of us is redeemable. We need to hear that no one is beyond change. We need to hear that deep down at our core, we are all good

And that’s a message that is worth telling and re-telling, through books and movies and musicals and with muppets and in every way we can.

Which brings me to another Christmas story that is worth telling and re-telling, over and over again, in every way we can, and at all the times we can - and a hint, we’ve already told it once tonight: the story of Christ’s birth.

This is the story that drew each of us here tonight. This is a story that we continue to come back to. That holds a certain place in our hearts and our lives. And just like in A Christmas Carol, the story we tell over and over isn’t just about the facts. It isn’t just that it took place in Bethlehem. It isn’t just that the child was born of Mary and that they named him Jesus. It isn’t just that baby Jesus was laid in a manger. It isn’t even that angels proclaimed his birth. It isn’t the story itself, if you will, but it’s the power behind the story, the way it makes us feel, the message it gives us.

When we hear the Christmas story…I would venture to say that it gives us hope. It gives us a sense of peace - perhaps it even empowers us to work toward peace. It gives us contagious joy. It fills us with love.

Why do we get chills every year when we light the candles and sing Silent Night? Why do I fight back tears every year when I look out at all of you, holding little lights in the darkness, singing the story we know so well.

Why has this story, THE Christmas story, been told over and over again for the over 80 generations since Christ’s birth?

Each and every generation, no matter what they are living through, no matter what war, what trial, what recession, what disaster… no matter what answers they are seeking…when we turn to this timeless story, we find a story that we need to hear.

A story of hope, peace, joy, and love.
A story of God-with-us.
A story of God loves you.
A story of God who so loved the world that God came among us.
A story of God who changes the world…
Changes the world through a baby,
Through miracles,
Through wonder,
Through triumph in the midst of trauma.

This is the Christmas Story. Behind the details of Christ’s birth, behind the narrative, behind whatever way we tell it - whether it’s from reading the Scripture, the stories we tell our children and grandchildren, or through singing about it in Christmas carols - beyond the story is a message we all need to hear:

That God loves you and God loves me and God loves us all so much that God came to earth in the form of a babe, to live and love as one of us, among us, to share God’s radical message of hope, and peace, and joy, and love with all world - a message we all long to hear.

So this Christmas, tell the story.
Pass it on through the generations.
And in the telling and hearing of the Christmas story, may your heart hear the message behind the story: That God is With Us and God loves you.

Merry Christmas! Amen.

“From Generation to Generation…We See God in Each Other” a sermon on Luke 1:39-58

Luke 1:39-58
“From Generation to Generation…We See God in Each Other”
Preached Sunday, December 18, 2022

As you know, we are hoping, praying, and waiting for a Ukrainian refugee family to be able to move into the duplex that we have prepared for them in Amherst.
In the face of what should be unthinkable war and violence, I know that we are eager to do *something* in the face of it all. Welcoming a family, helping them become resettled, and meeting their needs for safety, food, and shelter in the midst of this upheaval is something we can do.

Dr. Christine J. Hong writes this, reflecting on her parents’ immigration experience:

“My parents are Korean immigrants. My mother used to say that back in the days of their immigration, whoever met you at the airport decided your destiny. In other words, whoever greets you at the threshold as you become a new immigrant determines the direction your life moves. I remember her words and reflect on them whenever I reach significant impasses in my life—a new job, a move, when I became a parent for the first time. Each significant milestone feels like a threshold. When I prepare to cross those thresholds, I look for the people and communities waiting on the other side, people and communities to anchor me and hold me in the nebulous spaces of change, uncertainty, and fear.”

For this Ukrainian family, we at Grace are going to be those people that literally meet them at the airport, at this huge threshold in their lives. As they cross from one stage of their life to another - we will strive to be those people and that community on the other side to anchor them and hold them in “the nebulous space of change, uncertainty, and fear.”

Many of us can likely relate - maybe not with the enormity of what it is to be an immigrant and a refugee - but we can relate to threshold moments in our lives. I’d invite each of us to reflect back on those times and the people who met us at those thresholds - and how they changed our lives.

Indulge me, for a moment, to reflect back over my life and maybe it will also stir up memories and people in your minds.

Starting college is definitely a threshold moment for many. I remember the uncertainty of the time - and the feeling that my life was spread out before me and not 100 percent sure where it would go. And it was in those first days of college that I met Olivia and Rachel. *Picture* We have a dozen years of friendship between us now and I’m certain we will have many more. For those 4 years in school we were each others’ anchors, we grew a lot together, helped each other through hard times, helped each other hold fast to our faith…we were friends - and still are.

And then there was Divinity School. It was in my first couple months of marriage. First couple months truly “on my own” as an adult. And in a different state and different city. And then I met Autumn and Hayley. *Picture* And we gravitated toward each other, saw each other through uncertainty, hard times, and previously unsurmounted challenges. Div school is three years of trial by fire…or really, by a mountain of theology books and papers to write - and the three of us challenged each other and grounded each other. They expanded my mind more than any other two people in my life have.

And I can think of other threshold moments, of moving to Vermilion and the church members - you all - who met me here. Literally the ones who helped us unpack the U-Haul and the other ways you met us. The conference colleagues who welcomed me with open arms - even though I was afraid that coming from an out of state Div school, I’d be an outsider - and they are now my daily support as I pastor.

What threshold moments are you thinking about now? Who are the people that are on your hearts? Let’s take a moment and just shout them out to share with one another.

Let congregation answer.

Let’s now ground this concept in our Scripture from today and see how God is active in these threshold moments.

Hong writes this on our Scripture passage from today:

“Elizabeth greets Mary on the threshold, not only of her door but the threshold of something new in Mary’s life and for the world. Mary is met by her cousin who greets her with welcome, anticipation, and a powerful blessing. So rich was the blessing that the baby in Elizabeth’s womb leapt up and greeted Mary and the baby in Mary’s womb. Any fear Mary had was met with the contagious courage of Elizabeth, courage enough for them both. They were one another’s spiritual midwives—birthing together transformation, grounded in one another’s courage and steadfastness. They wondered together in liminal space, on the threshold of a new world. And through their spiritual and relational partnership, Mary and Elizabeth framed the path of partnership for their children too.”

Elizabeth and Mary meet at a threshold - the literal threshold of the door of Elizabeth’s house; the threshold of both of them being expectant mothers - and not only expectant mothers but expecting by Divine intervention; the threshold of not only their lives never being the same…but the the threshold of the world never being the same because of the babies in their wombs. And, Jesus and John, the children of their wombs, would meet each other in threshold moments as well. When Jesus came to the Jordan to be baptized, it was a threshold moment. The first step in Jesus’s public ministry. John met Jesus in the Jordan, at that threshold moment, and they shaped each other as they entered a new stage of life - and the world. Mary and Elizabeth were acutely aware, as expecting mothers usually are, that they were about to enter a new stage of life where there was no going back. And they also knew, through the circumstances of their conceptions, that the whole world was about to cross a threshold where there was no going back. It’s this realization of the Divine presence in each other that causes the child within Elizabeth’s womb to leap for joy. And that causes Mary to sing praises to God in a song that envisions this new world order her son would usher in.

And in meeting each other in that threshold - Mary and Elizabeth saw God in each other. They were God for each other - God in the joy of embracing each other, God in the love they shared together, God the great midwife, ushering them through the threshold.

And when we look back at those threshold moments and the people we think of there - we can see God in the people who met us. In Rachel and Olivia, in Hayley and Autumn, in the people of Grace, in my colleagues; in those who welcomed the Hong family in the airport; and we hope God will be reflected in us as we welcome this Ukrainian family. Meeting someone with love and walking with them in love through a transition in their life: this is an act of being the God of Love for someone else.

As we draw nearer to Christmas, I’d like you to think of thresholds that you can meet others with love at. Perhaps they are literal doors - like the doors of our church and the doors of your home as you invite people in to celebrate Christmas together. And perhaps they are metaphorical thresholds in the lives of those around us where you can greet someone with love as they enter a new chapter of their lives, where you can show them the love of God. These may be thresholds of parenthood, of retirement, of empty nesting, or grief and loss, of becoming sober, of coming out, of moving, or graduation, or, or, or… There are so many places in people’s lives where we can meet them in love.

AND - be prepared for mutuality. We might think that we are being God to someone, showing them the love of God, walking with them into a new part of their lives - and lo and behold, we find that we have been changed too. That in thinking we are going to usher someone through a doorway with love - we have also walked through that doorway, crossed a threshold, and our lives will never be the same again either. That in thinking we were going to show someone the love of God - they have shown the love of God to us.

Mary and Elizabeth saw God in each other.
The friends and communities we have met along the way - we have been God to each other and shared love with each other.
When we meet our Ukrainian family at this threshold - we need to know that it’s not just them who will be changed and shaped by our relationship - we will be changed too.
For this is how God works in this world - through the love we share with each other, through opening our eyes so that we can see God in each other, through changing and shaping us through the love we share with each other.

Let us view this Christmas as a threshold in which we will greet each other with Love and be open to ways we will be God to one another, changing our lives and changing the world.

May it be so. Amen.

Revised Wesleyan Covenant Renewal Service Hymn sing with Baptism and Holy Communion

Welcome & Announcements

Call to Worship (Adapted from David Tripp, England, 20th Century, United Methodist Book of Worship)

L: As we begin this time of renewing our covenant before God, let us prepare ourselves for worship with prayer.
P: O God, we are yours! We are your people. We are your children.
L: We come together to recognize you as Lord of our lives and to thank you for your Grace.
P: And we come today to recommit ourselves to our relationship with you.
L: Search us and know us.
P: Remove anything that holds us back from you.
L: May your Spirit be with us now, speak your Word to our very souls.
P: And have mercy on us, today and always.
All: We pray in the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Intro to a Wesleyan Covenant Renewal Service

Today we will share in a Covenant Renewal Service together. While this type of service predates John Wesley and Methodism as we know it, it was implemented by the Wesleys as an integral part of Methodist Societies. It is a service that has traditionally been held on New Year’s Eve or Day. When held on New Year’s Eve, it will often go by the name Watch Night Service. While a Covenant Renewal Service is apt at any time in the life of a congregation, the start of the new year is a natural time to hold it. At the beginning of a new year, we often take time to take stock of our lives, evaluate what is important, and re-commit ourselves to those things. As Christians we recognize that there is nothing more important than our relationship, or covenant, with God.

Covenant is not a term we use very often in our modern society. In the simplest terms, it means agreement. The covenant through most of the Hebrew Bible is this, from Exodus 6:7: “I will take you as my people, and I will be your God.” This covenant still holds true. With the coming of Jesus, Christians add in the covenant made by his cross and resurrection, From Romans 8: “For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs: heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if we in fact suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.” In both of these senses, our covenant with God can be used as a synonym for our relationship with God.

A Covenant Renewal Service seeks to remind us of the importance of covenant with God, of mutual relationship, and we therefore promise ourselves anew to be God’s people, adopted into the family of God through Christ.

In this service you will notice a mix of modern and traditional language. Much of the wording used today came from Wesley himself. The phrasing may seem odd to our ears but that’s okay - it reminds us that we are participating in an act that followers of God have done throughout the ages - recommitting our whole selves to God.

We will begin our service today by singing “Come, Let Us Use The Grace Divine,” a hymn written by Charles Wesley and traditionally used for Covenant Renewal Services. The hymn is based on Jeremiah 50:5:

“They shall ask the way to Zion, with faces turned toward it, and they shall come and join themselves to the Lord by an everlasting covenant that will never be forgotten.”

And as we sing, we will also pass forward prayers, joys and concerns to be shared with the congregation, and we will collect the offertory. Thank you for all the ways you give that support the life and mission of our church.

Let us sing.

Opening Hymn with Offertory
Come, Let Us Use The Grace Divine, UMH 606

Children’s Moment with Sharing of Thanksgivings (Joys & Concerns)

The children and congregation will talk about the importance of starting with gratitude and thanksgiving. We will informally share things we are thankful for, along with prayer concerns for the day, and then pray for one another.

Hymn of Thanksgiving
Now Thank We All Our God, vs. 3, UMH 102

Proclamation of Covenant Renewal (Adapted from Wesley’s Covenant Renewal Service, United Methodist Book of Worship)

Siblings in Christ,
The Christian life is one that strives to love God and to love neighbor as self.
We recognize that, first and foremost, we belong to God.

We first entered into the Christian life through baptism,
Where we were adopted as children of God and heirs with Christ.

This is the covenant we made with God and
Christ sealed it in his death and resurrection, that it might last forever:

On the one side, God promises to give us new life in Christ,
the Source and Perfecter of our faith.
On the other side, we are pledged
to live no more for ourselves but only for Jesus Christ,
who loved us and gave himself for us.

From time to time we renew our covenant with God,
especially when we reaffirm the Baptismal Covenant
and gather at the Lord's table. Both of which we will do today.

It is fitting now, to join in the sacrament of Holy Baptism for NAME, as well as receiving new members into our midst.

The Baptismal Covenant
UMH 33

Baptism of NAME

Baptismal Remembrance Hymn
Baptized in Water, FWS 2248

Scripture Lesson
2 Chronicles 34:29-32

Gospel Lesson
John 15:1-8

Invitation to Renew Your Covenant with God (Adapted from Wesley’s Covenant Renewal Service, United Methodist Book of Worship)

Having given thanks to God, participated in the sacrament of Baptism, and heard the Holy Word, let us now prepare to recommit ourselves to Christ as his servants that we may be no one’s but Christ’s. That all will do will be for him - whatever he would have us do - that which we find an easy joy in doing and that which involves self-denial and humbling ourselves before God. There, let us pray to Christ, using the words of John Wesley:

Let me be your servant, under your command.
I will no longer be my own.
I will give up myself to your will in all things.

Be satisfied that Christ shall give you your place and work.

Lord, make me what you will.
I put myself fully into your hands:
put me to doing, put me to suffering,
let me be employed for you, or laid aside for you,
let me be full, let me be empty,
let me have all things, let me have nothing.
I freely and with a willing heart
give it all to your pleasure and disposal.

Christ is the Savior of his servants. [edited]
He is the source of all salvation to those who obey.
Christ will have no servants except by consent;
Christ will not accept anything except full consent
to all that he requires.
Christ will be all in all, or he will be nothing.

Confirm this by a holy covenant. Amen.

John Wesley gives 5 admonitions or pieces of advice that we may uphold our end of our covenant or our relationship with Christ. The first is that we earnestly seek to spend time with God and in doing so realize how radically and wholly God accepts us; that we would search out hearts and our shortcomings; and that we would always carefully and prayerfully discern how God is asking us to live our lives.

Covenant Admonition Hymn
Take Time to Be Holy, vs. 1, UMH 395

The second is simply this: Always be in awe and wonder of how great God is.

Covenant Admonition Hymn
How Great Thou Art, vs. 1, UMH 77

Third, in order to uphold our covenant, rely fully on God’s strength and goodness above all others, including our own.

Covenant Admonition Hymn
Standing on the Promises, vs. 1 UMH 374

Fourth, now that you have given your heart to God, professed him with your mouth, and dedicated all that you have and are to God - hold fast to God, with God’s help, never go back.

Covenant Admonition Hymn
I Surrender All, vs. 1, UMH 354

And last, always be prepared to return to God. Know that God’s arms are always open, always waiting to receive you. Never hesitate to fall down on your knees in prayer and to renew your covenant with God.

Hymn of Invitation to Covenant
Are Ye Able, vs. 1, UMH 530

Covenant Prayer (At this time, any who are willing and able may come and kneel at the altar as they pray. Others may remain seated as they wish and assume an internal posture of prayer where they are.)

Holy God, see me as I come before you now.
Forgive any unfaithfulness in not having done your will.
I know you have promised to always be there for me and to always welcome me back with mercy if I but turn back to you with my whole heart.

And so:
I renounce all idols in my life - anything that I place before you - anything that keeps me from perfect love of God and neighbor.
It’s not what you want for me but I often mess it up - I fail to love as your love.
But while my love has failed - yours has always remained steadfast.

Be my God again.

I profess with my heart, and tongue, and my whole live that you are my God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and I give you all of me, body and soul, that I may be your servant and ever seek holiness and love all my life.

Jesus, I come to you, the Way and the Life, and I rejoin myself in covenant with you.
I renounce my own inflated ego, my own power, my own wisdom, and my own will.
In their place I take on the title of child of God in which my will is found. I take on your power, your wisdom as my only guide, and your will as my law.

Whatever comes my way in life, through your grace, nothing in life or death will separate me from you. May the rest of my life reflect you - my words, my thoughts, and my actions - that they would all be founded in your love.

You know my heart God, you know how much I mean these words, take me as I am again today. Glory be to you, O God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Let the covenant I have made on earth be ratified in heaven. Amen.

Passing of the Peace

Hymn of Invitation to the Table
Here I Am, Lord, vs. 1 & 3, UMH 593

The Great Thanksgiving (Suggested The Great Thanksgiving for New Year, Epiphany, Baptism of the Lord or Covenant Renewal” (UMBOW 58-59))

The Lord’s Prayer

Holy Communion

Prayer After Receiving
Lord, may we who have renewed our covenant with you through Word and Prayer,
And who have strengthened that covenant at your table,
May we now live out that covenant with our lives and actions,
Being the body of Christ, redeemed by his blood, for the world. Amen.

Closing Hymn
Blessed Assurance, UMH 369

Benediction

May we leave from this time of worship today with the assurance that we are God’s children, that God’s love never fails, and God’s covenant is forever and ever. Now go in peace, in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

"From Generation to Generation...We Can Choose a Better Way" a sermon on Matthew 1:18-25

Matthew 1:18-25
“From Generation to Generation…We Can Choose a Better Way”
Preached Sunday, December 18, 2022

During our Advent lighting liturgy, on the list of things that bring us joy, you may remember “warm hugs.” This was actually my daughter’s answer when I asked her this past week what makes you happy. You see, she was on a Frozen kick this week and the magical talking snowman always says, “Hi! I’m Olaf! And I like warm hugs!”

As a mom I’ve watched Frozen and Frozen 2 quite a few times. But if I’m honest, I watched them a couple times before I became a mom too - I’ve even preached on Frozen 2 before because it has such good messaging in it. And among the primary themes of the movie is “do the next right thing.” When you don’t know what to do next - you do the next right thing. Princess Anna sings:

“I won't look too far ahead
It's too much for me to take
But break it down to this next breath
This next step
This next choice is one that I can make
… So I'll walk through this night
Stumbling blindly toward the light
And do the next right thing.”

And the next right step, at that time, was breaking down a dam that was wrongfully built at the expense of the land and those who lived there. Breaking the dam would free the enchanted forest and its indigenous population - but it would also release a tidal wave that would flood Anna’s beloved home kingdom of Arendelle.

The moral? Doing the right thing can come with risks…and yet we still do the right thing.

So what does Frozen 2 have to do with Joseph and today’s Gospel reading?

As far as Joseph knew, Mary, his new wife, had been unfaithful to him and broken the marriage contract. He now had to decide what the next right thing was. He could have chosen to publicly shame, exposing her and divorcing her publicly. But instead, he decides to do it privately - saving her from public shame. Except - was this really the right thing to do? It would have been for him. Minimal risk - mark it off as a bad chapter, move on with your life. But Mary would still have been an unwed mother. There still would have been talk. What would have happened to her? Here enters the Divine intervention. The text says, “But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.’”

And so, Joseph heeded the angel, and did the right thing, and took Mary as his wife. Let’s not brush past the huge risk that Joseph took in doing so - and what he was giving up in order to do the right thing.
He was putting his reputation and life of respectability at risk. What if word got out? What if everyone thought his wife was unfaithful? What would people think of him? Would they question his masculinity? His ability to be a good husband? Who he was as a person?
He didn’t know it yet but he was risking his safety - being the earthly father of the son of God? What did signing up for that entail? And Joseph would soon find out that it included fleeing for your life and becoming refugees in Egypt as Herod slaughtered the innocent children.
He was also risking his “right” to father his own first born son in a society where that was everything - he was letting that go and all the dreams and expectations that came with it.

Yes, doing the right thing for Joseph came with definite risks - and yet, it was still the right thing.

We’ve looked at a children’s movie and Scripture with the idea that doing the right thing comes with risks - and we should do the right thing anyway. So now let’s take a moment to center that in our world. A prime example of doing the right thing even when there are risks is allyship with marginalized communities. A Sanctified Art commentator, Dr. Christine J. Hong, wrote this, what you should know if you don’t know is that BIPOC stands for Black and Indigenous People of Color:

“Too often, I witness white folx evade doing the right thing in justice work. When the opportunity rises for white folx to do and say the right thing, which ultimately puts their relationships, jobs, or reputations at risk with other white folx, polite excuses arise—excuses that claim to ‘make room’ for BIPOC voices by declining to use their own voices. Why is it that room for BIPOC is made only when it serves the interests of white folx taking the least amount of risk? How about risking solidarity with us?”

And she has some points - true allyship involves “risking solidarity with us.” Us being any marginalized group. To speak up and act out even when it would put our own privilege and relationships at risk. When a boss or someone higher up - or a family member with which you have a good relationship with - says something racist or sexist; to put your body in front of someone who’s body puts them more at risk at a protest; to not participate in events or conversations or organizations that exclude people based on who they are - even if you are welcomed with open arms.

Doing the right thing comes with risks. And the fact is, every day we are given small chances to do the next right thing. They may not be big things - like breaking a dam or agreeing to be the father of God here on this earth - but they may be things like: speaking out when someone is being met with prejudice and hate. Spreading love and kindness at every turn. Being extra generous when we can. And whether a decision is big or small - we can listen to the voice of God inside of us that urges us to do the right thing - the thing of love - even when it comes with risks.

May it be so.

Amen.

“From Generation to Generation…God Meets Us in Our Fear” a sermon on Luke 1:26-38 & Isaiah 11:1-10

Luke 1:26-38
Isaiah 11:1-10
“From Generation to Generation…God Meets Us in Our Fear”
Preached Sunday, December 4, 2022 

My two-year old daughter is at the age where she recently gained the ability to feel fear and even to have bad dreams. She was afraid of Halloween decorations - I don’t blame her. Sometimes she is reluctant to go into a dark room on her own. She gets nervous at the scary parts in Disney movies and will scramble onto our laps. And still other times she is afraid or nervous of things I’d think she’d enjoy - a bouncy house, playing with other kids, a big slide, a new environment - even if it’s fun.

So often our gut reaction as parents, or grandparents, or just general caretakers of small children is to say. “Don’t be afraid - the decorations are just plastic.” “There is no need to be afraid - you’ve seen this movie, you know Moana turns out okay.” “It’s not scary - it’ll be fun! Go play!”

But! Child development experts, especially those who adhere to what’s called “gentle parenting” or “positive discipline” which focuses on empathy, understanding, respect, and boundaries - those voices say that that’s not the way to approach a fearful child. Instead you narrate the situation of what’s happening, you okay the feeling and offer support.

So what does this look like:

“Oh yes, I see the Halloween decorations at that house. There’s a bunch of skeletons. I know you’re scared of them, it’s okay. I am right here. I will hold you and be with you until we’re passed.”

Or “Wow! Look how tall that slides is! Oh, look at that girl go down. There’s she goes. And now it’s his turn. There he goes! I know you’re scared and that’s okay. I will sit here and watch with you until you’re ready to go play.”

Because let’s be honest - whether you are two or 92 when has someone dismissing your fear or just saying “Oh, don’t be afraid” ever worked for you to get over your fear? Let’s look at those things listed today in our Advent wreath lighting:

“Get over your fear of war.”
“Don’t be afraid of school shootings.”
“No need to be afraid of losing your income.”

Oh boy! We’re cured! We’re no longer afraid! Thank you! Uhhh, no. That’s not how it works.

And so let’s look at the pronouncement of the Angel Gabriel to Mary in a new way.

“The angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.’”

“Do not be afraid.” is used multiple times in the Christmas story and it’s the most common phrase in the Bible. However, I would like to propose something that requires us to use our Biblical imaginations: What if we took this narrative for what it is, a retelling of an encounter that the writer of the Gospel would have heard secondhand if not more removed? What if we realized that this narrative of the angel Gabriel talking to Mary is wrapped up nicely in a bow to be a succinct way to share it widely but it's not the actual dialogue used between Mary and Gabriel?

Hear me out - in my Biblical imagination, and seeing the text here today, I can envision the Angel Gabriel, and we’ll go ahead and say, the presence of God through the angel, doing a gentle parenting approach to Mary’s fear at God’s ask for her to become surrogate mother of God-in-Flesh.

In the text we hear Gabriel tell Mary to not be afraid.
He then stays with her and answers her questions, “Well, how can this be?”
He then gives her an example of someone she loves and trusts who is going through something similar - your cousin Elizabeth has conceived a child in her old age - something that we thought was impossible is happening with her through God.
And it is only then that Mary gives her yes. That she says, “Here I am. Let it be.”

What we see is Gabriel acknowledging Mary’s fear.
We see him sitting with her in her fear, answering her questions.
We see him pointing her toward a trusted person, someone who would be going through something similar to her.
And it is only then that Mary moves beyond her fear.

But again - using our Biblical imaginations, we can wonder at how much time passed between “Do not be afraid, you are most favored” to “let it be.” How many more questions did Mary have? How long did the presence of God sit with her in her fear? How else did the voice of God say, “I know you’re afraid. It’s a scary thing to be asked to birth the Son of God. I will sit with you until you’re ready to give me an answer. I’m here.”

And while Mary moved beyond her initial fear and did consent to be the mother of God, Mary’s process of understanding what God was doing with and through her wasn’t over when she said “I am here. Let it be.” We see this as Mary meets Elizabeth, feels the child within her leap for joy in her womb, and she sings the Magnificat. We see this as she holds the newborn Jesus in her arms as she “pondered all these things in her heart.” We see this as she goes to meet Jesus with her other children and ask him to come home. We see this as she is at the foot of the cross, weeping. We see this as she stands before an empty tomb in amazement.

I would say that it’s not that Mary never had fear again. It’s just that she didn’t let her fear hold her back from the amazing things that God was doing.

She turned from a phobos fear to a yirah fear. Hear me out here. The word used for Mary’s fear in our Gospel reading is phobos - we recognize it from our word phobic - right, fear as we know fear. But in our reading of the peaceable Kingdom from Isaiah today we get this line:

“The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him,
the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the spirit of counsel and might,
the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.”

“The fear of the Lord.” - what does this mean? This doesn’t mean a phobic fear of the Lord - not a fear of nightmares and shaking in boots and a fear that holds you back. The Hebrew word used for fear here is “yirah” which means deep reverence and awe. I would define that as a healthy quote-on-quote “fear” of God - a recognition that God is so much bigger than us and is at work in ways we cannot ever fully comprehend or understand - that is fear of the Lord.

So Mary moves from phobos - a fear that would have held her back to saying yes to God - to yirah - which means not that she was never afraid again, not that she suddenly understood what God was doing through her and Jesus - as we already said, we see Biblical evidence she spent her whole life pondering that - but a fear that is stepping out into the unknown in faith. To let this God that you are in awe of, that you are fearful of, lead you into the unknown for something greater that you do not yet understand.

It’s a fear or wonder of healthy pushing, of growth, of going into the unknown, knowing that God will be with you just as God was with you and sat with you in your fear.

This Advent and Christmas, how can we move beyond fear that holds us back and move toward telling God, “Here I am. Let it be.” and stepping out in faith, knowing God goes with us.

What are you afraid of? What fear in your life is keeping you back from giving God a yes? Yes to change your heart toward inclusion of all of God’s children. Yes to serving in a new way. Yes to sharing your faith with others. Yes to…? Hear the presence of God saying to you:

“I know you’re scared. It’s a big thing I’m asking of you. I’m here with you, I’ll stay here until you’re ready to give me an answer - and even then, I will always be with you.”

May it be so. Amen.