“Embodying God’s Spirit”
Luke 1:26-45 (December 22, 2024)
Lindsay and I are expecting the imminent arrival of our fourth grandchild. Which is hard to believe because, when I first came three years ago, we had none, zero. Since then, however, things have changed.
If you happened to see our daughter Katie, last Sunday, you may have noticed. She’s certainly not small! The due date is December 28th – for what it’s worth. Really, it could happen any time. We’ll keep you posted.
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https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=59104 [retrieved December 16, 2024]. Original source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Giotto,_Lower_Church_Assisi,_The_Visitation_01.jpg." width="340" height="86" />
Our scripture reading for today features two pregnant women – Elizabeth and Mary.
Elizabeth’s husband, Zechariah, had been serving in the temple when an angel of the Lord appeared to him. For years, they’d been praying, waiting, hoping for a child. Now this angel announces their prayers have been heard! When he goes home, Elizabeth gets pregnant, and the story of John the Baptist begins.
Mary’s story also starts with a visiting angel, who greets her and tells her she is favoured. The Lord is with her!
The angel explains that she’s been chosen to have a special child. And that her relative, Elizabeth, is already six months pregnant. “Nothing,” said the angel, “will be impossible with God.”
Mary hi-tails it to the hill country. She knocks on the door of Elizabeth’s home, and when it opens she sees one very pregnant woman standing there before her.
It’s true, what the angel said. This God is working in the lives of two ordinary women in a very extra-ordinary way!
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Two women, Elizabeth and Mary. They share a special bond. I’m reminded of our first pregnancy. Lindsay and I were a young couple. My long-time friend and his wife were also expecting.
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I remember them visiting in our home. And these two women standing in front of each other, bellies protruding, faces smiling. It was a happy time for all of us!
The women shared their challenges of being pregnant, their hopes for how and when these children would be born. It was a point of connection.
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Any shared experience can be like that. When you first move into a place, maybe there’s another newcomer, and you discover you have some things in common.
I remember being in hospital, several years ago. It was a worrying time. I’d just had surgery for cancer. My doctor was not only a skilled surgeon, but a caring human being.
One day he came into my room. “There’s someone I want you to meet,” he said. He walked me down the hall, and introduced me to another man, a little older, who’d just had the same operation.
The next few days we visited back and forth, talking about what we knew and what we didn’t know, and finding encouragement and strength in our growing friendship.
I’m thankful for that connection. Whatever we’re going through in life, companionship with others makes it so much easier.
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https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=49490 [retrieved November 29, 2024]. Original source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pontormo-visitation-after-restorationRGB.jpg." width="324" height="90" />
At first glance, Mary and her kinswomen Elizabeth, appear as two very different people. Mary is quite young. Probably a teenager. Elizabeth is much older. Her hair is grey and wrinkles mark her face.
Elizabeth, for years, had borne the shame of being barren. In that particular time and place, having children was expected. And when it didn’t happen, people wondered why. “It must be the women’s fault,” they said. “Cursed by God,” they assumed.
Mary, on the other hand, is scandalously pregnant! It’s something completely unplanned, and not by the one she’s betrothed to. Her trouble is of a different sort. If word ever got out, well … talk about shame! She could be stoned to death.
Two different women. Two very different circumstances. Both pregnant. In both of them, the mysterious power of God is at work! That’s the key! The Holy Spirit moving in their lives. New life, given by God, coming to be.
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I think there are two miracles to celebrate this morning. The first is what Christmas is all about: The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.
The second person of the Holy Trinity, which is to say God’s own self, found a place in the life of Mary. God entered our world, fully and completely. The Creator of all became part of creation!
There’s a great mystery here, as we ponder how this could ever be. That divinity would clothe itself with human flesh and blood! That the Almighty would set aside power and might, accepting the limitations of earthly time and space. Walking with us. Entering into our joys and sorrows. Emptying self to become servant of all!
Now that’s a miracle, if ever there was one!
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Emmanuel, God with us. Whatever we go through, God is neither distant nor far away. Jesus reveals the presence of God among us, bringing down to earth the love of our Creator. Healing our brokenness and division and hostility. Embracing and reconciling. Redeeming us from sin. Loving us – just as we are!
It begins with Mary being open to the angel of God, offering her consent, saying “Yes! … Let it be with me according to your word.”
Thank goodness for Mary. Thank goodness for Jesus. Thank goodness for the Spirit that brings new life.
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That’s one miracle, the most important one, by far. Christmas celebrates the incarnation of God.
But there’s a second miracle. Can you see it? It’s right there in front of us … in the person of Elizabeth. The Holy Spirit is working in her life too! Her child will bear witness to Jesus.
I love that place in the story, when Elizabeth opens the door of her home and Mary is standing there. And suddenly the child within Elizabeth leaps for joy!
I guess all mothers feel their babies kicking and moving around. But the timing of this is uncanny! Just as Jesus appears, tiny, unborn, John gives an extra-urgent push against the womb.
Then, Spirit-filled Elizabeth prophecies: “Blessed are you, Mary! And blessed is the fruit of your womb.”
She opens the door and welcomes Mary in. Elderly Elizabeth, who couldn’t have a baby (or so it was said), opens her dwelling to this young woman who is pregnant (much too early, before her marriage is complete).
Elizabeth shelters Mary from the gossip of her home-town neighbours, who may be wagging their chins and pointing fingers.
There’s a bond between these two. Borne of pregnancy, and family relationship. And the Spirit! They lived together for three months. That’s a lot of time! Rising in the morning, doing household chores throughout the day, spending long evenings together. Talking, sharing, wondering, hoping.
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Tell me this? Who walks with you on your journey of faith? Who is your spiritual companion?
Is this easier for women, than for men? Some of us do tend to keep things more to ourselves. All I know is that every one of us needs a friend. None of us are meant to walk through life alone.
Who helps you make sense of strange things? Whose door do you knock on? Whose door could you knock on? With whom do you share your secrets? Who would you trust with precious things?
Companionship is a great and wondrous gift! I think it’s the second miracle in the story. Just as the life of God came to dwell in the womb of Mary. So the Spirit indwells Elizabeth. The love of God seeks to becomes embodied in our human flesh and blood.
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The church, we say, is the “body of Christ.” Something like a second incarnation. We are all baptized, says the apostle Paul, by the Spirit of God, into one body. (1 Corinthians 12:13)
And this body is amazing in all its diversity! No more Jew or Gentile, male or female, slave or free. These parochial identities we cling to, slowly disappear. We are one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:28)
The church is no mere social club. The Church is a community created by God. Birthed anew. Spirit-filled, we’re called to follow Jesus.
In our story today, older Elizabeth embraces younger Mary. I love this intergenerational mingling. Young and old together. Two different women. Yet both are bursting with new life. Both have allowed the Spirit of God to work within them.
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Two miracles! The incarnation of God in Jesus. And the ongoing embodiment of God’s Spirit in the wider community of faith.
One of our home-grown Saskatchewan theologians, Ron Rolheiser, has written of our need for “a God with skin on,” that is, a God who is physically real and touchable. This is such an important part of what it means to be human.
As members of the body of Christ, we ourselves have a part to play in presenting God to the world. Made in his image, “we are entrusted to reflect all that he is: love, grace, peace, joy, kindness, mercy, justice, hope, acceptance, inclusion, healing, goodness.”[1]
A listening ear, a caring touch, a hot casserole, a plate of cookies, a phone call, a visit, a card, a prayer, a ride to an appointment, a simple smile. In all these ways, we can represent the “God with skin on.”
Like Elizabeth and Mary, we are companions on the journey of faith. The Spirit of God is working in them … and in us!
Thanks be to God for these wondrous gifts we receive and celebrate at Christmas!
[1] Mandy Bayton, “‘God with skin on’: Learning to live as the body of Christ,” https://www.christiantoday.com/article/god-with-skin-on-learning-to-live-as-the-body-of-christ/131062.htm, Accessed December 19, 2024.