December 1, 2024
Attached Strings, Dropping Shoes, and Sheepish Deflection
Luke 1:26-38
Rev. David Germer
It’s the Season of Advent – the beginning of the church year.
Last week, on Reign of Christ Sunday, Caitlin called our attention to the turbid times in which we live, inviting us to remember our ultimate allegiance to Jesus the King, which tees us up perfectly for Advent and today’s text.
Often, many of us on staff feel like it is essential for us to help distinguish the season of Advent from the season of Christmas.
Advent is about our waiting, about God’s arrival, and about turning our attention to our desperate need for a savior to come, and traditionally Advent begins with an emphasis on final things – eschatology – calling us to watch and pray with expectant hope for Christ to come again, to set things right… and gradually, over the weeks of the season, our attention shifts to a focus on thanks and praise for the birth of the one who has already come.
The feeling this year, though… is that we’ve been living in our desperate need for Jesus to come set things right. The collective feelings were really the words of the song that I’ve mistakenly always attributed to the Muppets, but learned last week come from the musical Mame: “We need a little Christmas, right this very minute.” (Most know that among the pastors I’m the “movie guy” but I don’t know if I’ve ever seen Patrick as excited as he was to tell us all about the movie version of Mame.)
You know this song don’t you?
“For I’ve grown a little leaner, grown a little colder
Grown a little sadder, grown a little older
And I need a little angel sitting on my shoulder
Need a little Christmas now.”
It goes on: “we need a little music, need a little laughter
Singing through the rafter, happily ever after.
We need a little Christmas now.”
My guess is that you agree, and that some of you are even doing things like already getting trees and decorating your homes earlier this year than you’re used to. We do need some Christmas, right now. We’re not cancelling Advent, we’re just leaning into that second half emphasis a little more heavily, a little earlier.
So with all that… our second text is Luke 1:26-38, and this morning I’m reading from the Revised English Bible translation. Listen for God’s Word:
“In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, with a message for a girl betrothed to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David; the girl’s name was Mary.
The angel went in and said to her, ‘Greetings, most favored one! The Lord is with you.’ But she was deeply troubled by what he said and wondered what this greeting could mean.
Then the angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for God has been gracious to you; you will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David, and he will be king over Israel forever; his reign shall never end.’
‘How can this be?’ said Mary. ‘I am still a virgin.’
The angel answered, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; for that reason the holy child to be born will be called Son of God.’ Moreover your kinswoman Elizabeth has herself conceived a son in her old age; and she who is reputed barren is now in her sixth month, for God’s promises can never fail.’
‘I am the Lord’s servant,’ said Mary; ‘may it be as you have said.’ Then the angel left her.”
The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
On this first Sunday of Advent, when collectively, we need a little Christmas, I want to draw our attention to three things about what Mary is given, by Gabriel, in this passage.
News. Blessing. Hope.
News, blessing, and hope… and we are going to spend the most time on “news,” (just so you don’t start getting nervous later when I’m still talking about news.)
I want to preface what I’m about to say, by making as clear as I possibly can that I think Mary – who was a teenage girl in an extremely patriarchal society, in an extremely unusual situation – reacted appropriately, faithfully, and admirably. Her responses and reactions to everything said by Gabriel – an angel (who everyone in Scripture consistently responds to with fear) – her responses to all that he shares with her are understandable responses.
AND… her reaction helps us see the ways that we react to things, that at times reveal that we’ve missed at least part of what is being shared.
I want start by playing a little game with you, because I realized this week that I’ve done this with the youth and even done it with the current Session… but have not introduced this game to all of you, and you’ve been missing out, and I’m sorry for that.
It’s called “News, or Advice?” and it’s very simple.
When I make a statement that’s advice – good advice, bad advice, somewhere in between… you make this motion: [finger-pointing/wagging at others]
And when I make a statement that’s news, you make this motion: [celebration hands – raised up to face level on either side, shaking/waving hands]
Got it? Pretty straightforward. Let’s try it.
–My name is Luke Skywalker and I’m here to rescue you.
News or advice? (Yes: that’s classic good news)
–You should brush your teeth twice a day, and floss regularly.
News or advice? (Good, right. Classic advice – good advice!)
Let’s do some more.
–See the movie Wicked while it’s in theaters. (I haven’t yet… but I’ve received that advice).
–Tom and Anna Huntley Bowkett welcomed baby Henry to the world three days ago, early on the morning of Thanksgiving Day, and all are doing well. (Yes, and we are celebrating that news with them.)
OK those all are all pretty straightforward. That was the warm-up
But what about something like this (and it’s a little longer so hang on):
–After a slow and unusual start to the season, Saturday Sanctuary next week resumes its regular hours, serving neighbors delicious Equal Plates meals every Saturday, with more and more guests expected as the weather gets colder…
AND because we are seeing more guests again, we are ready for and in need of a LOT more volunteers, and want anyone who is interested to come to our training NEXT Saturday in the Fellowship Hall at 1:30 pm.
News or advice?
Yeah, it’s news… but with some advice mixed in, right? (It’s also textbook “how to work a moment for mission” into the middle of a sermon… which I assured Saturday Sanctuary leadership I could do).
Let’s do another – how about this much briefer statement:
–Your fly is down? [a bit more of a pause]
It’s news… not great news, but it is news… and with implied advice!
Now when I play this game with the youth, and when I taught it to the Session, it’s in order to make a point: we are incredibly skilled at turning the gospel – which is by definition “good news” – into advice. Jesus came announcing that the kingdom of God is at hand. Proclaiming the news of God’s love and justice and mercy. And the church too often turn that news [hand motion] into advice [hand motion].
Of course… like “your fly is down,” or “we’re sharing food and building relationships with downtown neighbors in our fellowship hall every Saturday!”… the good news of the gospel does include some implied advice: live accordingly. Align your life with the reality of this good news.
But it certainly isn’t only, or primarily, advice. First and foremost, Jesus’ life and teaching and death and resurrection is news.
One last round of our game. This time I’ll read several statements and you just keep the hand motion or motions going as I read them.
–Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.
–God has been gracious to you;
–you will conceive and give birth to a son.
–He will be great, and will be called Son of the Most High.
–The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David,
–and he will be king over Israel forever;
–his reign shall never end.
Yes. News, all the way down.
Mary’s response to this news is fear and confusion… and again: she’s right to respond in that way.
But I want to explore with you, why? Not to point a finger at Mary, but to help us understand our own common reactions to the good news.
There are probably other reasons and other responses, but here are some of the common ways that we’ve been conditioned respond to good news.
- Dismiss it as wrong, or treat it as “fake news.” And nobody is immune from this; we all do it. We’re sometimes sure the news is wrong because it doesn’t line up with our picture of reality as we know it. In Mary’s case: she can’t have a baby because she knows how babies are made. We’ve been conditioned to suspect the sharer of the news is wrong. (And sometimes they are).
- We might not celebrate good news because we think there are strings attached. There must be some condition to this good news, right? What’s my end of the bargain or deal or agreement? What do I have to do?
Do you know where the phrase “no strings attached” comes from?
In the 18th century fabric merchants would mark flaws in woven cloth by tying small strings to the bottom of the bolts nearest to the imperfection. So when a tailor wanted a piece of cloth that was ready to go, as it was, they asked for one with no strings attached. Often we are sure that the good news comes with some indicator, somewhere, that we’ve got to do something to make this work out.
- Or even if we don’t think a condition is part of the original news, experience tells us that we can’t rely on the good news to last. Sooner or later, things are going to change, and inevitably that means getting worse. We’re waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Want another origin story?
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries in tenement buildings in NYC, it was common for apartment residents to hear their upstairs neighbors remove their shoes and drop them on the floor right above them. So when you heard one [remove and drop one shoe]… you knew what was coming [remove and hold other shoe] and found yourself in this advent moment, waiting for the other shoe to drop. [drop other shoe]. We might believe good news, but deep down we’re sure that, if give it long enough… there will be something else coming, and it’s likely to be less good news.
- And lastly, we’re conditioned to respond a very particular way to good news about ourselves. God tells God’s people they are precious in his sight through the prophet Isaiah. God tells Mary she is favored and is a blessing, through Garbriel. It’s not just humility or false modesty that leads most of us to reacting to things like that – compliments, affirmations – with sheepish deflection. Some are not great at taking compliments because we have low self-esteem (we don’t ourselves believe the nice, positive things being said about us, and so awkwardly try to draw attention away from the compliment). BUT, almost everyone also has a hard time with compliments simply because compliments usually catch us off guard. Whether we think a string is attached or another shoe is going to drop or not, we freeze. And an angel announcing to us that we are favored and blessed by God, I think would catch any of us off guard. After the initial shock, we begin to look for answers, which is what Mary did. “What you’re saying about me must not be true, and here’s why.” I can relate to that – I imagine we all can, and for less logical reasons than Mary had to question what was being said about her.
Mary has the specific news of her impending unlikely motherhood, but other than that… all the other news that she’s given – about herself – is the exact same news that we are given, about ourselves. It’s that the Lord is with us; that Jesus the King’s reign will never end; and that God’s promises can never fail. Mary’s blessedness is found not in something that she achieved or even had to live up to. It was given to her by association, with Jesus.
And while none of us is Jesus’ mother… the good news of the gospel is that we are blessed just as much, and in almost all of the same ways, for the same reason: our association with Jesus. And the good news just keeps on coming when we remember how reckless Jesus is with the gift of his association. It crosses all boundaries any of us may be tempted to put on it, so that anyone and everyone can get caught up in those blessings, through him: God with us; part of a never-ending kingdom; promises that don’t fail.
And so Mary’s final response, when all that sinks in (much faster by the way for her than it would have for me, and than it does for most)… is to say: “I am the Lord’s servant. Here I am. Let’s go.”
Notice it isn’t: wow, I guess everything’s gonna be ok after all, isn’t it?
Mary’s situation just got a whole lot harder, not easier. And she doesn’t pretend otherwise.
Mary’s faithful response is rooted in her belief in what Gabriel shared – good news, of great blessing, which is ultimately a message of hope in what God is going to do.
I want to close with a word about hope. As we lean into the Christmasy part of Advent a little early this year… because we really do need it… I want to invite you to lean on that hope, not on what we might call ‘tinsel-y optimism’ that fades along with the buzz of the eggnog or fails like at least one strand of lights you pull out of the attic.
We often conflate or confuse hope and optimism, but they aren’t the same. Optimism is seeing things with rose-colored glasses, looking on the bright side or seeing the glass as half full, trying to convince others, or ourselves, that if you look at things with the right perspective… things really could be a whole lot worse, or, things can really only get better, from here! It’s circumstantial or fabricated good feelings. And that’s not a Christian value. Imagine if you came to worship today and we lit the first Advent candle of… optimism, or this parament proclaimed “optimism!” instead of hope.
The glass isn’t half full, it’s almost empty. The Israelites knew this. Mary knew this. Read the newspaper, or go drive down Thompson St. along the Swannanoa River, or drive up to Marshall. We’re not pretending that everything is great.
That’s not hope, that’s not Advent, that’s not even Christmas.
No. The hope that we begin with, in Advent… is the hope that arises from the words of Isaiah: God will be with you, through the waters, when the rivers rise.
The news that Mary receives from Gabriel, the blessing bestowed on her, the hope to which her attention is drawn… is real news, and blessing, and hope for us – no string attached, no other shoe do drop, no need to sheepishly deflect:
The Lord is with us;
Jesus’ reign will never end;
God’s promises can never fail.
[celebration news hands]
Friends, may we live this good news.