Although it often has been, and still can be controversial, for many reasons, no one can really doubt that, for most of the past 2,000 years, the Church, and individual Christians have had a very great love of the Blessed Virgin Mary and a great devotion to her. Much of that love and devotion stems from the fact that Mary is the mother of our Lord Jesus Christ and the great tradition in many faiths of the mothers of holy men being revered; we only have to read the Scriptures to understand that‘s so in our own Judeo-Christian tradition. And so this morning’s Gospel, the story of the Annunciation, the story of the archangel Gabriel’s visit to Mary to announce to her that she’d been chosen by God to be the mother of his Son, has had a great part to play in the Church’s devotion to Mary.

Another cause of the Church’s devotion to Mary and veneration of Mary though is due to her example of faith and obedience. In fact, Mary is sometimes given the title, The Example of Christians. This is due in part to the fact that Mary followed Jesus during his ministry, that she was one of the few who didn’t desert him at the time of his death, and she was with the disciples when the Holy Spirit came on the day of Pentecost. But again, a large part of the Church’s image of Mary as an example to Christians comes from this morning’s Gospel and what’s often referred to as her ‘Yes’ to God, her willingness to obey God’s call to be the mother of his Son regardless of the difficulties and even danger that posed for her personally.

So Mary has been, and is, revered by the Church for many reasons. But this morning I want to say something about how Mary can inspire us in ways that are perhaps slightly different to the ways we usually think of. What I want to do is to say something about Mary herself, and how understanding her, as a young 1^st Century Jewish woman, can inspire us to follow her example of obedience and faith.

When we see an image of this morning’s Gospel, we almost invariably see Mary either kneeling in prayer or sat, reading a scroll or book, which we tend to think of as an image of Mary reading Scripture. But Luke doesn’t say anything about what Mary was doing when the angel appeared to her. And that’s in marked contrast to the story of Jesus’ Presentation in the Temple when Luke mentions quite specifically that Anna, the daughter of Phanuel,  was a prophetess who,

‘…did not depart from the temple, worshipping with fasting and prayer night and day.’

We would think that if Mary had been similarly devout, Luke would certainly have mentioned it in the story of the Annunciation, but he doesn’t. In fact, he says nothing at all about Mary’s faith or religious practices.

But that’s perhaps not so surprising. At that time, Jewish education was primarily concerned with teaching the Scriptures and the Law, but it was usually only boys who received any formal education. In a village like Nazareth, a young girl like Mary would probably have been educated at home, by her mother, and mainly in how to be a good wife and homemaker. So it’s highly unlikely that Mary held any kind of official or formally recognised religious position or role among the people of Nazareth, or that she was any more knowledgeable of or righteous in observing the Law than anyone else.

Actually, if we take what the Scriptures say about Mary at face value, the image we get of Mary is of a young woman who was nothing special at all. She was among the weakest and most powerless people in her society. She was a woman in a very patriarchal society, that existed in a world ruled by men. She was young in a society that valued age and experience. And, as we know from the story of Jesus’ Presentation in the Temple, she was poor, and so was her husband to be, Joseph.

And if Mary’s standing in the religious and social structures of her day didn’t mark her out as special in any way, we also have another problem with her choice as the mother of God’s Son. Specifically, the Messiah was to be of David’s line, but Luke tells us that it was Joseph who was of the House of David, not Mary. And it’s noticeable, as we read the Nativity stories in the Gospels, that St Matthew does emphasise Joseph’s role in the birth of Christ, over Mary’s, and no doubt for this very reason.

So who and what was Mary that she should have found such favour with God? Who and what was she that she, among all women, should be so blessed as to be chosen as the mother of God’s Son, the mother of the Saviour of the world?

To be honest, I think if we take what the Scriptures say about Mary at face value, it’s actually very hard to find a good reason why she was chosen to be the mother of God’s Son. By any human reasoning, Mary was a very strange and even foolish choice to be the mother of God’s Son. In fact, I’m sure that if we, or any other human being, had to choose someone for such a great and awesome role and responsibility, we’d choose someone very different to Mary. But Mary wasn’t chosen by any human reasoning and, as I quoted in my sermon last week, God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom. So who and what was Mary that she should be the mother of God’s Son? Quite simply, Mary was who and what God, in his infinite wisdom, chose. And that tells us something very important about God and about ourselves. 

Something we hear very often in the Church is that people don’t think they’re capable of doing things. There are so many people in the Church who think that all they can do is to come to church on a Sunday morning and nothing more, because they think they aren’t capable of doing any more, they don’t think that they have the skills, the knowledge or the intelligence to do any more than that (and that’s not the same thing as using these things as excuse for not doing more because we don’t want to do more). But what God’s choice of Mary tells us is that anyone can be chosen by God to carry out his will. It doesn’t matter who we are or what we are, God can still choose us to do something for him. It might be something small, or it might be something far grander, but whatever it is, if God has chosen us, it’s because God knows that we are capable of doing that thing, whatever it might be. What we need to do is to learn this lesson from Mary’s call to be the mother of God’s Son and listen to what God is asking us to do and then follow Mary’s example of saying ‘Yes’ to God and doing what it is he’s asking of us.

Of course, we might have doubts about what we’re being asked to do, and doubts about our ability to do it, but so did Mary. She was ‘greatly troubled’ by what she was asked to do, and she had the quite understandable doubt about how she could do this thing because she was, after all, ‘a virgin.’ But the answer Mary received is the same answer we’ll receive if only we’re willing to listen and accept it; the Holy Spirit will come upon us and the power of the Most High will overshadow us. We might find that hard to believe but don’t we often say the very same thing but in a different way when we express our belief that God doesn’t give us problems that suit our talents, but rather he gives us the talents we need to deal with the problems we’re faced with? 

Mary’s part in the story of our salvation is, of course, an unrepeatable one; when Christ comes again he will not be born of a woman but will come in glory. Nevertheless, whoever and whatever we are, we all have our part to play in the ongoing story of salvation until that time when Christ comes again.

And whoever and whatever we are, God will choose us to play our own part in that story. So let’s learn from Mary and be ready and willing to play our part. Ready and willing to listen for God’s call to us. Ready and willing to respond positively to God’s call when it comes. And in preparation for God’s call and to respond positively to God’s call when it comes, ready and willing to accept that whoever and whatever we are, God’s call to us, will come.

Amen.  

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Propers for Advent 4 24th December 2023

Entrance Antiphon
Let the clouds rain down the Just One, and the earth bring forth a Saviour.

The Collect
God our redeemer,
who prepared the Blessed Virgin Mary to be the mother of your Son:
grant that, as she looked for his coming as our saviour,
so we may be ready to greet him when he comes again as our judge;
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen.

The Readings
Missal (St Mark’s)        
2 Samuel 7:1-5, 8-12, 14                                      
Psalm 89:2-5, 27, 29
Romans 16:25-27
Luke 1:26-38

RCL (St Gabriel’s)          
2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16                                      
Psalm 89:1-4, 19-26
Romans 16:25-27
Luke 1:26-38

Today, 17^th of December, is the day in the Church’s year when, regardless of what day of the week the 17^th of December falls on, we start to use the Advent Antiphons at Evening Prayer. Antiphons, as I’m sure many of you will know, are the sentences, usually from scripture or based on scripture, that we say before and after a psalm or canticle during daily prayers. The Advent Antiphons are those we say before and after the Magnificat at Evening Prayer, and we say them on the 7 days before Christmas Eve.

The Advent Antiphons are often known as the Great O Antiphons because they all start with ‘O’, they call on God by a scriptural title, and they say something about God’s saving work in Christ. Today, for example, the Antiphon begins, ‘O Sapentia’, (‘O Wisdom’ in English):

O Wisdom, coming forth from the mouth of the Most High,
reaching from one end to the other mightily,
and sweetly ordering all things:
Come and teach us the way of prudence.

This year, obviously, the 17^th of December falls on the Third Sunday of Advent, and I think that’s an especially fitting day for the first Advent Antiphon, ‘O Wisdom’, because it coincides with the day when the Gospel of the day draws  our attention to John the Baptist.

Scripture has a lot to say about Wisdom, and one of the things it tells us is that God’s Wisdom is not the same as human wisdom; it’s something very different and far greater. As St Paul puts it in his First Letter to the Corinthians,

‘Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?… For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.’

What these words tell us is that what appears to be wise to us, to human beings, is often foolish in God’s eyes and vice-versa, and during Advent we read about many people who, by following the call of God, by doing what was wise in God’s eyes, did what appeared to be very foolish in human terms. The prophets who left what they were doing to call the people of Israel to obedience to their covenant with God and were persecuted and often killed as a result. Isaiah, for example, who’s often known as the prophet of the Advent, was probably a member of the royal family of Judah, a nephew of king Amaziah,  and yet tradition says that he was executed by his own family. Mary, who risked being stoned to death as an adulteress by accepting God’s call to be the mother of his Son, and yet answered that call by saying,

“Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.”

And Joseph, who in response to God’s message, decided to marry Mary anyway, in spite of the fact that she was carrying a child that wasn’t his. We know from Gospel stories about Jesus’ ministry that uncertainty about who his father was, brought him criticism so I think we can with certainty assume that it brought Mary and Joseph criticism and the kind of whispers, disparaging looks and blackened reputations that human wisdom assigns to people involved in real or even imaginary scandal. But of all the people in the Advent story,  I think it is perhaps it’s in John the Baptist where we see God’s wisdom shown to be different, more and greater than human wisdom most of all.

John was the son of a priest, so he was from a fairly high-status family. And he would have been expected to have followed in his father’s footsteps and become a priest himself. He wouldn’t have been particularly rich, but he would have been better off than most people in his society with better food, clothes and housing than most. But, in obedience to God’s call, he gave all that up to live in the wilderness, dress in animal skins and eat honey and locusts. People must have thought he was mad, and by the standards of human wisdom, perhaps he was. But John wasn’t acting according to the standards of human wisdom, he was acting according to the standards of God’s Wisdom. And we have Jesus’ own words to assure us of this:

“What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? A reed shaken by the wind? What then did you go out to see? Someone dressed in soft robes? Look, those who wear soft robes are in royal palaces. What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written,
“See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,
    who will prepare your way before you.”
Truly I tell you, among those born of women no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force. 
For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John came; and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come. Let anyone with ears listen!
‘But to what will I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the market-places and calling to one another,
“We played the flute for you, and you did not dance;    
we wailed, and you did not mourn.”
For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, “He has a demon”; the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, “Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax-collectors and sinners!” Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.’

I don’t think there’s a clearer expression anywhere in scripture of the difference between human wisdom and God’s Wisdom, nor the foolishness of human wisdom compared to God’s Wisdom. No clearer expression of just how foolish those who put human wisdom before God’s Wisdom really are when compared to those who put God first and follow God’s call no matter how foolish or even mad the world thinks that makes them.

In the Advent Antiphon for today, we ask God to teach us prudence. Prudence has many meanings, but perhaps above all it means to be watchful and alert to danger. And what is the Advent call other than to be watchful and alert to danger, the danger of being unprepared to meet the Lord when he comes? And how better can we make sure that we are always watchful and alert to that danger than by turning away from what passes for wisdom in the world and learning and practicing what is wise in God’s eyes?

To be wise in God’s eyes, to have what the Scriptures refer to as Wisdom, is to know what the righteous thing to do is in any situation. To practice Wisdom is to know what the righteous thing to do is in any situation and do it, regardless of what the world says or thinks about it. This is what the prophets did, what Mary and Joseph did, what John the Baptist did, and what so many people we read about in scripture did. It’s what Jesus himself did and, in faith and obedience to him, it’s what we’re called to do and what many Christians have done through the years. Sometimes it’s not easy. It’s often easier to put ourselves first and do what we want to do rather than what Jesus taught us to do. It’s not easy because it’s often easier, not to mention  more comfortable and convenient, to be and do the things Jesus taught us not to be and do rather than to be and do what he taught us we should be and do. It’s not easy because we often have more concern for what the world thinks about us, for what other people think about us, than what God might think about us. We don’t want to be the subject of disparaging gossip, rumours and looks, nor to have our names and characters blackened because people think we’re doing, or have done, something wrong or stupid. It’s not easy because we don’t want the world, we don’t want other people, to think we’re stupid.

It’s not easy to practice Wisdom for all these reasons, and probably many more besides, but it’s what we’re called to do. So let’s learn from the example of the prophets, of Mary and Joseph, and of John the Baptist. Let’s learn from the example of Jesus himself and let’s take to heart the words of the Advent Antiphon, ‘O Sapentia’, ‘O Wisdom’ and ask God to teach us prudence and give us the Wisdom and courage to use it.

Amen. 

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Propers for Advent 17th December 2023

Entrance Antiphon
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice!
The Lord is near.

The Collect
O Lord Jesus Christ,
who at your first coming sent your messenger to prepare your way before you:
grant that the ministers and stewards of your mysteries
may likewise so prepare and make ready your way,
by turning the hearts of the disobedient to the wisdom of the just,
that at your second coming to judge the world,
we may be found an acceptable people in your sight;
for you are alive and reign with the Father
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen.

The Readings
Missal (St Mark’s)        
Isaiah 61:1-2, 10-11                                       
Psalm (Magnificat) Luke 1:46-50, 53-54
1 Thessalonians 5:16-24
John 1:6-8, 19-28

RCL (St Gabriel’s)          
Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11                                       
Psalm (Magnificat) Luke 1:46-55
1 Thessalonians 5:16-24
John 1:6-8, 19-28

Entrance Antiphon
People of Zion, the Lord will come to save all nations,
and your hearts will exalt to hear his majestic voice.

The Collect
O Lord, raise up, we pray,
your power and come among us,
and with great might succour us;
that whereas, through our sins and wickedness,
we are grievously hindered in running the race that is set before us,
your bountiful grace and mercy may speedily help and deliver us;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
to whom with you and the Holy Spirit,
be honour and glory, now and for ever.
Amen.

The Readings
Missal (St Mark’s)        
Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11                                       
Psalm 85:9-14
2 Peter 3:8-14
Mark 1:1-8

RCL (St Gabriel’s)          
Isaiah 40:1-11                                       
Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13
2 Peter 3:8-15
Mark 1:1-8