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<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica;font-size:10pt;color:black">-----Original Message-----<br>
From: Judy <judy_boli@ecunet.org><br>
To: Propertalk <propertalk.topic@ecunet.org><br>
Sent: Sat, Dec 22, 2018 6:24 pm<br>
Subject: [propertalk.topic] Sermon for Advent 4C: "Mary, Did You Know?"<br>
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<div style="line-height:normal;">Dear
Friends,</div>
<div style="line-height:normal;"> </div>
<div style="line-height:normal;">This
Sunday’s sermon is entitled "Mary, Did You Know?” or “Nurture that Seed!” and
deals with the gospel (Luke 1: 39-55).<span> </span>Here
it is: <span> </span></div>
<div style="line-height:normal;"> </div>
<div style="line-height:normal;"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;">Do you remember this story?<span> </span>An Ecunet friend was working for Meals on
Wheels.<span> </span>Occasionally, she would take her
four-year-old daughter on her afternoon rounds. The little girl was unfailingly
intrigued by the various appliances of old age, particularly the canes, walkers
and wheelchairs. One day my friend noticed that her daughter was staring at a
pair of false teeth soaking in a glass. As she braced herself for the
inevitable barrage of questions, the child merely turned and whispered, “The
tooth fairy will never believe this!”<span> </span>Do
you recall when the angel Gabriel asked Mary if she was willing to be the
mother of Jesus?<span> </span>In today’s language,
her answer would have been “Absolutely!”<span>
</span>You know the old saying, speak first; think later.<span> </span>After the angel left her and reality set in,
she must have suddenly realized the situation she was in.<span> </span>You know how- in the story about the
four-year-old- “the tooth fairy will never believe this!”<span> </span>Well that was Mary’s situation as well- not
the tooth fairy; not her family; not her friends; not the townspeople; and
probably not her beloved Joseph.<span> </span>In our
culture, being an unwed mother is no big thing anymore; but in those days,
having a baby out of wedlock often got you stoned to death.<span> </span>What was she to tell all these people when
the baby began to show and they asked who the father was—“I didn’t do anything;
it’s God’s baby!”<span> </span>And their probably
answer: “Oh, really!”<span> </span>When you think
about it, at first being the mother of the Messiah must have sounded really
wonderful, almost like being the queen mother; but for most of her life, it would
be as Simeon predicted in Luke 2: 35: “You, Mary, will suffer as though you had
been stabbed by a dagger.”</span></div>
<div style="line-height:normal;"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;"> </span></div>
<div style="line-height:normal;"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;">The dagger started piercing her soul when she had to
tell Joseph, and he almost put her away privately to spare her death.<span> </span>She had a brief relief, as we heard in
today’s gospel, when she went to see her cousin Elizabeth (mother of John the
Baptist) and Zechariah, but as we must also do- she couldn’t run away forever;
she had to go home and face everybody.<span>
</span>Then there was the trip to Bethlehem (the city of Bread- where Jesus,
the Bread of Life was born); the trip bouncing give-or-take 50 miles on the
back of a donkey; the trip on which her water probably broke; the trip that
resulted in no place to give birth but a barn or a cave and no one to help her
but an inexperienced husband (men weren’t allowed in birthing areas in those
days).<span> </span>Next, finding a house and
building a life with her child and husband, only to be visited by the wise men
and sent by God as a homeless refugee to Egypt, to escape Herod’s murder of all
the Jewish boys two years and younger.<span> </span>Watch
the dagger pierce and twist even more.<span> </span>She
endured a return to Nazareth, and then the strangeness of her son.<span> </span>When he was twelve, he wasn’t even sorry when
he made the family come all the way back to Jerusalem for him.<span> </span>He only said, “Didn’t you know I must be
about my Father’s business?!” – strange way to talk to parents, especially in
those days.<span> </span>Then, when he was a young
adult and she asked him to do something about the lack of wine at a wedding,
again- strange words to a mother: “Mother, what have I to do with you?<span> </span>My hour has not yet come.”<span> </span>She watched his popularity grow and then
wane, with people talking about him and wondering if he was crazy.<span> </span>When she and his brothers finally went to get
him and take him home, he refused to go with them and said, “These who listen
to God’s will are my mother and my brothers and my sisters.”<span> </span>Ignoring her motherhood must have twisted
that dagger predicted by Simeon a little more.<span>
</span>Finally, she watched as her beloved firstborn son was beaten and
tortured and crucified naked, between two thieves on a compost heap.<span> </span>She must have wondered if the angel Gabriel’s
visit had just been a dream or even a devil-trick.<span> </span>She had to suffer through the hard times,
through Good Friday, to get to Easter.<span>
</span>But she, like Job, hung in.<span>
</span>Remember Job’s statement about God: “Even though He slay me; yet shall I
trust Him!”<span> </span>But after Good Friday comes
Easter; after crucifixion comes resurrection!<span>
</span>She was there in the upper room when he appeared!<span> </span>She was mentioned as one of the faithful of
the early church.<span> </span>Because of her
endurance, we have power for living; grace for dying, and eternal life as our
sure promise.</span></div>
<div style="line-height:normal;"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;"> </span></div>
<div style="line-height:normal;"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;">Where are your struggles?<span> </span>What
ideas, dreams, plans are you struggling to give birth?<span> </span>What is causing the dagger to pierce you own
soul and then twist and turn and torture?<span>
</span>Did you notice Luke 1: 37: “Nothing is impossible for God!”<span> </span>Say it with me.<span> </span>(Nothing is impossible for God!)<span> </span>Say it again.<span>
</span>Do you believe it?<span> </span>Whatever God
has in His plans for you- you can do if you believe it.<span> </span>Nothing is impossible for God.<span> </span>When Mary conceived Jesus by the power of the
Holy Spirit, she had no idea what was ahead.<span>
</span>When God plants a seed in you, you also have no idea what is ahead.<span> </span>All you can be sure of is that (if it’s worth
anything) it will involve pain and struggle and discouragement; but if you
don’t give up it will also involve glorious delight and fulfillment.<span> </span>In closing, I’d like you to listen to the
words of a modern ChristMass song- “Mary Did You Know?” <span> </span>As Mary never couldn’t have guessed all the
amazing blessings God had for her, neither can we.<span> </span>Here are the words to the song.<span> </span></span></div>
<div style="line-height:normal;"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;"> </span></div>
<div style="line-height:normal;"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;">“Mary did you know that your baby boy would one day walk on water?</span></div>
<div style="line-height:normal;"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;">Mary did you know that your baby boy would save our sons and daughters?</span></div>
<div style="line-height:normal;"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;">Did you know that your baby boy has come to make you new?</span></div>
<div style="line-height:normal;"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;">The Child that you delivered will soon deliver you.</span></div>
<div style="line-height:normal;"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;"> </span></div>
<div style="line-height:normal;"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;">Mary did you know that your baby boy would give sight to a blind man?</span></div>
<div style="line-height:normal;"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;">Mary did you know that your baby boy will calm a storm with His hand?</span></div>
<div style="line-height:normal;"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;">Did you know that your baby boy has walked where angels trod?</span></div>
<div style="line-height:normal;"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;">When you kissed your little baby, you’ve kissed the face of God.</span></div>
<div style="line-height:normal;"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;"> </span></div>
<div style="line-height:normal;"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;">Mary did you know the blind will see; the deaf will hear; the dead will
live again;</span></div>
<div style="line-height:normal;"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;">The lame will leap; the dumb will speak the praises of the Lamb?</span></div>
<div style="line-height:normal;"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;"> </span></div>
<div style="line-height:normal;"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;">Mary did you know that your baby boy is Lord of all creation?</span></div>
<div style="line-height:normal;"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;">Mary did you know that your baby boy will one day rule the nations?</span></div>
<div style="line-height:normal;"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;">Did you know that your baby boy is heaven’s perfect Lamb?</span></div>
<div style="line-height:normal;"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;">This sleeping Child you’re holding is the great ‘I AM!’”</span></div>
<div style="line-height:normal;"> </div>
<div style="line-height:normal;">For anyone who is interested, this sermon and updated
African-American wisdom statements are posted on our parish’s web site under
“Sermons & Stuff”. The address is: <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" href="http://www.stpaulsepisag.org/">http://www.stpaulsepisag.org</a>
.</div>
<div style="line-height:normal;"> </div>
<div style="line-height:normal;">Blessed
preaching,</div>
<div style="line-height:normal;">Judy
Boli</div>
<div style="line-height:normal;">St.
Paul's Episcopal Church</div>
<div style="line-height:normal;">Saginaw,
Michigan</div>
</div>
<div></div>
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