The Rev. Dr. Kenneth H. Saunders III
St. James Episcopal Church
Greeneville, TN
December 31, 2023
This is one of those awkward moments in the liturgical calendar where Advent 4 is Christmas Eve. It’s almost as if Dr. Suess’ Grinch that Stole Christmas decided to steal the last week of Advent from us this year. As someone who likes to honor the life of Christ with the liturgical calendar – today is difficult, but it is what it is.
Like much of Advent, we are caught this morning between the already and the not yet. Christ came already, but he hasn’t come again yet. For the past few weeks, we’ve been preparing our hearts to examine our darkness and make room for the light. We have listened for God’s still, small voice through the passionate cry of the prophets. We have been told that we will find comfort and release as we turn our hearts and minds toward God and watch and wait for the one coming to make things right.
Today we are told to get ready by making ourselves a mansion an extravagant dwelling place for God. I thought to myself, I know precisely what a mansion is. I built houses for several years before becoming a priest. So, I immediately went to that place where builders and real estate agents go. I went to the place thinking of a great floor plan, beautiful windows, a modern kitchen, and a room for everything. A place where anyone would be comfortable. A place fit for a king.
It was then that I realized I was thinking like the prophet Nathan in this morning’s lesson from the Hebrew Scriptures when Nathan perceives that God is ostracizing David for not building God a permanent home, a house of Cedar. Not building God a mansion.
We get into this mindset often, especially when we think about building our houses of worship. We get into what I will call the bricks-and-mortar mindset. The mindset of thinking that it’s all about the structure. As soon as we believe we have it figured out, we are presented with a different idea and get to consider something else. A house of worship is more than structure, more than bricks and mortar. A house of prayer is a place of encounter. It is a place where we experience God in a community. A thin space between the already and the not yet. Between the earth and the heavenly realm.
Then, we have the reading from Luke’s gospel account of an angel appearing to a young woman in Nazareth named Mary. The angel, identified as Gabriel, was sent by God. We know from scripture when angels show up, God is up to something. I was told once that the modern perception of Angels might be a tad inaccurate. Angels are not the cute little cherubs that we see on greeting cards, the ones that resemble curly-headed babies playing harps and wearing diapers. Angels are more like scary spirit beings. So frightening that they need to say, “Don’t be afraid” when they show up. Because when they appear, their presence is terrifying.
Mary is mystified and confused about why she is receiving this strange visit. But she listens to the angel’s message that she is to have a holy child even though she is a virgin and that her older cousin Elizabeth, who was said to not be able to have children, is in her 6th month of pregnancy. In the strange predicament of her pregnancy, Mary becomes the thin space between Heaven and Earth. Mary becomes the bridge between God and God’s people.
For years, the people of Israel were travelers. They lived a nomadic life, setting up and taking down tents and carrying around a golden box (an ark) that contained the covenant (God’s law) etched in stone tablets. For them, it represented the presence of God as they carried it from place to place. The ark was that thin space for them to encounter God. And when Israel moved from place to place, they took God with them.
So this morning, we are confronted with trying to understand what God is telling us. How do we interpret the stories that have such a deep significance to our preparations and waiting this time of year? We have been building up to this, preparing for a time when God will come. A time when Jesus will come again and restore this broken world like he said he would.
Well, we could look at the reading from Samuel and immediately come to the conclusion that you can’t put God in a box. There is no way to contain the magnificence of God and everything that God is in a conveniently packaged express delivery, complete with quick assembly instructions.
We could look at the relationship between the two readings and come to the understanding that God is not a God of Bricks and mortar. God is not a God of Bricks and Mortar, but rather, God is a God of Flesh and blood. That the house of God is in the relationships of God’s people, God’s people, whom God loves and cares for and favors.
The poor, innocent peasant girl, Mary, embodies everything pure and hopeful about the future of humanity, everything that is right about how the world is. She embraces her fear and confusion and becomes the way for God to enter this world in the flesh. Become human in the person of Jesus.
This young woman is so moved by her experience that she sings out, strong and empowered, using the language of the prophets. “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God, my savior.” Words that she would have been familiar with. Words were spoken by the prophet Hannah when she thanked God for the birth of her son. Hannah cried out, my heart rejoices in the Lord because I rejoice in the Lord’s salvation.
In Mary’s song, she speaks of the wrongs in this world being righted by the mighty hand and power of God. She says of the lowly being raised up, the weak being made strong, and the hungry being filled. God didn’t use a man for this incredible responsibility. God used a strong woman. A woman who in the ancient world lacked power or position, a woman who was considered by society to be completely vulnerable. Someone so utterly dependent on others that she couldn’t even own property. God called on a woman and strengthened and empowered her to be an icon and a vessel of strength for us. A vessel that would bring to us the savior of the world.
Now, we are faced with how to prepare to build up and prepare ourselves as a place for God to dwell. The collective prayer at the beginning of the liturgy asks God to grant us a pure conscience so that we might be visited daily by Jesus and that Jesus may find us a mansion, an extravagant dwelling place, prepared for him. How do we make ourselves a suitable dwelling place prepared, able, ready to be empowered and strengthened, and willing to receive God?
We are blessed to worship in one of the most historic and charming houses of worship in Greeneville, crafted with love and cared for by generations. There are many prayers absorbed in these walls. But the truth is, we can build all the pretty buildings we want. We can deck the halls with beautiful decorations and inlay them with silver, gold, and precious stones. We can have the most luxurious worship spaces that money can buy, but if we haven’t made ourselves, our souls and bodies a mansion prepared for him… If we haven’t done the deep work of accepting the call to be the bearer of good news for the world... if we haven’t worked on our relationships with one another... if we haven’t loved and cared for our neighbor… then it is all for not.
Brothers and sisters, amid our advent preparations this morning, we are reminded again that we need to prepare ourselves. But, we don’t get prepared by decking the halls with boughs of holly. We need to get ready for living, loving, and life-giving God to come among us to dwell with us. We need to make ourselves, our souls, and our bodies a mansion prepared for God.
We do that by allowing God to use us as a vessel through which God works to right the wrongs in the world. To speak up for those with no voice... to fill the hungry with good things… to seek justice and truth. We, like Mary, can let our souls and our actions magnify the purposes of God in this hurting world. Magnify them so the world can see the salvation of our God.
We are almost ready but not yet; we live in that thin space between the already and the not yet. We are nearly prepared for Christ to come among us, but not yet. We still have more work to do!
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