Rev. Danielle K Bartz December 5, 2021
Luke 1:39-45 “Community of Wonder”
When I was in seminary, my friends and I would gather every Monday night for dinner before our evening class. It started because one of our friends, Kimberly, lived off campus with her wife and son, and didn’t have time to travel home to eat and get back to campus. And as we were all graduate students, eating out was not in our budgets. So, we gathered in one of our on-campus apartments for a simple meal. What we were going to eat was never planned – instead we would each look through our cupboards right beforehand, grab what we had, and bring that. This method of meal prep created some unique, but somehow always delicious, meals
Now, seminary students by definition are incredibly annoying people to be around. We were all convinced that the future of the church hung on the correct interpretation of some obscure theological idea, or how a single word in the Old Testament was translated. And as none of us yet had any real ministry experience to temper these assumptions – our meals turned into discussion and debates that we were sure would change the world.
Looking back on the entirety of my seminary education, those dinners were amongst the most formative moments. It was a chance to talk about what we were learning and experiencing with others who were going through the same thing. We did so as close friends and over a meal that we created together. I have often referred to those meals as Holy Communion, but I think now it was even more than that. Even though there was no liturgy or even prayers, what we were doing was worship. Even though Christ was not visible in the room with us, his presence certainly was. We were practicing our faith, we were worshipping, and by our very gathering – we were praising the presence of Christ in our midst. And what we were doing was older than the church itself. What we were doing, I now believe, started with Mary and her cousin Elizabeth.
We are spending this Advent season with Mary as she awaits the birth of the Christ-child. She has already been visited by the angel Gabriel who has brought her the news of this impending birth. And while the news was presented as a blessing, that blessing brought with it tremendous fear and risk for Mary. As an unwed woman, just a teenager, her pregnancy – if discovered by the wrong people – would undoubtedly lead to her death. At the very least, she would be cast out of society. While she consented, and turned her life and body over to God, she knew things would not be easy. She knew that she could not do this alone, and set out for her cousin Elizabeth.
Elizabeth was a kindred spirit. She had also been told that she would carry a child in impossible circumstances, as she was quite elderly – most authorities say she was 88 years old – and had never before been able to conceive. Zachariah, her husband, had questioned the angel’s announcement about his wife’s conception, and was therefore struck silent for the entirety of the pregnancy. So, while Elizabeth was married – and therefore protected in her pregnancy – she was in essence alone, having no one to talk with. But, when her young cousin Mary arrives, she had someone with her who understood. Someone to care for her, and someone to care for. Elizabeth took in Mary for three months. These two women – an unwed teenager and an elderly woman whose husband could not speak – cared for one another as their bodies cared for the lives within.
There is not much recorded about this time – next week we will hear what has become to be known as the Magnificat, the song Mary sang echoing her ancestor, Miriam. And this week we hear about the greeting. We read about the child Elizabeth was carrying, who would become John the Baptist, leaping in her womb at the presence of Mary. This leaping is meant to convey the divinity of Christ. That even before he was born, he was recognized as God Incarnate by John, who would eventually announce to the people Jesus’ coming ministry. But, it is not John who speaks here, it is Elizabeth. Elizabeth is the first one to offer praise to God in the name and presence of Jesus. It is Elizabeth who is the first to worship Jesus. It is Elizabeth who is the first person to offer a blessing to Mother Mary.
Mary and Elizabeth gathered together with expectation of coming miracles. Prompted by holy words delivered from messengers of God, they came together in community, they supported one another, shared meals together, and they worshipped God in the name and presence of Christ – unseen, but present nonetheless. As I read this text and reflect on this community, small yet powerful, all I can see is the earliest and purest form of church. What I see is worship. There was no formal liturgy. There was no grand sanctuary. There was not even any theological history and tradition for what they were doing. But it was church. It was worship. It was praise of God in the presence of Jesus Christ, heralded by a prophet, leading to words and songs of devotion to God. And in and through it all, it was a community of people caring for one another, sharing resources, and wondering about and at the miracles of God.
Christians around the world today are wringing their hands about the future of church, especially in light of all the necessary changes the pandemic has brought. We look around and lament that things are not the way they used to be. But, I think that so often these worries are brought on by our short memories. Church didn’t always look like what it did in 2019 or even what it looked like when this congregation was formed. For hundreds and hundreds of years, church was simply a gathering of two or more people, wondering about God, praising God in the name of Jesus, and seeking to make their corner of the world a more just and equitable place. This does not mean, of course, that we should let go of some of the traditions that have formed us as a Beloved Community. Those traditions are important and often give us a base to hold our roots in place. But as we continue to wonder how church will change, we must also remember our long and ancient history as a people of belief. And by trying new things, we may in fact be returning to our deepest roots.
On Monday evenings in a suburb of St. Louis a group of students gathered around a thrown-together, hodge-podge meal and worshiped the unseen but felt presence of God in the name of Jesus by trying to figure out what true service to God looks like. And, thousands of years before that, two women came together in a community of belief, filled with the blessings of God, in the company of the unseen but present Jesus Christ. In neither of those gatherings were there liturgy or tradition. Just a gathering of people supporting one another in the presence of Christ, focused on service in glory to God. Both were expressions of Church and both were worship.
Just as God cannot be contained inside sanctuaries and traditions, neither can worship. That is one of the true gifts and miracles of God – a gift and a miracle that God is eager for us to embrace. During this Advent season of expectant waiting for a promised miracle, let us not wait to praise God in all that we say and do. Let us not wait to experience God in the gathering of friends and family. Let us not wait to worship in new and old ways. Amen.
PASTORAL PRAYER
In the hushed anticipation of your coming, O Lord,
kindle in us the desire to remain awake;
that we might be ready for your coming, and eager to pray.
O God, in days to come
the mountain of your house will be established,
and your joy shall reign.
We pray for the church,
that you might teach us your ways and that we might walk in your paths.
Come Lord Jesus, and hear our prayer.
Out of Zion shall go forth instruction,
and you, O God, shall judge between the nations.
We pray for our nation, and all nations,
that your peace would be manifest in every corner of the earth.
Come Lord Jesus, and hear our prayer.
In your Kingdom, O Lord,
wolves lie down with lambs
and children play with serpents without fear.
We pray for the sick, the suffering,
and those in distress of any kind
that you would heal all injuries, comfort all grief,
and settle all wrongs.
Come Lord Jesus, and hear our prayer.
In your Kingdom, O Lord,
even the wilderness and dry land are glad and rejoice.
We pray for those who rejoice this week
as they celebrate;
that they might obtain joy and gladness,
and sorrow and sighing might flee away.
Come Lord Jesus, and hear our prayer.
In the fulness of time, O God,
you sent your son, to be born of our Mother Mary.
And his name was Emmanuel: God With Us.
We thank you for your Presence with us,
and we pray that you might be always present
with those whom we love but see no longer.
Come Lord Jesus, and hear our prayer.
Come among us O God, and hear our prayers;
so that when your Son Jesus comes among us
with great might, and in manger mild,
we might recognize his face and his voice,
and come to adore him. We pray this in his name
and in the way he taught…Our Father…
CLOSING HYMN
“Watchman, Tell Us of the Night”
Watchman, tell us of the night, What its signs of promise are. Traveler, o’er yon mountain’s height, See that glory beaming star. Watchman, does its beauteous ray Aught of joy or hope foretell? Traveler, yes; it brings the day, Promised day of Israel.
Watchman, tell us of the night, Higher yet that star ascends. Traveler, blessedness and light, Peace and truth its course portends. Watchman, will its beams alone Gild the spot that gave them birth? Traveler, ages are its own; See, it bursts o’er all the earth.
Watchman, tell us of the night, For the morning seems to dawn. Traveler, darkness takes its flight, Doubt and terror are withdrawn. Watchman, let thy wanderings cease; Hie thee to thy quiet home. Traveler, lo, the Prine of peace, Lo, the Son of God is come. Amen.