Waiting with Mary for Christmas in Havana

December 21, 2014

4 Advent, Year B

Christ Church of Exeter

The Rev. Mark B. Pendleton

Waiting with Mary for Christmas in Havana

Recently as an icebreaker exercise in a meeting I attended we were asked to say our names and share the story behind our names. What does our name mean, if we knew? Why had our parents chosen that particular name for us? I came up empty with Mark. It was not a family name and I’m pretty sure my mom and dad were not thinking about St. Mark for inspiration. In terms of meaning, I didn’t know what it meant.  I did discover that it must have been a wildly popular boy name in 1963, as I met seven other Marks on the same floor of my dorm on the first day of college.

The most popular boy names this year so far are Liam, Noah, Ethan and Mason.  Girl names: Sophia, followed by Emma, Olivia and Isabella.  Though she fell out of the top ten this year, the most popular female name over the last century is Mary.

The mother of Jesus.  She, along with an angel named Gabriel, takes center stage on this forth Sunday of Advent.  From the gospel account we learn that she lived in Galilee in a town called Nazareth, she was a virgin and engaged to Joseph.  And her name was Mary.

Who is Mary to you?  Well… it depends. For those of you who grew up Roman Catholic, Mary was likely prominent in your prayers and in your penance. Her statue graced many homes. She was the go-between between a believer and Christ. If you wanted to talk to the son, you had to go through the mother. Mary was pure, courageous, faithful, innocent, and loyal. And she was a virgin when the angel Gabriel arrived with his unexpected message. That Mary was to conceive a child and she would name him Jesus.  And the rest is history.

For those who did not grow up in a Roman Catholic family or culture, Mary is a bit of a mystery.  She’s like a distant aunt we’ve heard a lot about  -- how nice she is -- but she moved away years ago and hasn’t visited us in a while. Or she only visits once a year at Christmas.

We might feel like we don’t know Mary as well as our Catholic friends.  To be clear, Episcopalians and Anglicans do believe in the Virgin Birth, yet we do not hold the belief in Mary’s Immaculate Conception at her own birth, or her Assumption into heaven upon her death.  Nevertheless, for many us, Mary’s place in the story of salvation is clear and treasured. In a moment of great fear and shame, her answer was: Here I am. She was fearless, and drawing from her strength, so can we.

I admit that there is much that a cynic or doubter could have a field day with in today’s account of the Annunciation.  It does seem otherworldly and hard to imagine in the way we experience life and faith today. Yet to me this story is not about biology, genetics and supernatural reproduction. It is not about proving or disproving how a baby could have been born this way in ancient times.  It is about God and what God can do.  

The well-known writer and scholar Marcus Borg reminds us of the long line of unexpected and irregular pregnancies in Biblical history. (Jesus: Uncovering the Life, Teachings, and Relevance of a Religious Revolutionary). Sarah, Rebekah and Rachel, married to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, where the story of Israel as a people began, were all barren before God acted. Sarah was 90 until she gave birth. Samson with his long hair and the prophet Samuel: born to barren women. Elizabeth, mother of John the Baptist, was unable to have a child until old age when God intervened.

The pattern is not a holy coincidence.  When it came time for God to become human, the fact that Mary was young and not yet a mother was not novel and new. The angel said to Mary in verse 37. “For nothing will be impossible with God.” And that is the message. With God anything is possible.

How do you and I play out this wonderful truth in our lives? First, we need to separate out the essential with the accidental and superficial. This theological statement about the power of God should not be used or misused to cash in our paycheck each week and buy lotto tickets because with God nothing is impossible. The Powerball could be ours! Or we could be the next American Idol, President of the United States, the next Steve Jobs or Bill Gates, or the starting quarterback for the Patriots, or a supermodel, who by the way is married to the quarterback of the Patriots.  Yes we can strive, work hard, and dream, but winning it big, standing out, making a name for ourselves and achieving is not God’s primary desire for us.  God does not desire our success or wealth by how the world around us defines it, but yearns for our hearts. God desires that we are reconciled to God through Christ, and reconciled one with another.

For nothing is impossible with God. There can be… peace in Jerusalem. Former enemies can become friends and even allies. Hurt feelings and bruised egos can heal. Broken relationships can be mended. People across cultural divides and political leanings can work together for the common good. Family members can forgive and be forgiven after decades long grudges and old arguments can seem very small indeed when life is held in the balance and people we love get sick or suffer tragedy.  Those who have not darkened the doors of a church in decades can find their way back to learn that though it may have seemed that they left the church or the church had left them: God was always with them and rejoices at their return.

Nothing is impossible with God.

In March eleven of us from Christ Church will travel to Cuba to bring filtration systems for clean water for several churches. Cuba has certainly been in the news this past week. Having lived there for a year in the 1980’s, traveled there many times, and having seen my son just return from his year in Cuba in July, my reaction to the plan to resume diplomatic relations with Cuba is that it may be the beginning of a long process of lasting change. In this season of Advent waiting, expectation and hope, many of us have been waiting and hoping for this news for many years. 

 This island nation, oppressed by its leaders, has been isolated for too long. Many have fled and lost their lives in the waters off the coast of Florida waiting for change. In 1996 I made a surreal trip to a small crop of rock islands off of the Bahamas to help retrieve the dead bodies of the two young daughters of my good friend, who had fled with 15 others on a small boat that was not fit for the sea voyage.  Five died on that journey. My friend, his wife, and my goddaughter and her sister survived, but are forever scarred by the experience. 

In March our plan is to build relationships and make new friendships with members of the Episcopal Church in Cuba who have long suffered. To bring a tangible sign that people here care about people there – regardless of politics and ideology. We will pray for real and lasting change.

“For nothing will be impossible with God.” To make this statement more than a feel-good bumper sticker we need to dig deep and plant ourselves in the story that God wants to tell us.  To make something possible in the face of what the world deems as impossible, Mary is the ultimate role model.  She is the proto-Christian. She simply says: yes. Here I am: God’s servant.

Mary’s life and story provide us with an essential answer to many of life’s questions.  And it starts simply: believe. Trust. Step out in faith. Know that someone has walked this road before and that we are never truly alone. And with God with us – Jesus Emmanuel – may we be fearless.

Here we are Lord.