In the
season of Advent, the lessons all remind us that God acts in a mighty way. Not
just in 1st century Bethlehem, but in the teaching of the Old
Testament prophets and in the early church. God still acts today. When we are
aware and expectant we can see that.
We like to pretend
that we control our destiny-but it is God who acts. “Man proposes, God
disposes” as the saying goes. As noted back on the first Sunday of Advent,
Expect is an active word-from the root meaning to look or to see. When we
Expect God-we look for God in our life and in the lives of those around. When we look for God, we will see God
at work.
In this Advent season we often hear sermons about Mary
and how she said “Let it be
to me according to your word.” (Luke 1:38) We are reminded to
be as obedient and willing to serve as Mary. What we don’t hear as much about
is how courageous Mary was in her willing response. For me, this Annunciation
by John Collier captures some of that fear, as Mary seems to hold herself back
from Gabriel. Yet, she ultimately doesn't question or refuse. Mary says 'Yes'
to God.
Jim Trainor recently said, “Even
in her fear, Mary says Yes. You see, courage isn’t not being afraid.
Courage is not letting your fear stop you from saying, ‘Yes.’”
How do we say ‘yes’
to the Living God? As passive spectators or active participants? Rachel Naomi Remen (A Time for
Listening and Caring) says, “Helping, fixing, and serving represent three
different ways of seeing life. When you help, you see life as weak. When you
fix, you see life as broken. When you serve, you see life as whole. Fixing and
helping may be the work of the ego, and service the work of the soul.” To me
this represents a paradigm shift in thinking. We serve because we are working
alongside God for world that God called into being and said “It is Good”. I
think Remen is correct in saying that fixing and helping are the ‘work of the
ego’ because we cannot and should not think we can ‘correct’ or ‘improve on’
God’s work. We can be stewards and co-workers in the vineyard.
Trainor continues in his blog, “God challenges us today – like he did Mary – to
get out of our comfort zone, way out of our comfort zone. He challenges us to keep following
that little baby that Mary brought into the world – and that means being
vehicles of his healing and restoration and rescue and reconciliation.”
