Mary's Trust
Preacher: Marcia C. Wilkinson

Sunday, December 24, 2006, 10:00am

Luke 1:39-49

As Al has just said through his own story, repentance is God’s gift to us, made possible through his precious Son.  Repentance is our key to restoration and a new way of life; new life that brings freedom to have relationships.  Not only does God embrace us, but, we are free to offer ourselves back to him in praise and worship.  The freedom to worship is indicative that there are no walls, no obstruction between God and us- only intimacy, bound by God’s love to us and our response to God’s love.

And so it was with Mary.  Their relationship was based on mutual trust and love.  This young teenage girl who was favored, was chosen to do the impossible, something scandalous that would violate Jewish law and custom, and bring embarrassment by carrying a child out of wedlock- who would later be despised, tortured and killed as a criminal.  However, because of her relationship with her Lord, Mary’s heart could receive and accept the astonishing news.  God was coming and she would carry him.

God chose Mary to bear the brunt of his greatest work – in silence and set apart, knowing that as a young mother she would suffer and Mary too would have to pay a price.  Of course she had questions and personal fear.  But Mary was able to trust because she knew and worshiped her Lord.  Even though she did not understand what the future would bring, and what sacrifice she would have to make, God’s will, would be her will.  And so she embraced her Lord with gratitude and praise,

For who God was to her,
For what God wanted to do through her.

What does Mary exemplify and teach us today?

1. God seeks each of us to have a personal relationship based on mutual trust.
2. We can only be in God’s will if we freely place ourselves in His will.
3. Entrusting ourselves to the Lord does not mean life will be comfortable or free of suffering.  In fact, because God came to us in the midst of a broken creation, and because of Christ’s sacrificial love for us, we know real life is challenging and costly. 

To model Mary is to live in the image of her Son.  It means that we must continue to humble ourselves before God as she did, to be in constant prayer, and to spend time alone with him in order to know the direction for our lives.

All of this is to say we are called to be willing to put aside our pride, our very selves.  Mary did!  It means embracing and being embraced   It means Christ must show us the way to the Father.  That is why he came to us.  Only in him can we be free to forgive, free to love, free to suffer on behalf of another.  This is no ordinary thing my friends.  The beauty of Christ coming to us through an obedient and trusting maiden was costly for them both.  Putting oneself into the hands of God means letting go to the point that God’s way replaces our own sensibilities of what is right, good and just.  His forgiveness, his grace tells us we do not necessarily have life the way we desire or believe it should be.  However, because of God’s mercy we do not get what our sinful selves deserve.  Instead, we receive what we do not deserve which is God’s grace, freely given to the repentant.

Grace is what God, the Son, the Holy Spirit offers to us and in turn asks us to offer to each other in our family at All Saints’.  God sees what life should and can be here, and gives the power of the Holy Spirit, to do so.  God’s spirit makes it possible for ordinary people like you to live together and live out the gospel.

Like Mary we will not know the outcome of such costly giving of ourselves ahead of time.  And, yes there will be times of embarrassment, or feeling foolish, or getting frustrated and indignant because others are not like-minded. Yet, what Mary and the Lord communicated without words is this:

To trust God for the ability to give of self to God and to others is our hope.
Following the way of Christ’s forgiveness to us, and offering forgiveness to other believers is the only way for Christians.  There is no substitute.  We must accept the power of God to work in and through us, or grace remains a word only and there is no way forward. 

Repentance and forgiveness are key to our life together.  Both help to keep us honest and accountable with each other.  To be like Christ is not natural for me and for you.  Our hearts don’t always tell the truth, or have us think the truth about ourselves as well as others.  Yet, to be like Christ is our answer.  So we bow before a gracious, forgiving Lord and offer ourselves to him- even though it costs us personally to live his way.  Lord, like Mary I want to trust you in all things.  Help us Lord to receive your gift of loving forgiveness and to be as Christ to others.  Give us your joy in believing and trusting you in all things.

Amen.