The Station
Luke 1:26-38
December 10, 2006
Today, we begin the second week of Advent. The second of four Sunday's leading up to Christmas Eve. It's a season of waiting and preparation. It's a season in which we're supposed to take stock and consider the events that lead up to a miracle. Because miracles mostly come hard, and they always require waiting. Waiting. Waiting is something we despise. It doesn't matter if it's the small kind of waiting, like in traffic, the post office, a checkout lane. Or the big kind of waiting: for a cure, during treatment, earning a degree, growing up the kids, for healing. Waiting is hard. This advent season we are taking time to consider the Seven Spiritual Gifts of Waiting by Rev. Holly Whitcomb. Today, we are going to consider being there, living in the present.
An angel appears to Mary. She doesn't run like Jonah. She doesn't cower like Moses. She doesn't argue like Zechariah. Mary lives in the present and instead says…Hey! I'm confused why did you call me favored or more closely translated gifted? I'm not gifted. I'm not anyone special. I'm young in a world that honors the old. I'm woman in the world that honors man. I'm poor in a world that honors the rich. I'm single and childless so I am invisible to anyone who might even stumble over me. Why do you call me gifted? I'm just Mary. Fear not. No worries says the angel. God thinks you are tops. And, God's going to gift you with a son. A powerful son who will rule beyond any kingdom. He'll be known as the son of God. But, it's impossible she says, I'm a virgin. And, the angel proves God's possibility by saying, “Hey, God can do anything. You know Elizabeth ? Even now, in her old age, she is in her sixth month.” With God anything is possible. Mary says OK, let it happen.
This is a split second decision. Mary needed to stay present with this message from God. Zechariah got all screwed up because he jumped ahead to when, how where, how will I know. Instead, Mary stays present and accepts what is happening and rolls with it.
We have all sorts of problems with this living in the present. Holly reminds us, hey! If you can stay in the present you will be gifted.
First, you will be gifted with being present. She tells the story of a friend who had childhood cancer. This friend spent her entire childhood waiting. Waiting for treatments. Waiting to feel better. Waiting to be healed. Waiting to see doctors. While she often waited in the hospital she would pass the time by visiting the bathroom. In the first stall of the bathroom someone had scratched into the door, “God is near” and in the second stall someone had scratched “Be here now”. In her memoirs her friend wrote, I didn't want to be here. What I wanted was inconsequential. But, I was here. And, two times out of three I would visit that second stall. I was drawn by this idea of being here now. Because, being here now implied that we didn't have to endure the waiting. It gives us permission to be distracted by the present. Next time you're stuck waiting, she encourages, take a moment to look around. Start paying attention to some things in the present and what you see, hear and feel. Something funny might be right there or something waiting to reveal itself to you. Be in the present, and it gives you permission to let go of everything but what's right here, right now.
Living in the present allows us to relinquish worry. When we are waiting for something big like a test result, a mortgage approval, a job description, news about a loved one. The truth is, worry never teaches us anything useful. When we worry, we disempower ourselves and lessen our trust in God. When we worry, our anxiety mounts as we manipulate everyone around us to make room for our worry and to accommodate our anxiety. Waiting presents us with a unique opportunity to shift gears from useless worry about h future to engagement in the present. Living in the present invites us to make the spiritual leap of trusting in God, believing that God is always near.
Living in the present allows us to say, it is enough. This is the one that I'm the worst at. When we believe that we are the center of the universe and if we don't keep scrambling and working the earth will fall off of its access. And, really the only thing that cracks is us. We can't withstand not being in community, not working with others, something must and will give. Instead, giving ourselves the permission to say, it is enough allows us to enjoy the waiting. , we must admit our own powerlessness, to relinquish worry, and to trust God. It is enough. A small, simple treasure. Consider it the next time waiting makes you crabby or anxious or stressed out and walk lightly.
Living in the present teaches us to be faithful in small things. Everyday faithfulness means helping others feel safe and secure. It means showing up at school or at the nursing home. It is in the saying good-bye and the saying goodnight It is in the praying at mealtimes or in the packing of lunches or in the matching of socks. The secret gift of waiting: an invitation not only to pay attention to the little things but to see what needs to be done, and to be faithful in saying yes. Waiting invites us to recognize Jesus and his call to faithfulness in the most ordinary moments of life.
The difference between Zechariah and Mary are that old Zech was a priest who deserved to be looked on favorably by God. He was from the right family, he was male, he went into the sanctuary of the Lord, he was chosen. Of course, God smiled upon him. Mary however, was wrong through and through. She was invisible. And yet, our God took favor on her and saw her as gifted. And, as she stayed present. Not denying what God was saying. Not challenging what God was saying. But, staying absolutely present to the still speaking God. Mary chose to be blessed. Mary got the opportunity by staying in the present.
We all are gifted, favored children of God. And, this Advent season reminds us that God is coming into our lives in a new way…If we can just learn to wait, living here in the present.