And God Said No.

A Word in Response to the Sandy Hook tragedy.

CAdv4 12

Micah 5:2-5a

Hebrews 10:5-10

Luke 1:39-55 (Psalm—part of gospel)

The Gospel according to Luke. [Glory to you O Lord]

39 In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, 40 where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. 41 When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit 42 and exclaimed with a loud cry, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. 43 And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? 44 For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy. 45 And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord." [SING Magnificat from Holden Evening Prayer] 46 And Mary said, "My soul magnifies the Lord, 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48 for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; 49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. 50 His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. 51 He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. 52 He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; 53 he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. 54 He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, 55 according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever."

The Gospel of the Lord [Praise to you O Christ].

Grace, Peace and Mercy are yours from our Savior Jesus the baby who is coming.

Boy, the beginning of advent seems like a long time ago.  Remember?  Remember when we were hearing of the end of the world and Jesus coming back?  Remember when we took scraps of paper home with us?  When we wrote down what signs we see in the world of Jesus’ coming?  Remember when we talked about how disordered and disorienting advent can be- slowing us down and helping us to pause, look around, and see what’s coming- kind of like being in love?  Remember talking about how God is deeply in love with us- and we are about to fall in deep with that baby in the manger?  Remember hearing from the kids about how the gifts we have are enough for God?  Remember how we are enough?  There is a lot to recall… a lot has happened in the last three weeks.

As I sat in my office attempting to think out what God is calling me to say to you this morning, I struggled mightily with coming up with any words that seemed worthy of the day, the scripture, the time we are in. 

After the tragedy in Newtown… and all the discussion about the world ending.  All I could think about was how the world DID end for the mothers and fathers and sisters and brothers and aunts and uncles and grandparents… of 20 first grade children last week.  The world they knew is gone. 

We weep with them, we rage with them… this week as the funerals have begun, we send notes of encouragement and when the children go back to school there will be paper snowflakes from all over the country to welcome them.  We grieve with them and we hold onto hope for them, because they may not be able to.

We struggle to put together any words… but these are the words we have been given for today:

My soul proclaims your greatness O God, and my spirit rejoices in you

You have looked with love on your servant here, and blessed me all my life through.

Great and mighty are you, O Holy One, strong is your kindness evermore.

How you favor the weak and lowly one, humbling the proud of heart.

These words came from the mouth of a young woman about to be a teenage mother.  When that angel showed up on her doorstep, her world ended.  No longer was she just a young woman engaged to be married- with one swift word from God’s messenger she was in a great deal of trouble.  Her innocence was stolen from her- at least in the sense that everyone who saw her saw an unmarried, pregnant girl… and I imagine, much like would happen today, they had their own version of her story.

A young woman at the mercy of Joseph, the man she was to marry.  He had the legal right to throw her out on the street- discarded and abandoned.   His faithfulness to God and to her was all that saved her.

This won’t be the last time Mary’s world will crash down around her. 

In about 30 years, she stands at the execution of her innocent son- watching her first born child wrenched away from this world in the most violent and public display the Romans could think of.  And her world ends. 

Yet her song doesn’t.             

You have cast the mighty down from their thrones and uplifted the humble of heart,

You have filled the hungry with wondrous things, and left the wealthy no part.

Great and mighty are you, O Faithful One, strong is your justice, strong your love,

As you promised to Sarah and Abraham, kindness forevermore.

Mary’s song – is called the Magnificat- it puts a magnifying glass to situations like Sandy Hook- and all the injustices of the world and says

NO. 

This is not what God intends. 

God will put right the world. 

Out of these ashes, out of this dust, God can make a new creation.  God created us from dust to begin with, God will resurrect us again. 

We can remember this every time water splashes on our faces.  Water that reminds us of our baptism.  For when that baptismal water was first splashed upon us, one world ended and a new one began.  You, dusty creature, you were made new again in baptism.  The death that was in you before- the death that you still fear now- the death was put to death in baptism.  For death does not have the last word.  God has the last word.

And so we sing with Mary:

My soul proclaims your greatness O God, and my spirit rejoices in you

You have looked with love on your servant here, and blessed me all my life through.

We sing to put a magnifying glass on the tragedy of Sandy Hook and hear God’s voice saying- “NO.”  No, this is not the way the world was created to be.  No, this is not how we will allow our world to continue.  No, senseless violence will not claim our children.  No, mental health needs will not be ignored.  No!

For Great and mighty is our God!

God is strong and kind and merciful. 

God favors the weak and the lowly.

God humbles the proud and lifts up the humble.

And God calls us along with Mary. God calls us to proclaim his greatness- to magnify it.  To make the whole world know what God intends for the world… and that will mean that the world as we know it will end.  This world will end and out of its ashes, a new creation will arise.  Where the love of God has overcome all evil.  And all of us who are broken and dying now, those of us who are victimized, who are depressed and tortured in our minds, who are lonely, who are filled with a cancer…

We will be reunited as whole, as God’s children in that new creation.

What are my words compared to Mary’s today?  For she knows the hell of our world ending.  And God knows it too… for he sent his son Jesus, and suffered his death, and when Jesus died he went down to hell… to end the world where death reigns.  For God goes to hell and back with us... God goes to hell and back for us!  To find us! And God’s word is resurrection and new life.

And so we can sing with Mary today

My soul proclaims your greatness O God.

We can sing of the promise that this baby she bears brings with him.  Jesus birth is just the beginning, but when our world has ended… sin, violence and death do not have the last word.  There is the hope.  Hope of finding ourselves at the beginning, given new life, as new as this little person coming in the manger.

Amen.

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