Faith Like Mary

On Sunday I preached on Luke 1:26-38, Mary's calling by the Angel Gabriel to bear God's son (see sermon page for full sermon). Mary asked Gabriel, "How can this be?" Mary was only 12 or 13. She was an unwed virgin, so Gabriel's message sounded impossible. When I read Mary's "How can this be?", I hear "Why me?" Not only did the task of bearing and delivering our incarnated God sound impossible, but it also sounded like a lot of shame, isolation and sacrifice. Mary knew if she agreed to God's plans, she had to sacrifice her whole life--her own dreams, hopes and expectations. She would have to endure discomfort, embarrassment, and humiliation. She would have to commit to the inconvenience and difficult life that such a calling would surely entail. Surely Mary knew all this when Gabriel told her what God was calling her to do. She was young, but she wasn't naive, stupid or removed from her culture and context enough to know that a "yes" to God would disgrace her in the eyes of the world. Our bibles say that Mary was perplexed and pondered Gabriel's words. She knew that a "yes" would affect the rest of her life--a life in those moments during Gabriel's visit was filled with uncertainty, mystery and confusion. I don't know if I could have agreed to such a whole-being sacrifice.

But perhaps Mary clung to these words of Gabriel, "The Lord is with you" and "Nothing will be impossible with God." Those words of hope can be the only explanation behind Mary's "yes;" because such a calling to sacrifice everything you are for the sake of the kingdom of God can only be done with the help of the Lord. So, Mary took a leap of faith, not knowing where that leap would take her, but trusting and having faith that God was with her and through her God could and would do the impossible.

I readily admit that if the angel Gabriel had visited me, I don't know if I could have had the kind of faith Mary had--a faith that would take her far out of her comfort zone and into the unknown. I don't know if I could sacrifice my life--my dreams, hopes and desires for this life. That would mean everything would be out of my control, and as a perfectionist, I just don't know how or if I could do it! I don't know if I could, but I would hope that Gabriel's assurance of God's presence and power would cause me to also say yes to God. The truth is that we have these opportunities almost daily to sacrifice ourselves--our wants, wishes, dreams, hopes, desires, expectations--for the kingdom of God in the here and now. I asked my church if they still believe God works through ordinary people like God did through Mary. I believe God is alive and active in our world, and yes, God wants to work in and through us, but we must be willing to have faith like Mary. We must be willing to sacrifice all we are and all we have for the kingdom of God. To "let go and let God" as I've heard some say.

One of the Webster dictionary definitions of "sacrifice" is "surrender something prized or desirable for the sake for the sake of something considered as having a higher or more pressing claim." Mary had to surrender everything to God in order that God might do the greatest thing this world has ever seen--the birth of the Savior of this world. Do we really buy into all that surrender-to-God language today? Remember Jesus' teaching in the Parable of the Rich Young Ruler. Go back and read that story in Matthew 19. Do we really believe Jesus wants us to give up everything to follow him? If he asked us to do so, would we? Be honest. This call to radical commitment to Jesus is reiterated again in Philippians 2. Paul writes to us about imitating the humility of Christ through a life of sacrifice--a life we are called to embody--not just profess with our lips or read with our eyes--if Jesus' love has truly made a difference in our lives, if it is in Christ where we find our ultimate identity. A synonym for sacrifice is "risk." There are a lot of risks when you give up yourself for the sake of another. There are a lot of risks in loving another--God or human--in love there are risks. There were a lot of risks for Mary, and if you are a well-read New Testament reader then you know that as followers of Jesus we are called into a life of sacrifice and risk--sacrificing or risking ourselves for the sake of Christ. Sacrifice is not easy. But then Gabriel did not promise Mary a life of comfort, ease and convenience. He did say God is with you, and he reminded her that through God the miraculous is possible. But we must make the choice to step out in faith, to leap out in faith into the unknown the way Mary did.

This I preached on Sunday, and yet, on Monday I feel my words have fallen on deaf ears. The state of the church I pastor is in crisis. While we are an outreaching and spiritually-grounded congregation, we have lived under the threat of church closure for over 20 years. The church has seen pastor come and go, but growth has not happened in the way it needs to for this church to sustain itself, its ministries and facilities. I feel we are in a much better place than when I first came to this church. We have a lot more hope as a congregation. We've moved from merely focusing on "getting butts in pews" (words of my first SPRC chair) to focusing on making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world--a huge shift in attitude and focus that has strengthened the connection and spiritual lives of our people. We have a solid foundation upon which many of us are ready to build, but building means some things will have to change. And change means sacrifice and risk; change and risks are not welcomed by some, and yet these some want to see the church grow. It's a conundrum common in our churches and to our pastors.

If you've read Phyllis Tickle's book, The Great Emergence, then you know the church is caught in a liminal state, a state of flux, a state of uncertainly, a state of trying to figure out how to be and do church in a post-modern world. Even if you haven't read her book, but you are an average church-goer then your observations are probably in agreement. The waning of today's church is no secret. As United Methodists, we have been told over and over that our denomination is dying, and if we don't reach the younger generations then within the next decade we will experience a membership tsunami, leaving our denomination in dust and ash. Thousands of trees have died so that book after book on this subject of church decline--the stats, the opinions, the suggestions, the laments--could be written. All that may be well and good; I've certainly been shaped by many of these writings, but merely reading these books, observing decline and wishing for the glory days of our denomination to return is not really actively participating in being a part of God's solution for our increasingly unchurched, biblical illiterate, and God-apathy world.

I'm a thinker, but I'm also a doer. One of my greatest pet peeves is people who complain without agreeing to be part of the solution. Complainers often become part of the problem. Being a part of the solution to our church-growth dilemma means sacrifices and risks will have to be made. We stand at a leap-of-faith kind of time where we must jump into the unknown, sacrificing in part our known traditions, expectations, and comforts--all for the sake of the kingdom of God, all for the sake of making disciples of Jesus Christ. If we continue to do and be church the same old way; if we continue to work harder at what we've always done then, I believe, we will continue down the path of decline--but more importantly more and more will continue to not know Jesus Christ upon who our church is built and for who the church exists. I do not believe the universal church will ever die. But church as we know it might just have to, and if it doesn't we might begin to see the doors of several of our oldest churches close. What use are closed doors in the making of disciples and building of the kingdom of God?

Change is hard. Sacrifice is not easy. Risk is something I think many of us are naturally adverse to, but in this time of change, uncertainty, discomfort, we must remember Gabriel's words to Mary, "The Lord is with you," and "Nothing will be impossible with God." Church, I plead with you, take the leap of faith; have faith like Mary so that God can work the impossible in and through us!