And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.” Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Luke 1:36-38

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord:
my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour… Luke 1:46-47

As I was preparing this sermon I was struck by an essay on Dan Clendenin Web page, Journey with Jesus

The particular essay is by Ron Hansen. Ron grew up in the Catholic tradition with a strong emphasis on Mary in his years at school. The Angelis was rung on the school bell at lunch time. The Angelis called the whole school to prayer. It draws on our Gospel reading for today and the Song of Mary that we had as our psalm. Mary’s response to the Angel and the incarnation of Jesus were woven into the very fabric of those children’s lives. Ron recalled the whole narrative with such love.

What caught my attention was a quote from Paul Ricouer, a French philosopher. Ricouer reminds us not to try to force our 21st century mind view on to the narrative. Instead he invites us to enter into the story. He suggests “adopting an almost childish innocence in order to make ourselves available to a text’s scenes and symbols so that they can have their intended effect on us”.

May be we can suspend disbelief as we often do at the movies. Let the story work in us rather than spending all our time critiquing it.

Here is the story.
We meet Zechariah and Elizabeth. We are told that they are righteous before God, blameless in their observance of all the Lord’s commandments and regulations. Occasionally you meet couples where you see the love of God in both of them. I Friday night I encountered Dr Fred and Margaret Leditschke. I have know them since I was in college. Margaret was the Librarian at SFC. Gwenn got to know Fred through his work at the RBH. When I think of Zechariah and Elizabeth I think of people like Fred and Margaret. It is easy to say they are righteous and blameless before God.
Anyway Zechariah was in the temple lighting the incense in the Holy of Holies. While there Zechariah encountered the Angel Gabriel. Zechariah was startled and overcome with fear. But the Angel said don’t be afraid. Your prayers have been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will give birth to your son and you must name him John. Well Zechariah could barely believe and so questioned how it might be possible. After all, he and Elizabeth we no longer young enough to have children. For his lack of belief Zechariah would be unable to speak until the baby is born. At the birth of the child he wrote on the tablet, his name shall be John. It is easy to imagine the tears rolling down his cheeks as he then begins to praise God.

In the mean time Mary is visited by the messenger, the angel Gabriel. She too is told that she will give birth to a son who will be called Jesus. Mary too wants to know how this will happen. The power of the Most High will overshadow you. Confirmation of the power of God is given to Mary in the news that her cousin Elizabeth is already six months pregnant. Mary responds Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.
Mary sets off to visit her older cousin. The baby inside Elizabeth jumps for joy at the presence of Mary and the very new bay in her. Mary sings her song praising God.

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord:
my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour,
For you, Lord, have looked with favour on your lowly servant:
From this day all generations will call me blessed.
You, the Almighty, have done great things for me:
and holy is your name.

But it is not merely a song of praise to God for the blessing he has poured out on Mary.

You have shown strength with your arm:
and scattered the proud in their conceit,
Casting down the mighty from their thrones:
and lifting up the lowly.
You have filled the hungry with good things:
and sent the rich away empty.

This song has it roots in the whole history of the people of Israel. *You have come to the aid of your servant Israel:
to remember the promise of mercy,
The promise made to our forebears:
to Abraham and his children for ever.*

As we hear Mary’s song we hear echoes of other Hebrew women singing. We hear Miriam’s song in Exodus 15
I will sing to the LORD,
for an overflowing victory! Horse and rider he threw into the sea!
2 The LORD is my strength and my power; he has become my salvation.
This is my God, whom I will praise, the God of my ancestors, whom I will acclaim.
3 The LORD is a warrior; the LORD is his name.
May be we also hear echoes of Deborah’s victory song in Judges chapter 5. It is important when we hear Mary’s song that we hear in it of God bringing freedom to the oppressed, bringing victory to the down trodden. We hear God bringing salvation to those in darkness and fear.

Mary has found favour with God and she stands in a tradition of the Hebrew people who have found favour with God. Some times it is because they are faithful people like Zachariah and Elizabeth or Abraham and Sarah but often it is just out of God’s extraordinary love. It is out of God’s faithfulness.

But what do we take home today from these rich beautiful stories? Dan Clendenin has another pointed quote on his site.
He quotes Frederick Buechner

Learn as much as you can from the wise until finally, if you do it right and things break your way, you are wise enough to be yourself, and brave enough to speak with your own voice, and foolish enough, for Christ’s sake, to live and serve out of the uniqueness of your own vision of him and out of your own passion.
—Frederick Buechner

Remember the story in John’s Gospel of the woman at the well. John 4. The Samaritans say to the woman at the end of the story “We no longer believe because of what you said, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this one is truly the saviour of the world.” John 4:42.

Hopefully to day we have heard from the wise Zachariah and Elizabeth of their life changing encounter with the Angel. We have listened to the account of Mary with Gabriel. I trust her readiness to serve inspires us. Then as Mary comes to visit Elizabeth the whole of salvation history is caught up in her song.

But hopefully we will go home today enlivened, emboldened and full of faith because we have heard the angel of God ourselves. We will give birth to the prophet, we will give birth to the son of God. We no longer believe because of what they said but because we have heard for ourselves and know that the Holy Spirit has come upon us with power. We too are caught up in the whole of salvation history, not because of our faithfulness. We are blessed to the very core of our being because of God’s extraordinary love and his faithfulness.

With Mary we respond “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word”.

Let us pray.
Heavenly Father, you overshadow us with the power of your Holy Spirit.
We willingly desire to serve you in all that we do. Amen.