FOURTH SUNDAY OF ADVENT B

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On this Fourth Sunday of Advent, we always celebrate some aspect of the Annunciation, we hear a different part of the great story involving the Angel Gabriel, Joseph, Mary, and her cousin Elizabeth. And all of this foretells the imminent birth of the Saviour.

Mary is unique in all creation with the young woman from Nazareth being offered a pivotal role in the redemption of all creation. We see in Mary’s faithfulness the model for the way the grace of God can and will, albeit in smaller ways, use each of us.

In our Gospel reading for today, the angel says to Mary, “ Rejoice, so highly favoured! The Lord is with you.”  Gabriel then lays out the plan for Mary, explaining how she is to be the mother of the Messiah. Mary’s response is the time-tested response of those who answered God’s call before her: “Here am I.”

The people of faith whose stories  are recorded in the Old Testament and the Letter to the Hebrews share the common attribute of making themselves available to God. God calls and they reply, “Here am I,” before they even know what God has in mind for them.

In this, Mary is part of an ongoing pattern: God’s plan always involves using ordinary people to bring about extraordinary changes. In a dialogue between Anglicans and Roman Catholics, a statement emerged that named how Mary forms a template. Mary: Grace and Hope in Christ explains, “The pattern of hope and grace already foreshadowed in Mary will be fulfilled in the new creation in Christ when all the redeemed will participate in the full glory of the Lord.”

God calls and uses ordinary and flawed me and  you, fitting the pattern we see working its way through human history. Every Christian shares a common call to use the gifts God has given us toward the reconciliation of all the world.

But how might we hear God’s call?  First, this is common. Your own life has been shaped by those who were in some ways responding to how the Holy Spirit was moving in their lives. We know that God can use your own interests and desires to call you, but your own interest and desire alone are not God’s call.

Second, a call happens in community.  Ask God to make a way or close the way. This is not about ordained ministry alone. God may call you to something – a vocation, whether as a teacher or physician or real estate agent, or as a foster parent, or even just to reach out to one person on a given day. In fact, the Holy Spirit can use you anywhere to touch the lives of those around you.

God will use others to affirm what one is hearing.  God speaks in stereo, using more than one method at once—God will use what you read, hear on television or the radio, and the passing comment of a friend.  

Ask God to direct your path. When something arises, test it, and continue to listen.  Ask for the Holy Spirit to open doors, even though it seems impossible. And also ask God that if it is not of him, to close the doors. Praying for God to close doors is hard. After all, the thing you are praying about may be just your own will and desires talking.  

But what if you have never experienced God calling you to do anything – ever? Fear not. Every Christian has been there. The appropriate response is still, “Here am I.” Offer your life to God and let the Holy Spirit guide you. While none of us will experience a call as world changing as the one Gabriel announced to Mary, the effect of each follower of Jesus listening and discerning how God will use them is what the Holy Spirit uses to reconcile all creation to God.

In the model of Mary, we pray that we will be people of faith who recognize God’s saving plan for us and are able respond with obedience. God lives, not where people build basilicas to reflect their own glory, but wherever people make space in their lives to welcome unexpected epiphanies. God will never fail to dwell among those who pray with Mary and say, "Behold the handmaid of the Lord." 

 

Mary is part of an ongoing pattern: God’s plan always involves using ordinary people to bring about extraordinary changes. In a dialogue between Anglicans and Roman Catholics, a statement emerged that named how Mary forms a template. Mary: Grace and Hope in Christ explains, “The pattern of hope and grace already foreshadowed in Mary will be fulfilled in the new creation in Christ when all the redeemed will participate in the full glory of the Lord.”

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