Based on Luke 1:39-55
Ten years ago, a woman named Linda adopted a dog.
Alexander was a friendly and alert dog, very obedient and very loving.
The two became fast friends.
And because Linda was a single woman in early retirement, she had lots of time to spend with Alexander - and over the years built a very close bond.
At night, Linda and Alexander's beds were right next to each other.
And the bedtime routine included snacks, some snuggling, then off to sleep.
But then, one night last year, Alexander interrupted the long-time bedtime ritual with a lick on Linda’s face.
This was very uncharacteristic because Alexander knew he was not to lick his master’s face.
But time and again, he would do so - even when Linda was sitting down, he would jump on her lap and lick her face!
As Linda pondered this newfound phenomenon, she noticed that Alexander didn’t just lick her face, but he licked the exact same spot on her jaw - over and over again.
Hmmm… could Alexander be telling her something?
They’d known each other so long - and so well...
Linda’s intuition had been awakened.
So Linda made an appointment with her doctor - and sure enough, Linda had the very beginnings of a cancer forming right there, on her jawline - which, thankfully, the doctor was able to treat relatively easily, and eliminate.
However, her doctor said that had she waited for a tumor to form that was large enough to be noticed, the treatment would have been much more aggressive and expansive and the danger would have been greatly heightened.
Linda believes God sent a sign - a message, albeit in a very unexpected way, through Alexander.
And she was so thankful she believed what she had thought had been spoken to her by the Lord -
And just like Mother Mary - who also believed what had been spoken to her by the Lord - both were blessed in their believing.
Believing God - Our sermon today is about that.
Trust.
It’s about trusting what the Lord is speaking to you and me.
It’s about trusting God to do what God has said God will do.
Not just in Mary’s life - but in yours and mine.
After all, God has made promises to us.
What has God promised?
That whatever you and I brought in to church this morning - worries over money and vocation, anxiety over our health, the sting of unresolved conflict - constant physical or mental pain -
God has promised to be with us through it all.
God has promised to love us through it all.
God has promised to care for us through it all.
And God has promised that no matter what it is - that we will be brought through it - perhaps not with the ending we want - but with the ending that will always be with God.
In the hustle and bustle of the run-up to Christmas — Mary’s faith invites us to ‘relax’ - all will be well - we are in God’s hands - God’s loving hands - who knows how chaotic life can be - and who desires more good for us than we are able to imagine for ourselves.
Mary’s selfless act - of agreeing to yield her body, her plans, aspirations, dreams, and ambitions - to toss those out the window - in lieu of a promise from God - is what witnesses to you and me today - because making God’s plans, our plans is the key!
And boy, is this difficult, so difficult.
‘When will I ever learn?’ croons the singer Van Morrison, ’to live in God, when will I ever learn?’
Sometimes we need to get hit by a brick...
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A young and successful executive was traveling down a neighborhood street, going a bit too fast in his new Jaguar.
He was watching for kids darting out from between parked cars and slowed down when he thought he saw something.
As his car passed, no children appeared.
Instead, a brick smashed into the Jag's side door!
He slammed on the brakes and drove the Jag back to the spot where the brick had been thrown.
The angry driver then jumped out of the car, grabbed the nearest kid and pushed him up against a parked car, shouting,
"What was that all about and who are you? Just what the heck are you doing? That's a new car and that brick you threw is going to cost a lot of money. Why did you do it?”
The young boy was apologetic.
"Please mister... please, I'm sorry... I didn't know what else to do," he pleaded.
"I threw the brick because no one else would stop…”
With tears dripping down his face and off his chin, the youth pointed to a spot just around a parked car.
"It's my brother," he said.
"He rolled off the curb and fell out of his wheelchair and I can't lift him up.”
Now sobbing, the boy asked the stunned executive,
"Would you please help me get him back into his wheelchair? He's hurt and he's too heavy for me.”
Moved beyond words, the driver tried to swallow the rapidly swelling lump in his throat.
He hurriedly lifted the handicapped boy back into the wheelchair, then took out his fancy handkerchief and dabbed at the fresh scrapes and cuts.
A quick look told him everything was going to be okay.
"Thank you and may God bless you," the grateful child told the stranger.
Too shook up for words, the man simply watched the little boy push his wheelchair-bound brother down the sidewalk toward their home.
It was a long, slow walk back to the Jaguar.
The damage was very noticeable, but the driver never bothered to repair the dented side door.
He kept the dent there to remind him of this message:
Don't go through life so fast that someone has to throw a brick at you to get your attention.
And the attention God’s trying to get from us is to assure us that God will handle things - relax - trust the Lord -
Friends, we have been at this game long enough to know how many times God has come through for us.
We have been at this game too long to know that God’s way is the best way.
And we’ve been at this game long enough to know how to avoid the bricks.
And we do that by following Mary’s example - trusting God.
And we don’t trust blindly -
While we might want certainty, instead God gives us faith.
God gives us freedom. God gives us options, God gives us the opportunity to believe, Even though sometimes God’s care seems obvious.
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When I wake up in the morning I can't go too long before my stomach lets me know that I need to get something to eat.
It's my hunger that suggests that there may be something out in the world called food.
Because I have hunger, I suspect there’s food.
In the same way, you and I often sense on our own, alone, in nature, the presence of something more.
We have longings for purpose, vocation, and longing for certainty –
And these all suggest there may be something out there called God.
To put it another way, writer Soren Kierkegaard once said that faith is like floating in an ocean that’s 70,000 leagues deep.
The more we try to find a bottom on which to stand, to look for something certain to grab onto - the more we struggle, the more we tire – and eventually perish -
Kierkegaard says faith is like floating.
Faith is laying back and relaxing in the water - not thrashing about as if it’s up to you to make the water carry you - but trusting that when we chill out, and let the water do its thing - it will carry us.
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On a stormy night, a businessman boarded a plane.
He took a middle seat between a middle-aged woman sitting at the window and a little girl sitting on the aisle.
After the flight took off, he began a conversation with the little girl, who appeared to be the same age as his daughter. He found it strange that such a young girl would be traveling alone, but he kept his thoughts to himself.
About an hour into the flight, the plane was suddenly jolted by extreme turbulence.
The pilot came over the PA system and told everyone to fasten their seat belts as they had encountered rough weather. Several times over the next half hour, the plane made drastic dips and turns, shaking all the while. Some people began crying, and many—like the woman sitting by the window—were praying intently.
This businessman was sweating and clenching his seat as tightly as he could.
Meanwhile, the little girl sat quietly in her seat with her hands resting calmly on her legs. Incredibly she didn’t seem worried at all.
Finally the turbulence ended.
The pilot came on to apologize for the bumpy ride and announced that they would be landing soon.
As the plane began its descent, the man said to the little girl,
“You are just a little girl, but I have never met a braver person in all my life! And you’re traveling all alone! Tell me, dear, where are you going and how is it you remained so calm while all of the adults were so afraid?”
Looking him in the eyes, she said warmly, “I’m on my way home with my father - and I’m not worried, because he's the pilot.”
We all know the turbulence.
We’re all on that bumpy ride.
And we all know the pilot.
This morning God implores us through our sister Mary: trust, stay calm, stay focused on our destination – relax and float – live into our callings individually and corporately to spread the Good News of God’s love – that God will not only take care of us – but of everything.
That’s why God wants us to trust - to ‘let it go’ - so we can take up the broken pieces of a shattered world - and do our parts in putting it back together.
Let us trust.
Mary did - we can too.
Amen.