Advent 4 - According to your word

2 Samuel .1-11, 16; Romans 16.25-27; Luke 1.26-38

The Visitation of Mary to Elizabeth

Today we come to the fourth Sunday of Advent and we are asked to think on this day about Mary, the mother of our Lord. Since at least the third century, Mary has been given the name Theotokos, which means 'God Bearer'. Hence she has been known down the centuries in Christian tradition as the 'Mother of God'. And today, our readings from the New Testament remind us that this event we have been preparing for over the last three weeks and now going into our fourth is all about God. It's not really about the patriarchs and prophets and St. John the Baptist and about the blessed virgin Mary who we have been remembering week by week. God chose them as part of His plan to redeem the whole of creation, to join in with Him in the process, but it was God who initiated it and God who carried it through.

How extraordinary and even miraculous this thing is that God has done for us. And how extraordinary it is that it is quite forgotten by the majority of the population who celebrate Christmas, and Easter. And even we in the Church find at times that we haven't got the energy or the focus really to think about the magnitude of the event we celebrate at Christmas and also at Easter.

Very often at this time of year we are overtaken by events that come seemingly in opposition to any good recollection of Christmas. It could be anything from severe weather to family tragedy that takes our mind, heart and spirit away from Christmas, so that if we celebrate it at all, it's in a way that keeps us preoccupied rather than occupied with it in awe and wonder at the mystery unfolding.

Just yesterday I overheard a conversation between a man and a woman. They were talking about Christmas and the woman said to the man, 'I'm not celebrating it this year'. When asked why, the woman said it was because she'd lost somebody. I didn't quite catch how the person had been 'lost' but it had quite taken her heart, mind and soul away from what Christmas could and should be for her. And I think all of us very often have something that in some way, 'takes the edge off Christmas'.

So maybe we could just remember, if nothing else, that it's a miracle we are celebrating. The two women mentioned in the gospel reading, Mary and Elizabeth, one so young and the other so old, each hadn't expected to be giving birth to a child. For both of them, what was happening to them was a miracle. And a miracle that came with its own complications and difficulties. God doesn't seem to make it easy for anybody, even in His great grace and love. Or maybe that's because we are so far removed in heart, mind and soul from Him that it just is that way.

But the miracle happening to Mary and Elizabeth, in itself, helps us to remember that what was going on wasn't so much about them, it was about God Himself; about God's will for us and for all creation. And that what God wants, what God looks for in those He chooses to work with Him, is the openness of faith; the willingness of faith. He wants us, like Mary, to turn the unwillingness of Adam and Eve to a willing trust in Him; trust that what He says, He'll see through. And bring us through too, as He brought Mary and Elizabeth through what He had planned for them. And which echoes the Lord's prayer; 'thy will be done, on earth, as it is in heaven', where God is all in all and so that He may be all in all here on earth also.

On this fourth and final Sunday of Advent, with the remembrance of the patriarchs and prophets and of St. John the Baptist behind us; those who paved the way in the world and in heart, mind and soul for the Lord; we come to join with the Mother of God in her acclamation of faith and faithfulness, 'Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.' And just as through all that long preparation the Lord was born into the world, so through all this preparation, and through faith and faithfulness, the Lord may be born again in our heart, mind, soul and body this Christmas.