Sunday, December 20, 2009

ADVENT-4C                                        "LESS THAN IDEAL"                                GSLC-2009

Pastor Ted Niemi

            I hope this Christmas is the best Christmas you have ever experienced!  I really mean it … I hope you soak in all the joy and everything this season brings.  But, what if that doesn’t happen?  For some people this may not be the best Christmas.  It may be a Christmas that we are just as glad to get behind us.  What are we to do if it’s looking like this Christmas is going to be less than ideal?

            Christmas Eve is now only 4 days away!  How many of you are done shopping?  How many of you still have shopping to do?  You are not alone.  It's been a less than ideal shopping season for retailers.  The worrisome economy has turned shoppers into procrastinators this season, according to a survey released by the National Retail Federation.  The average shopper had completed 46.7% of their Hanukkah and Christmas shopping by the end of the second week in December … the lowest percentage since 2004.  As of last week nearly 42 million people (19.1%) had not even started their Christmas shopping.  Sales are predicted to be down 2.5-4.5% this year.  This has been a less than ideal shopping season.

            Maybe for some of us it has been a less than ideal year health wise.  With the threats of the H1N1 and seasonal flus, we should all be a little concerned about our health.  Maybe some of us have had a year health wise that we'd rather forget...unexpected surgeries, accidents, recurring cancers, arthritis...maybe someone here had a sudden death in the family...there can be many reasons why this may have been a less than ideal year for our health.

            Maybe some of our family relationships are less than ideal.  This is a time of year extended families get together.  Maybe there has been a past issue that keeps arising that adds tension to the breaking point.  Maybe there have been hurtful words.  For whatever reason, I imagine there must be some relationship within all of our families that is less than ideal.

            And, it should not surprise us that Christmas time is no exception when it comes to problems, conflicts, uncertainties and disappointments.  That is not only true this Christmas, but it was true with the first Christmas too.  In many ways, the birth of Jesus came at a less than ideal time for Mary and Joseph.

            After all, she wasn't married, she was pregnant, and she knew she was still a virgin.  He knew he wasn't the biological father of this baby.  They didn't have much money, she was 9 months pregnant, and then they had to trek off to Bethlehem.  Talk about less than ideal situations!

            And in our gospel for today, it says while Mary was pregnant she took a journey out to her relatives' house to see Elizabeth; another trip that would have been extremely difficult for Mary.  Elizabeth is also pregnant, with John the Baptist...except she is around 30 years older than Mary.  She would have been considered pretty old to be having kids at this point.  A less than ideal situation.

            But what did Elizabeth do when she saw Mary?  The gospel tells us that "When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, her child leaped in her womb.  She was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry, 'Blessed are you among women...and blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.'"  Then Mary answers that with the Magnificat, which begins, "My soul magnifies the Lord..."  It is important to notice their reactions.  In less than ideal circumstances, they are praising God!  They knew God was with them throughout it all.  Elizabeth and Mary show their faith that our God works most beautifully in less than ideal situations.  In fact, God specializes in them.  They were seeing God's purpose in their lives despite less than ideal circumstances.

            Some of you here may consider yourselves to be living in less than ideal times.  Our world is not perfect.  Maybe these are less than ideal times for someone here because they don't have as much money as they would like to...or realizing that the family get-together may not be as joyous as it could...whatever the reason, we need to realize God is there with us.  As I said, God specializes in working miracles in less than ideal situations.

            For example, think about the scene where Jesus was born, the manger in Bethlehem.  After the shepherds came and saw Mary and Joseph with their newborn baby, the gospel of Luke tells us that "Mary treasured all of these things and pondered them in her heart."  Now picture that scene for a moment with me.  The new parents were joined by the shepherds in a tiny stable.  They were in the midst of a crowded room filled with animals when they had their first child.  They didn't have ideal situation at all.  And the gospel tells us that after it all, Mary "pondered these things in her heart."  The gospel does not say that Mary was full of energy.  Who would be after child birth?  It does not tell us that Joseph was overly concerned about the labor room amenities.  It does not say that Mary was on Joseph's back for not calling ahead for reservations somewhere else.  It does not say that they were bothered by having to stay in such close quarters with all the other animals.  But one can imagine, as they looked around, they must have thought, "Boy, God sure did not pick the ideal situation to bring the Savior into the world."  And that is the point.  God works miracles with the imperfect when we let God...and open ourselves up to the possibilities of miracles happening where we least expect them.

            Mary pondered the mysteries of God in her heart.  She sees beyond their poverty and the animals.  She grasps for the gift of God's presence in her life and trusts the Giver.

            What are your less than ideal circumstances?  We all have them.  Open them up to God.  And then be ready, like Elizabeth, Mary and Joseph, for God to do the unexpected with the imperfect of your life.  Our Lord and Savior was born homeless in a stable.  Christ came first to those who needed him the most in the most needy of places.

            We may not be rich, we may have health concerns, most of us aren't famous.  Sometimes it feels like we just stumble through the day.  But we are not alone.  God made our time His, and the gift of God's only Son, ours.  God's love breaks through even when and where we don't expect it. 

            I challenge each of us to think about this in these four days before Christmas: Jesus came precisely because the world was in a less than ideal situation.  And God comes into our lives everyday as we open ourselves up to God's possibilities.  Elizabeth told Mary, "Blessed are you who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to you by the Lord."  Well, blessed are we as we believe in our loving God and the fulfillment of all God promises us.            

AMEN.

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