Finding the Holy One in Forgotten Places Preached on December 19th, 2021 at Wollaston Congregational Church Scripture: Luke 1:39-55 We have finally reached the 4th Sunday in Advent, as we continue our Advent reflections on “Housing the Holy.” This week we are invited into the vision of two prophets, who see what God is doing in our midst. They remind us that God is to be found in the seemingly insignificant and forgotten places, because that is where the Holy One is housed. The first prophet is Micah, of ancient days, who prophesied to the “powers that be” in Jerusalem many generations before Jesus. Micah resides in one of the small towns outside Jerusalem. He lives at a time when the Northern Kingdom of Israel has fallen, and the Southern Kingdom, Judah, is fighting the overpowering Assyrian Empire. The kings of Judah are determined to fight, but towns outside the city bear the brunt of the warfare. While the political and religious elite keep themselves well-fed and comfortable, the people of the forgotten places outside Jerusalem suffer terribly. No wonder Micah looks forward, with a prophet’s view, to the coming of a new ruler who will bring peace. In his poetic style, Micah anticipates that “swords will be beaten into ploughshares and spears into pruning hooks” (Micah 4:3). The money and resources spent on war will be redistributed to the poor and the hungry. “Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more; but they shall all sit under their own vines and under their own fig trees, and no one shall make them afraid.” (Micah 4:4) Micah envisions the coming of the new king of peace who will appear in the smallest most insignificant town, Bethlehem Ephrathah. The second prophet this morning is Mary, who is the first prophet and disciple of the gospel of Luke. She has been recently visited by the Angel Gabriel, who has broken the news that she is to gestate and birth the coming savior, a child who will be called the Son of God. Mary’s response was “yes, let it be” and so she is in the early stages of pregnancy, unmarried and very young. In the passage we read today, Mary has traveled to her distant cousin, Elizabeth’s, house. By contrast Elizabeth is elderly and assumed to be past her child-bearing years. None-the-less, she is pregnant too, in her sixth month with the child who will grow up to be John the Baptist. These two women not only prophesy with their voices, they prophesy with their whole bodies. This is the way Luke chooses to begin his gospel: with a coming savior so embodied that even his herald is still in utero. And Mary and Elizabeth’s bodies communicate with one another before anything is said! The child in Elizabeth’s womb leaps for joy and expectation, recognizing that Mary is also pregnant and will birth an even more significant child. Mary and Elizabeth also speak, of course. They give voice to the vision that is evolving in their meeting. Elizabeth goes first: "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord." (Luke 1:42-54) And then Mary responds with a song that envisions a world in which God reigns. Mary uses a prophetic device in which she speaks as though what will be has already happened. God has scattered the proud, God has brought down the powerful from their thrones, God has filled the hungry with good things. Months before she and Joseph arrive in the little town of Bethlehem desperately seeking shelter, Mary makes a house for the holy. The uterus is a wonderful home, perfectly evolved. Nature sees to it that the developing embryo, then fetus, and eventually infant, is protected against the outside world. The fetus is supported in perfectly balanced amniotic fluid. They are fed – to the point of malnourishment of the mother – via the placenta. Their bones are formed and their lungs and brains develop over the course of the pregnancy. They are totally dependent upon the mother’s body. The possibility of a live birth depends entirely upon the safety of the mother. Of course, not every pregnancy will become a child. There are losses and tragedies for both mother and child. In Mary’s time – still in our time today – pregnancy and labor can be dangerous for both. A culture that houses the holy protects expectant mothers, with pre-natal care and support for the family when the baby is delivered. Let’s be sure to say, we are not judging a woman’s medical decisions here. We are talking about pregnancies in women who wish to carry them to term and have given their consent, like Mary. We are talking about the kind of care the prophet Micah demands of the leaders of his day: care for the women and children of the community with safe affordable housing, adequate food and clothing. Mary houses the holy one in her body until the delivery in Bethlehem. We can tell from the outpouring of her song of praise, that she has a clear vision of what his coming means. She has seen it from her little town of Nazareth and she sees in from Elizabeth’s house. Mary’s child will be born to an insignificant young woman in the forgotten and disregarded town of Bethlehem. He will usher in the world that Micah speaks of: where ploughs are beaten into pruning hooks, the hungry and fed, and mothers and children are housed and protected. The Holy One often appears in the forgotten and disregarded places: in our world, in our cities, in our towns. Not only that, the Holy One often shows up in the forgotten places of our heart and our souls. A couple of years ago, I rediscovered a long-forgotten place in my heart. I had no idea that it would be used to house the holy. I was feeling a strong desire to do more with my hands. I had always made things in my younger years. Now it felt as though I was spending too much time in my head. Fond memories of learning to crochet with my grandmother were surfacing in my mind. She had crocheted a colorful blanket for my most beloved baby doll. When I was old enough she taught me some skills. We made small items together and created all kinds of patched together projects: purses, hats and ponchos. Our church expert in crochet, Kate, kindly helped me relearn the basics again. The techniques began to come back to me. I wanted to create blankets and shawls, something I could share that might bring comfort to someone else. Besides, my family didn’t really want too many of my projects around the house. After making a few cozy Afghans from squares, I graduated onto more delicate white baby shawls. Even with my frequent mistakes they were beautiful. I crocheted shawl after shawl, uncertain of where they would be going. Finally it came to me. A friend was serving as a chaplain in the mother and baby unit at St Elizabeth’s Hospital. Perhaps some of the mothers there would like them for baptism shawls. My friend took them gladly, telling me, these will bring comfort to mothers who are having difficult pregnancies or whose babies had complications. A forgotten gift from long ago had come to the fore. Now there were shawls: to wrap around an anxious mother’s shoulders, or to swaddle a struggling infant. These shawls would house the holy. There are forgotten places in our church, too, that might gestate and birth the holy this Advent. Just this past week Kate told me that we had some sleeping bags that could be donated to our Advent drive for the population served by the Manet Health Outreach Team. [1] The people who are served by Manet’s team are homeless or have substance use disorders. I’m sure you’ve seen the kinds of places people sleep rough: in underpasses, derelict properties, sometimes parks and woods. A makeshift camp may be set up in any forgotten corner, where the residents won’t be moved on too soon. When Kate told me we had sleeping bags, I pictured a couple of scruffy unclaimed “lost and found” items from the youth groups who have stayed in our building. But in a cabinet at the back the storage room downstairs she showed me 10 beautiful, sturdy, warm, and practically brand-new sleeping bags. They had been purchased by City Mission for their groups who stayed at Wollaston Congregational Church. We had to suspend the youth group program soon after the bags were bought. Since then City Mission has changed their focus and stopped hosting service groups. [2] Having taken out the sleeping bags, our storage room was a little less cluttered. At the same time Kate found gifts that can truly house the holy: the overlooked people who cannot come inside. Sleeping bags from a forgotten place on our church will house the holy this year. All it took was the vision that it is time to let them go. Do you have a vision of a forgotten place where that the Holy One might be birthed in you, this Advent time so that Micah’s and Mary’s visions might be realized? Maybe -a long forgotten passion for peace? -or a treasure, stored away, no longer useful to you, but still of value to someone who needs it? -perhaps you have rusty constructions skills that could be put to use on a Habitat for Humanity project? -or out of practice, nesting and home-making skills – cooking, sewing, mending, knitting – that could make room for the holy? Or maybe, just maybe, your long forgotten gift is love, love buried deep within. You could house the holy simply by loving them, befriending them, wrapping your arms around them. Mary’s body housed the Holy One, who was born in Bethlehem of Judah. And so, as the carol says, “O Holy One of Bethlehem … be born in us today … O come to us, abide with us, Our Lord Immanuel.” May all God’s people say, Amen [1] https://www.manetchc.org/manet-community-health-center-opens-new-community-outreach-and-prevention-services-office-in-quincy/ [2] https://citymissionboston.org/
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