Advent 4 B + YES to kindness + 12.20.20

 

M. Campbell-Langdell

All Saints, Oxnard

(2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16; Romans 16:25-27; Luke 1:26-38; Canticle 15)

 

Happy Advent Four! Today we light the fourth candle of our Advent Wreath, even as our Jewish siblings are just extinguishing their Hanukkah candles. A rabbi friend told me the other day that in the mystical tradition of Kabbala there is a concept about candles representing human beings and our capacity for kindness. In ancient times a candle was made up of a wick in a vessel of oil. And in this tradition, the human being is the wick. And that person’s acts of kindness are the oil. Those acts of kindness make their spiritual flame burn brighter as they are more generous with others.

And this makes me think of Mary. If ever a young woman lit up the world, it was Mary of Nazareth. We celebrated her last Saturday, noting her apparitions all over the world to let us know that God is with us. And we know that this simple humble girl from back of the beyond Nazareth was the vessel that brought Christ into the world. The greatest light of all and the light that still lights our path today.

At one level, Mary is the fulfillment of scripture. In the passage from 2^nd Samuel today we are reminded that God pre-ordained that someone from Jesses/David’s lineage would come to save us.  And here is Mary, who via her betrothed Joseph (to whom she may be distantly related), comes from that line. But I cannot imagine that Mary, when visited by the angel Gabriel, was thinking entirely about the fulfillment of scriptures. I am sure she was aware of them, being a faithful girl of Hebrew lineage. But the angel appeared to a girl, not to a scriptural scholar.

And to paint the picture even further, when I visited Nazareth I learned that many homes at the time of Mary, Jesus and Joseph were caves carved out of the rock of the limestone cliffs nearby. Then stones were added on around them to build out a dwelling place. When you visit the beautiful basilica in Nazareth, you see a small area in the middle at the bottom that is fenced off- it is by tradition the spot wherein Mary was visited by the angel. And it looks like a small illuminated cave. Standing before its grate, I was struck by wonder. But also reminded how humble a place it was that Mary came from.

Nazareth was tiny – perhaps only fifty households or so. And Mary likely lived a very humble, semi agricultural life. In the Advent/Christmas series we are studying, A Thrill of Hope, in John August Swanson’s depiction Mary is feeding the chickens when the angel appears. Actually he has three angels appear, but I love that image. Because yes she might have been at prayer, but she might have been going about her ordinary life. Perhaps also while at work she was at prayer, and wow, in comes an angel!
And the angel told her this impossible story. About a child, even though she had not been with a man. A child who would bring salvation. And Mary said YES! And Joseph steps in – in place of the invisible God-father he is the father. He does what may have seemed impossible for a man of faith and virtue in his time. Mary and Joseph show shocking grace, and by extension bear God into the world.
Mary’s act of kindness touched all of creation. She said yes and risked her whole self-her survival even – to welcome the Christ child, Jesus. The oil of her kindness still burns today and even though her earthly wick was snuffed long since, we see her all over the world, in every age, when we see acts of compassion for others.

Mary did not say YES because it was easy. She said yes in spite of the darkness of her times, in spite of the oppressive empire in which she lived, and in spite of the humble surroundings that were her home. In spite of the risks, she said YES.
We are in dark times at this moment. Although the light of a vaccine is on the horizon and quickly becoming a reality for some of us, we know the full dawning of normalcy, let alone of the second coming is ways off yet. How can we say YES to God this season?

Think of any way you can to share kindness with others, to share God’s love with those in need, and do it as you feel led. Because of Mary and Joseph, and because of that YES.

Acknowledging that light can shine even from cracked cisterns, in the immortal words of Albus Dumbledore from the Harry Potter series, “Happiness can be found in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.”
Let us not just light the fourth candle today, but let us turn on the light of hope. Of saying yes to kindness and sharing God’s love. And let us trust that in 2021 we will have that glimpse of better times, a glimpse of what we hope for in Jesus’ coming to us again.

Amen