Be More Open

I didn't think I was going to meet today's challenge of trying something new, but I did a couple of things out of the ordinary. The children both had new- and very positive- experiences too. Faith was involved in leading an assembly- she enjoyed it and it went well. Jacob was very excited to tell me he played a more difficult form of none-stop-cricket, which he thought fantastic! 

My new experience came courtesy of Lady Day, or the feast of the Annunciation as it's probably better known, which is today. This feast (9 months before Christmas...) celebrates the angel visiting Mary to inform her she'll be the mother of God incarnate. Quite a big deal. 

Each year in our area a different church hosts a service which members of the local branches of Mother's Union attend. This year it was our turn to be hosts and I was asked to preach. This was my first time preaching in the evening, and also to people from outside our own congregation. Thankfully my sermon was well received- and I felt like I'd crossed another hurdle in my training. I'm included my sermon transcript below.

As my mum is here this evening she may possibly be able to confirm that I’m not the most obedient of daughters. She did try to ground me once and I think my reply was “don’t be silly”- sorry mum. Whenever I’m told I ‘must’ do something, something clicks in my brain and I am compelled to become rather contrary. This might explain, in stark contrast to Mary’s response, why it took me nearly ten years of hearing God’s call to train for ministry before I did anything about it.

Or did my delay have more to do with not feeling worthy? I would hear the clergy preach here each week and I knew preaching was something I’d never be capable of- you might think I was right by the end of my sermon.

How many of us have felt unworthy at one time or another? Maybe we were given some praise we felt wasn’t deserved, or maybe we avoided something because we didn’t think we were good enough, or suffered a disappointment that we put down to being “not worthy”.

The way our society can often ascribe worth- by material wealth, where we were born, our outward appearance or our intellect, can leave us feeling like we’re falling short of the mark in so many areas of our lives.

I find for myself there are also the stereotypes of how a woman, wife and mother should behave, the skills I should have and the things I ought to be interested in. Whether or not we meet these expectations can account for the worth others ascribe to us or we ascribe to ourselves. In my work as a nurse the smallest mistake can leave you with a feeling of worthlessness.

The word worship is taken from old English meaning to ascribe worth to something, and people can often be said to worship money, fame, footballers, actors or themselves. The things and people we ascribe worth to are not always the things which are necessarily deserving of it.

So where does this leave us as Christians? For us the word worthy we can sometimes read as meaning the same as ‘holy’, although that might mean that not one of us would ever feel we were worthy! We strive to be worthy of God’s grace, and to live up to Jesus’ example of a sin free life- something we can never achieve.

Something we feel certain of is that Mary was worthy to be the mother of Jesus- chosen by God, spoken to by angels, gifted with the Holy Spirit. What can we learn of worth from Mary? What made her worthy?

In the reading from Luke there are few clues. We know she was a virgin, and engaged to be married, so we might assume she was chaste. The angel tells her she is ‘favoured’ and her reaction might be described as modest and eventual response to God’s plan obedient:

“let it be with me according to your word”.

The angel tells her not to be scared, that she has found favour with God. But other than her perceived chastity, modesty and obedience- what sets Mary aside from all the other chaste, modest and obedient young women of her age? Why her?

Are there clues in other women God chose for a purpose? What about the other Mary- Mary Magdalene- chosen to witness the risen Jesus, and about whom so much is assumed? The only quality we presume her to share with Jesus’ mother is her uttermost devotion to Jesus.

What about examples from the Old Testament? Deborah was the only female judge- doing so for 40 years- so would have needed to be a very strong character- the lengths she was prepared to go to were shown when she murdered Sisera with a tent peg, after tricking him into trusting her.

Of course my illustrations are chosen to demonstrate that God doesn’t only have use for pure or demure women- which is how most of us would picture Mary.

From what we know of God I think we can only make one assumption about Mary- God didn’t choose here because she was worthy, She was worthy because God chose her. This is God’s grace in action.

I at no point before putting myself forward to be trained for the priesthood thought “I’m worthy of this” – but I heard God’s call and for whatever reason he wanted me. I had a choice whether or not I was going to be obedient to that call, and against my nature I eventually was.

We all have a place in God’s plan. He calls to each of us. It may not be a priestly calling, God calls us in every way imaginable, but whatever it is do not think that you are not worthy to be chosen by him. The fact that he has called you, chosen you, makes you worthy. His grace is a freely given gift to anyone upon whom he wishes to bestow it.

Of course believing this removes an obstacle, or excuse, and we then must decide if we will be obedient, like Mary, when we discern what God wants of us.

I’d like to repeat part of the reading with some of the words missing:

“Favoured one, the Lord is with you…do not be afraid…for you have found favour with God”.