Today we celebrate the feast of Saint Mary the Virgin. This feast has been transferred from this past Wednesday. In the Orthodox church it’s called the dormition of the mother of God, and in the Roman Catholic church it’s called the Assumption of Mary. It is widely believed by many Christians, not just Roman Catholics, that Mary was assumed into heaven, because it is a tradition that has been passed down. I hold to the belief that Mary was assumed body and spirit into heaven, but no one here is required to hold that belief if they choose not to, because there is no account of it in scripture. Mary is the greatest example in all of history of a human being in a perfect covenant relationship with God. The job of the church is to foster that kind of covenant relationship between God and the people of God, Mary preconfigures the church, and she is our role model. Churches all over the world attempt to engage the people around them, so that they can help to initiate a covenant or maintain a covenant relationship between those people and God. In the one block I drive down just before turning into my neighborhood are three churches. One has a large sign that advertises that Bingo is every Wednesday and Friday and a very small sign that says when the worship times are. Another Church had signs out last week that advertised that they would be having a family feast with free water-slides, free ice cream, free burgers, free hot dogs, and live music. The third church always has a new preaching series advertised on its sign out front.
These three churches are examples of the types of efforts clergy of all denominations will go through to have the opportunity to introduce people to Jesus.
Our job as Christians is to do all we can to introduce the people we know and the people we meet to Jesus Christ.
Today that seems to be harder and harder; we have become so shy about our faith, so scared to share it with those around us. What is it that we fear? Are we afraid of being called a zealot? Are we afraid of being rejected by someone who rejects our faith? We do a lot of sharing these days, we share friends’ posts on Facebook, and Instagram, when friends ask about what schools are the best or what nursing homes are best, we freely and readily offer our experiences. What is it about God, about our intimate relationship with Jesus, with this church, that is so hard to share? Maybe it is the intimacy, our relationship with God should between God and us, no need to get anyone else involved. But remember Mary is our role model.
She is the person from whom God chose to take his humanity. The women who gave birth to the Word of God Jesus Christ. Talk about intimacy with God. And talk about taking a chance and having something to fear. “In New Testament times, Joseph would have been required to divorce Mary and expose her to shame; a woman with a child, divorced for such infidelity, would be hard-pressed ever to find another husband, leaving her without means of support if her parents died.” God through the Angel offered Mary the opportunity to usher in the salvation of the world, to allow the Word of God to enter into history.
Her life was in danger, and yet she bore the burden, and Joseph stood alongside her. There was no carrot at the end of a string for Mary; there was no promise or free hot dogs, water-slides, ice cream, or even bingo. Karl Rahner says of Mary, “Her life was one of labor, poverty, and willing acceptance of God’s inscrutable decrees. During Jesus’ public life she maintained, as he wished, an attitude which showed that what mattered was not mere physical motherhood but doing the will of God in faith, even as his mother. She then retires into the background, to come forward again at the Lord’s decisive hour and stand at the foot of the cross.”
Mary knew who Jesus was, but she didn’t know what that meant, or the dreadful pain she would have to endure as she witnessed her Son killed at the hands of the Romans and the leaders of Jerusalem. There she was at the foot of the cross, a sword piercing her soul, yet she endured and waited with faith, and three days later she saw her Son in all His resurrected glory, and she understood that what she had waited for faithfully, she received effectually.
God has not sent an angel to each of one us to describe a specific call, as he did for Mary, but God is calling each of us to something unique. Today is “Rally Sunday” at the Cchurch of the Redeemer. It is the day we as a church kick off our academic year; our first EYC meeting is today, our youth and children meet their Sunday school teachers. In Gillespie hall there is a plethora of ministry opportunities for each of you to peruse. God doesn’t send angels to each of us, because He has established His Bride, the Church, to deliver his message to all of you the body of Christ. Just like Mary birthed His Word into the world, so do we, the church, by the power of the Holy Spirit, process the very word of God into the world.
As our community kicks off our academic year, where do you fit into this picture? Where are you called to take your place at God’s table? To take your place here at Redeemer? Being the mother of Jesus cost Mary everything. What cost are you willing to bear for the Word of God, who through Mary took on human flesh and finally showed humanity a perfect picture of who God is. The all loving, all powerful one who is so generous He lowered himself to the form of a servant and was punished and killed for our transgressions, freeing us from death. It will cost you some of your time to be in church every Sunday, to be a committed Sunday school teacher, to take on a bible study offered this year, to lead a bible study this year, to pray the daily office, to train to be a chalice bearer, or to visit the sick and alone. The payoff, however, is a relationship with your creator and redeemer. The payoff is modeling obedience to God to your children, even if you think they aren’t getting it. The payoff is eternal life and oneness with the very body and blood of Jesus Christ. Perhaps if we realized all this, and I don’t just mean comprehend it, I mean make all this real in our lives, the fear of sharing our faith would disappear, and instead, we would have a loving and holy pride in our faith, in our church, and in our Lord Jesus Christ. Each of us can be the pillars of light Jesus calls us to be. Holy Mary mother of God pray for each of us sinners that the power of the Holy Spirit would transform us and give us the strength and endurance to run the race your son has set before us. AMEN.
Sermon preached by Rev. Christian M. Wood
Church of the Redeemer
Sarasota Florida
13th Sunday after Pentecost
19 August 2018