EDITOR'S NOTE: In October 2017 I began a new venture as a synodically authorized minister at Faith Lutheran Church in Wolverton, Minn. The ride over the past 3 years has been an amazing journey of learning, growing and a deepening of my theological mind. This sermon took place on Dec. 15, 2020. This was the 33rd digital service we performed after our church was shuttered because of the COVID pandemic.
So, a little over five years ago now, my wife, Shelley, was working at the Lutheran Campus Ministries house at Minnesota State University Moorhead. Many might know it by its nickname, "The Blue House," because The Blue House has been around for a very long time.
At MSUM, nowadays, it's known as Crossroads Ministry, but its mission is still the same: It's there to serve as a safe and welcoming place for students of any faith, but especially young Lutherans. This campus ministry has deep ties to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, which is our denomination, here at Faith Lutheran. And so every spring, this house used to host a luncheon where the six admissions representatives from the major ELCA seminaries could be available to meet with potential seminarians. There are six there seminaries across the U.S. with which the ELCA has official ties. And often they swing through different regions with universities such as Concordia, where they attract a lot of their potential seminarians.
It just so happened that spring in 2016, they were here in Moorhead. Well on this particular luncheon day some five years ago, Shelley was responsible for setting up that luncheon. She was aware of how involved at Christ the King Lutheran Church in Moorhead that I had become. And so, as a joke she texted me at work that day, "Maybe you should come for lunch," indicating that I should come to meet these seminary representatives.
Well, I got goosebumps at that point because prior to that I had never actually shared with Shelley my aspirations of one day going to seminary. But when I received that text, some four years into our marriage, I dropped the bomb on her about my seminary aspirations that had been dormant for about 20 years. ... And without missing a beat she texted back, and I still remember it to this day: "Then you better get over here."
And, as Paul Harvey would say, "And that is the rest of the story." ... I did go to The Blue House that day. I did meet with a woman named Jill Apple, who was the representative from Luther Seminary, and the rest IS history.
To this day I am still amazed that in that moment presented with that news, Shelley texted me back in quick fashion. No hesitation, no fear, no stopping to weigh the ramifications of her husband answering a call that would upend her life. ... Now that is a blind acceptance of God's call on her part! ... That is what i would call faith!
I wonder tonight, Faith Family, if you've had a similar experience either yourself or any loved one in which you saw someone willingly accept the divine call that God was laying on their shoulders? ... And I ask because this week's gospel reminded me of that personal story of mine ... of Shelley's faith on that day.
Because when we talk about a story about blind faith, whose story is greater than Mary's? ... I mean if we are going to talk about living out our faith, about trusting in God, then can there be any greater story than the story of our virgin mother? ... After all, we have to remember -- because we sometimes forget -- the details about this story.
For instance, in this gospel we are talking about an unwed, pregnant young woman, who in today's world would likely still a young teenager. ... And this young girl came from a small village of maybe 50 to 75 families, at most, in the first century when even just the normal act of giving birth was a highly risky procedure.
And this doesn't even take into account the social ramifications of being unwed and pregnant that Mary faced, that that Christ child faced, that Joseph whom she was going to marry faced, and yes even the risks that her family faced. ... Because a supposed young, virgin woman who is unwed in a very tiny village in the first century in the Middle East ... yeah, try selling that story to your parents. Or try selling that message of the Angel Gabriel, to the village leaders!
We are lucky, of course, because we know the story some 2,000 years later: Mary accepted God's gift despite there being a million reasons not to. ... Including the risk to her own life. But our brave young Mary thought nothing of the consequences when Gabriel came calling. Nor did she think twice that the news was being delivered by an angel. ... An angel! ... Talk about living out in faith!
Bu, rather than fear, our Mary embraces Gabriel's message of "nothing will be impossible with God."
Did you hear that Faith Family? ... With the difficult months we've lived through as a backdrop, the challenging season that we have lived through, hear Gabriel's message: "for nothing will be impossible with God." ... As I read and re-read tonight's gospel, I couldn't think of a more reassuring message for us this Advent season. A season in which we yearn to be together. ... A season in which we mourn loved ones who have passed because of an uncontrollable virus. ... A season in which we comfort those financially impacted by a global pandemic. ... And in a season of Advent in which we're all recovering from months of political and civil division.
Tonight, Faith Family, I cannot think of a more reassuring message this Advent season than: "for nothing will be impossible with God."
I wonder where you are at this Tuesday night, Faith Family, as we stare into a Christmas that we will not be sitting in our beloved sanctuary, where you might be missing loved ones who will not be able to gather with you. ... This Christmas I wonder just where you are at leading into the day that the impossible will happen. ... The day that a bouncing baby boy -- our savior, our messiah to be -- is born to this young, unwed teenager in a land far away from here. Are you holding on to your blind face the size of the young virgin Mary?
If today God were to tap you on the shoulder and up end your life for the service of God's Kingdom today, would you answer faithfully? ... Would you answer unquestionably as Mary did? ... "Here I am, the servant of the Lord. Let it be with me according to your word." ... That is how Mary responded to the angel Gabriel.
This Advent season, Faith Family, young Mary has shown us all the way so that we WILL answer, but let me warn you, as soon as you step into that world, when nothing is impossible in our God, you're inviting something otherworldly into your life. ... Be ready for it!
And that is the Good News for this Tuesday, Dec. 15, and Sunday, Dec. 20, the fourth Sunday in Advent. ... Amen.