December 22, 2024 ~ Fourth Sunday of Advent
Come Home for Christmas
Rev. Beckie Sweet
I’m dreaming tonight of a place I love even more than I usually do
And although I know it’s a long road back ~ I promise you:
I’ll be home for Christmas, you can count on me….
Do you remember where we were three years ago? In December of 2021? That December, Ithaca was mentioned on the national news A LOT! You see, this was the center of the outbreak of the Omicron variant of COVID-19. We had been so excited about celebrating Christmas with gatherings of family and friends that year, after having to isolate in 2020, that we could hardly believe it when the Omicron variant started spreading like wildfire. At-home Covid tests were just becoming available, but the Omicron variant was spreading so fast, that here at St. Paul’s we made the heart-breaking decision to cancel our in-person Christmas Eve service and only offer worship online on that sacred night.
Sometimes cherished plans and the continuance of meaningful traditions must change with little notice. Do you remember how we grieved? Kept from worshiping together on Christmas Eve, and not wanting to risk contracting the virus or exposing others to sickness, most just stayed away from communal gatherings for a second year in a row. Ugghh! Sometimes expectations just don’t match reality!
Mary, a young teenager from all that we know, was also one to participate in the traditions of her community of faith and local culture. She had been promised in marriage to Joseph. According to the law and tradition, Mary and Joseph were considered to be married, but lived apart for a year in anticipation of wedded bliss. It was during that year that the angel Gabriel visited Mary to announce that she had been chosen by God to be the mother of the promised Messiah. And all this would begin with an immaculate conception.
Mary’s expectations, and that of her family and community, were that at the completion of that year of living separately, Joseph would have a home prepared in which he would welcome Mary, and the home would be theirs together. It would be a haven of family and faith life in which they would raise a family. As if to give credibility to the sudden change in plans, the angel told Mary that her much older cousin, Elizabeth, who had been barren, was also expecting the birth of a child. This certainly was nothing short of a miracle, orchestrated by God. So, after Mary consents to God’s wild plan, (but before Joseph becomes aware of what is happening) Mary goes to visit Elizabeth.
Now, that might NOT sound out-of-the-ordinary for us. But in those days, a woman did not go anywhere alone. Women were almost always in the company of their father, brother, or husband in order to move about without suspicion or risk. But Mary walked for nine (9) days, traveling alone some 80 miles in order to visit Elizabeth. Why? Was she going to give familial support to Elizabeth, or to gain support from a close relative who might relate to what Mary was experiencing? Whatever Mary’s motives were, what happened was a holy affirmation of God’s miraculous interventions at work within these two women.
Elizabeth, carrying John the Baptist, feels an excited leap from within as she welcomes Mary for this visit. Mary hears one she respects telling her that she is blessed among women. And they both start to shout and sing some of the most profound and prophetic words of immanent salvation for creation.
What does it mean to be labeled as “blessed?” Many would define that in terms of material possessions or experiential opportunities. When Elizabeth called Mary “blessed among women,” and Mary sings that “all generations will call me blessed,” it means that Mary was chosen by God for a specific purpose and calling. Mary was chosen to be the mother of the Messiah!
So, all through this season of Advent, we have shared this worship series, Come Home for Christmas. And today’s focus is “The Blessing of Home.” I wonder, with all that has happened during the past four years, and with what is perhaps a new understanding of what it means to be blessed, are our expectations for “The Blessing of Home” changing? Is this a blessing that may not be defined by a place, or a specific time, or even the presence of a prescribed group of people? Is the “Blessing of Home” more of a spiritual reality, the conditions of which may change at the last moment bringing hope to the oppressed, peace to the grieving, joy to those who have cried out, and love to the lonely and confused? For those who consent to being utilized as God’s instrument of grace in the world, there will be holy surprises that convey hope, peace, joy, and love in the forms of freedom, justice, inspiration, and meaningful relationships.
I started this message with the first few lines of the Christmas song, “I’ll be home for Christmas.” That song unexpectedly took on new meaning for me on Christmas day of 2011, when my dad passed away at 11:45 am. He went HOME for Christmas. The HOME for which Dad longed was in the embrace of the Christ he had served his whole life.
May we each, this year, find that spiritual HOME which is filled with blessing because it connects us with a Savior who desires for each one to experience abundant life. Amen.