Eve of the Annunciation – evening
Sunday 24th March 2019
Eve of the Annunciation – evening
Wisdom 9.1-12
Galatians 4.1-5
Revd Preb Maureen Hobbs
So, the good news is, tomorrow it is just 9 months to Christmas!
What, no cheering?
You don’t want to think about that yet?
We are on the eve of Lady Day…. a day that means quite a lot, I am sure to all the farmers here this evening! Because Lady Day meant – or means still probably, the day the rent falls due on agricultural land…. am I right? And this day would also mark the point of entry into a new contract or to a new farm if farming families were on the move.
But in the church we remember it as the day when the Angel Gabriel visited a young girl in a rural backwater called Nazareth, in a troublesome part of the Roman Empire called Palestine – to inform her that – providing she consented, she was to be the mother of a very special baby. A baby born without benefit of a human father, although her fiancé would agree to bring the baby up as his own son. A baby who would call God himself his father, and would enjoy a very special relationship with him.
But for now, all Mary had to do was listen, agree to God’s plan and then undergo nine long months of waiting.
For us it falls in the season of Lent, but this too seems appropriate, because Lent is a time of waiting, of preparation – not for a birth, but a death. But we know it is coming just as surely as an expectant mother knows that eventually, she will hold her child in her arms – having held it safe within her own body during the long months of waiting and preparing.
But what, I wonder, does it mean to be told that God has a special purpose for your life?
In a way, that is an experience that we can all share – whether or not we ever know what it is like to give birth. God visits each of us – although we may not always be aware of his presence beside us unless we are particularly open to his message. And God always knows the unique place that we occupy in this world. We are all equally loved and valued and we each have a role to play in bringing about the kingdom here in God’s world.
So the feast of the Annunciation, which we mark as beginning from tonight (days in Biblical terms always begin at sundown the previous evening, not at sun up) is for each one of us. Not just for Mary.
But listening to and even accepting God’s call on us, does not always mean that things change instantly. Sometimes it takes a while for the seed to germinate and to grow. That time of gestation; of waiting and preparing. Sometimes it may be months or even years later that God’s purpose becomes clear to us – even though we may then be able to look back and see the origins of a major event or change in our lives many years previously.
Sometimes it brings with it great joy; sometimes there is an element of sadness – perhaps realising that God’s call can come at a cost. Mary certainly had both in her life didn’t she? The joy of giving birth to a much loved son; the sorrow of seeing him grow into a wonderful young man, only then to see him die horribly on a cross, without, at the time fully realising why this had to happen.
In a very real sense the Annunciation to Mary marks not only the stirring of new life in her, but also the announcement of death and loss to come.
King Solomon – who supposedly wrote the book of Wisdom from which we heard our first reading this evening, achieved great celebrity in his lifetime, even outshining his illustrious father, David. Solomon it was who built the Temple and further elaborated the Royal Palace in Jerusalem. Solomon was the one with all those wives (although maybe that wasn’t, in hindsight, the wisest of his moves!) Solomon was the one whose fame spread to neighbouring courts and made other monarchs come to see his wealth and admire his judgement. And Solomon was famous for his wisdom, yet it seems that he always realised that this was not due to his own credit, but was a gift from God. And that without such a gift and God’s personal guidance, he would never be fit to sit on his father’s throne.
But all the wealth and the celebrity and the reputation did not outlive Solomon’s death. Eventually it would all fade.
But – in time – there came another descendent to occupy the throne of David. This time there would be no wealth, or fine linen. No wives at all (as far as we know!), and the life lived would be cut short violently. And yet the fame of this son of David would never die or fade even after more than two thousand years. Here truly was the heir to the kingdom – one that he freely shares with us, if only we listen to his invitation and respond.
The announcement is being made. Will we give our assent and will we play our part in God’s purposes for his world? What new life, new purpose, is stirring in us today?