Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Sermons from Commons Church. Intellectually honest. Spiritually passionate. Jesus at the centre. Since 2014.
Welcome to the commons cast. We're glad to have you here. We hope you find something meaningful in our teaching this week. Head to commons.church for more information.
Bobbi Salkeld:Now a few weeks ago, I stood up here, and I was a little bit Bobby Bah humbug about Christmas preparations starting so early have come around though, and what helped me Was a bit of a refresh of a couple old traditions, old rituals. Early in Advent, Jonathan and I went out to the forest To get a Christmas tree, we're on team real tree for no good reason. And I realized I had never gone out to the forest myself To choose my own tree and have my husband chop it down with a Sawzall. That's a Milwaukee power tools Ad right there, and it was so fun and festive. And for the first time Since living in Calgary, my auntie Faye and I made my grandma Joan Sockled's vanilla caramels together.
Bobbi Salkeld:Now I grew up Eating a lot, a lot of these caramels at Christmas time, but I never made them myself. So That was a refresh of an old Christmas tradition too, which made me realize that the effort to refresh Our rituals is exactly what advent is for. You see, advent is simply The season before Christmas. It is not much more complicated than that. Churches in the east start preparing for Christmas mid November.
Bobbi Salkeld:Churches in the west like us start a couple weeks later. And in the past, Advent was primarily concerned with Penance. That's not something we talk a lot about. But get this, in the 6th century, there were these books called penitential Books. And they had a long list of sins and then prescribed a set of graded Penances for each sin.
Bobbi Salkeld:I mean, can you imagine that? Getting ready for Christmas by cracking open a book with a List of alphabetical sins and seeing if you need to fast or set out on a pilgrimage to address your sorry Folly before Christmas. I mean, we have come a long way. Now advent is mostly about making space For waiting and anticipation, and I love this for us. In a world of instant gratification and immediate entertainment, Advent says, hold up.
Bobbi Salkeld:Sit Tight and pay attention to the restlessness of the world. Remember the story About god drawing near. So this year, our advent journey Has been about landscapes we overlaid on this familiar Christmas story. We've covered Joseph's Valley landscape, And Scott reminded us that it is okay to feel a little lost along the way. And we've talked about this Priestly couple meant to prepare the way for Jesus through their son, John.
Bobbi Salkeld:And Jeremy reminded us of this plains landscape By honoring a spirituality where things feel like they never change until they do. And today, we're in a mountain landscape with Mary in Luke chapter 1. But before we get there, let's pause And let's pray. God of the waiting ones, you are present with us. We take a moment to center ourselves, to simply be here With loved ones or here on our own.
Bobbi Salkeld:All of us are searching for something, something true, something real, Something to bring us some peace. So we feel our feet here on the floor, And we feel our lungs fill with air that sustains our lives. And we take just a beat to contemplate our connectedness, that we Are the people we come from, we are something of the food we eat. We are the land that we walk on. And you, divine maker, you sustain it all.
Bobbi Salkeld:And so as we Pause in a season that makes space for waiting. Won't you speak to us a word of life? May we believe and trust in the story of god made flesh given for the love of the world. Amen. Okay.
Bobbi Salkeld:Today, we are with Mary in a mountain Top experience in Luke 1, and we'll talk about the foot of the mountain, trepidation, the ecstatic, And a dark descent. Now in some ways, I should have preached last week's sermon. I'm more of a plains person myself. I like flat land and big skies. That's beautiful to me.
Bobbi Salkeld:So when the mountains are calling, I don't necessarily listen. Add to that, I actually got to play Elizabeth In last week's commons kids curriculum video, as you can see, I was very convincing As Elizabeth, that's my real hair. This is a wig. And truthfully, 1 kid yelled at me across the room. Bobby, you looked funny in that video, to which I said happy to entertain.
Bobbi Salkeld:But Elizabeth was last week, and we're all about mother Mary today. Before we get to Mary, though, We are gonna start with a passage from Isaiah, and it is a part of Advent to consider the prophet's message perfected in Jesus. And in Isaiah, we get this vision of a holy mountain drawing the world together In peace. So in a moment, in just a moment, I'll ask you to stand like we did last week. But first, I wanna teach you a response for when the reading is over.
Bobbi Salkeld:I will say 3 lines, And then you'll reply with one line, and it's just a fun way to involve your voices. So I will say when I'm done reading Isaiah, For the word of god in scripture. For the word of god among us. For the word of god within us. And you will say, thanks be to god.
Bobbi Salkeld:It's very simple. That's your line. Just thanks be to god. So please stand body or heart. This is what Isaiah saw.
Bobbi Salkeld:In the last days, the mountain of the Lord's temple will be established As the highest of the mountains, it will be exalted above the hills, And all nations will stream to it. Many peoples will come and say, come. Let us go up to the mountain of the lord, To the temple of the god of Jacob. God will teach us god's ways so that we may walk in god's paths. The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
Bobbi Salkeld:God will judge between the nations And will settle disputes for many peoples. This vision is beautiful. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword or missile or drone against nation nor will they train for war anymore. Come, descendants of Jacob.
Bobbi Salkeld:Let us walk in the light of the lord. For the word of god in scripture, for the word of god among us, for the word of god within us. Thanks be to god. Perfect. You can be seated.
Bobbi Salkeld:Okay. So Mary's story gets this introduction. Elizabeth, the wife of the priest Zechariah, has been pregnant for 6 months. And this matters because the gospel draws Comparisons between these women. It is a perfect story setup.
Bobbi Salkeld:Elizabeth is old and barren just Just like other old testament women late in life who put important babies into the world. And Mary is young, And she is at the beginning of her family story, only now pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. And we are meant to compare these 2 women, 1 old, the other young. 1 tried to have a baby for decades. The other did not intend to have 1 so soon.
Bobbi Salkeld:Both are visited by an angel's message. And for Mary, the angel Gabriel shows up in Nazareth, a town in the north, and we're told the angel goes to her. She has not gone looking for it, and the angel says, greetings, you who are highly favored. The lord is with you. Now if it isn't obvious, the writer is getting our attention.
Bobbi Salkeld:Barren women having important babies. As readers of the Old Testament, we know about that. There's Sarah, the mother of Isaac. There's Rebecca, the mother of Jacob, and Esau. There's Hannah, the mother of the prophet Samuel.
Bobbi Salkeld:But the writer of Luke wants you to know that Mary is Neither old nor barren. And how do you portray the opposite of all that? You point to betrothal. You point to virginity. Nothing is less old and barren than that.
Bobbi Salkeld:So at the foot Of this mountain, an old story is behind Mary. Everything before her points to something new. We're at the beginning of a divine plot twist. So when the angel greets Mary, As far as we can gather, she is just a girl going about her regular girl life, a Galilee girly Getting ready for a wedding. But the angel addresses Mary with this word Cairo in Greek, and it can mean hail or rejoice or be full of joy.
Bobbi Salkeld:And with this one word, there is so much more going on than, hey. What's up, Mary? The angel greets her like she's A prophet. The New Testament scholar Barbara Reid argues that this whole story is a prophetic call story Because you know who else was just going about their daily life when god showed up in 1 angelic form or another with a message of joy And a job for them to do? That guy Moses and Jonah and Gideon and Amos and Jeremiah and more.
Bobbi Salkeld:Prophets of old, mostly men, swept up into the work of bringing about something new. Now I know it can be hard to get something new out of the Christmas story Every year, like, where is our sacred interruption? Where is the new angelic word for our time? Like, where is the surprise? Please don't give up on this story yet, But also be ready to step toward a struggle, A divine work of something new in our lives doesn't usually tumble out of the easy parts of living.
Bobbi Salkeld:So much of this baby's beginning, it is a mystery. But one thing is a certainty. This isn't an easy start to a story of redemption. This is a scandal. The woman is a prophet.
Bobbi Salkeld:The god baby is going to move through the birth canal. Even god isn't following the rules. And so we find Mary was greatly troubled at the angel's words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, do not be afraid, Mary. You have found favor with God.
Bobbi Salkeld:You will conceive and give birth to a son, And you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the son of the most high. The lord god will give him the throne of his father, David, and he will reign over Jacob's descendants forever. His kingdom will never end. How will this be?
Bobbi Salkeld:Mary asked the angel since I am a virgin. As the angel maps out the plan, Luke firmly places Mary in the category of Prophet. Any prophet worth their weight resists the call. They always ask, are you sure, god? Are you sure you want to use me?
Bobbi Salkeld:Moses said, I don't speak so well. And Amos said, I'm no prophet, and I'm no prophet's son. And Mary says her voice, I believe, a little shaky with fear. How will this wild story involve me? And right now, In this moment, this is my favorite low key part of our advent journey so far because here we get this perspective of An inner life.
Bobbi Salkeld:Mary is bothered, and she's welcome to challenge what all of this could mean for her. This is Mary's prophetic, wait. Just a minute, god. Things are moving too fast. I am just not There yet.
Bobbi Salkeld:The journey through Advent can give you space to acknowledge that you too resist Change that could be good for you. You put off setting healthy boundaries. You don't really wanna let go of a bad habit. You turn from the truth that will make you change your mind. And I like to imagine that the story of God at work in your life will give you the time you need To come around because change will come knocking.
Bobbi Salkeld:And Mary shows us that there is this power in getting clear about what it will mean to make The climb toward acceptance, toward being exactly where we need to be even if we didn't ask to get there, Toward an experience of, I think, great heights and great joy. So the angel answered Mary, the holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the most high will overshadow you, so the holy one to be born will be called the son of god. Now to read the Christmas story in its context is to understand a few things. One thing is that in a way, Luke Code switches in verse 35. The writer goes from telling this new Hebrew story to telling a new Greco Roman Story.
Bobbi Salkeld:It's true that a mortal woman giving birth to the son of god is unknown in Hebrew scriptures, But it is a familiar Greco Roman trope to explain the origin of emperors and gods. And Greco Roman myths speak about how a god or goddess would come down from the mountain of the gods Pretending to be a mortal. And in their shape shifting body, they would seduce and have sex With a human, and that's how you'd get powerful men worshiped as gods. These beginnings run through Through Hercules and Alexander the Great and Octavian who became Augustus, then I how Luke stretches the story he's telling past religious boundaries. If this story matters, it has to matter to the whole world.
Bobbi Salkeld:So Luke says Mary's baby is even more special. Even more powerful, even more divine than any of the gods and rulers, and especially more powerful than the god and the ruler, Augustus. Augustus brought peace and reform, the underpinnings of which were violence and oppression. And because people reading Luke already know the end of the story, they know that the peace of Jesus would show a death Dealing empire that life could not be stolen forever. But now I'm getting a little ahead of myself.
Bobbi Salkeld:Jesus is just a whisper here, and the story tells us where he'll come from, the god most High, higher than any other in the pantheon from the holy spirit, wisdom growing in a womb. Did we pass over these assertions like they're just warm and fuzzy? You know, it's Christmas. But these assertions are meant to challenge. This little gospel picks a bit of a fight with Empire.
Bobbi Salkeld:So here's my question. In my own 45th advent, How is a baby born in that time, in that place, born to challenge an empire and to expand a story Of the long awaited messiah, how was that baby meant for you and for me? Because I don't think we need a god who can arm wrestle other gods into the ground. I mean, is that interesting to you? If it is, you might be missing the point, and that's okay.
Bobbi Salkeld:We have all been there. We've all looked for the kind of power that crushes our enemies. The point of a theology of incarnation, Of trusting that the divine took on flesh as an act of loving solidarity. The The point of that is to feel a closeness with something divine right here In our living and breathing and dying and crying and collapsing and gas caressing and avenging lives. We need a god who gets everything About all of our highs and our lows.
Bobbi Salkeld:Now look. I don't always jump at the chance to climb real mountains, but sometimes I go anyway because I know It's good for me. See the picture of me trying to get up to the top of a mountain after my friend Christy told me would be so fun. It was not Fun. If you can't tell, I'm terrified.
Bobbi Salkeld:I was so sure I was going to be blown off the side of that mountain, And I'd never live to show you that scary, sweaty selfie. So in the spirit of our advent landscape Series, what if we see the challenge of the infancy narrative like the challenge of, you guessed it, climbing a mountain? Sure. This Christmas story challenges empires and boundaries and religion and people who think they know exactly how god Works. But can you imagine that it also challenges the mountain Of our hopelessness, of our numbness, of everything, everything We're afraid of.
Bobbi Salkeld:There is a thrill in the Christmas story 1st felt by Mary, whom we can imagine stands at the top of this mountain in her life At this moment of enunciation, up here as the angel speaks, her vista is vast. She sees how her ordinary life fits into a prophetic story of god coming down, And she teeters, and she's wind blown. She pulls her tunic Tighter around a part of her body that will make room for god. In mountain spirituality, peak experiences are where we encounter the ecstatic. In mountain spirituality, there's awe and there's terror, and there's the attempt to put beauty into words, and you know what?
Bobbi Salkeld:Mostly failing. And there's insight and innovation, and there's trust that's absolute. Mary knows what Her answer will be for her life and for her community. And up here, she believes in what is good. The good that goes forward with her consent.
Bobbi Salkeld:You see, god prefers our company In the work of relieving the world's pain. So you can't stay on a mountain forever. You need to come down and help out. So now we make our descent With Mary. Mary answered, I am the lord's servant.
Bobbi Salkeld:May your word to me be fulfilled. Then the angel left her. Mary says, I trust you, and I'm all in. Now here's a curious thing. Well, we are so very familiar with the story of Jesus's beginning, of Joseph and Mary and angels and dreams, you will find none of these details Carried over into the remaining writings of the new testament.
Bobbi Salkeld:Paul and the apostles don't talk about a manger. They don't talk about a virgin. They don't mention any wise men and a star in the east. And 1 scholar says that what the Christmas story really does Is put the ineffable in human terms. In other words, there is a darkness To understanding this story of god made flesh through Mary.
Bobbi Salkeld:Maybe you're not meant to see it all So clearly. In the 4th century, Gregory of Nyssa, he said it like this. The knowledge of god is a mountain, Steep indeed and difficult to climb. Every one of us We'll climb more than our share of challenging mountains in life. Many of us have already climbed the mountain of our teenage years.
Bobbi Salkeld:If you're lucky, we'll get to climb the mountain of a long life and of aging. Many of you are climbing the mountain of parenting, or you're taking brave steps Toward a career change, you're climbing a mountain as you get more tenacious about your own mental health Journey, you might be almost at the top of finally feeling like your true self. And there will be more mountains to climb, mountains of conflict, and new learning, and living with loss, and facing death, And bringing about new life. And sure, that can be literal, but it will also be a 100 deaths And a 100 new beginnings for you and for the work that you do in all of your ups and downs. Here's what we do With this mountain mystery, we put something of our experience into words.
Bobbi Salkeld:We tell Our own stories as if they too begin in a secret, sacred place. You say, oh, look. I'm changing. Oh, look. I am trying to be open.
Bobbi Salkeld:Oh, look. I am getting stronger. Look. I'm learning to love. I'm expanding with God and the universe.
Bobbi Salkeld:I'm giving more of myself away, And so shall you find on your journey deep within the naming And the waiting and the longing, the gentle heartbeat of god. Let us pray. Loving god, These landscape metaphors give us the opportunity to reflect on a faith that feels So earthy and true in life. In plains, in valleys, in mountains, we see something of what it feels like To pay attention to holy longing and difficult struggles and high turning points. What if you are meeting us through it all?
Bobbi Salkeld:What if You do not let up inviting us to see how close you are to each of our stories. What if you are not only light, but luminous darkness too? So spirit of the living god present with us now. Enter the places of our stress this season, Our longing for something new and heal us of all that harms us. Amen.
Jeremy Duncan:Hey. Jeremy here, and thanks for listening to our podcast. If you're intrigued by the work that we're doing here at commons, You can head to our website commons.church for more information. You can find us on all of the socials at commons Subscribe to our YouTube channel where we are posting content regularly for the community. You can also join our Discord server.
Jeremy Duncan:Head to commons.church/discord for the invite, and there you will find the community having all kinds of conversations about How we can encourage each other to follow the way of Jesus, we would love to hear from you. Anyway, thanks for tuning in. Have a great week. We'll talk to you
Jeremy Duncan:soon.