Fairfax Community Church, UCC

²⁶In the sixth month the heavenly messenger Gabriel was sent from God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, ²⁷to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. ²⁸And he came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one! The God of Love is with you.”^{ 29}But she was deeply disturbed by his words and pondered what this greeting could mean. ³⁰The heavenly messenger said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. ³¹ Listen to me: you will conceive in your womb and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. ³²He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. ³³He will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and his dominion will have no end.”

³⁴Mary said to the messenger, “How can this be, since I am a not involved with a man?”

 ³⁵The messenger said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come over you, and the power of the Most High will cast its shadow on you; this is why the child to be born will be holy, and be called Son of God. ³⁶Further, your relative Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age. She who was said to be infertile is already six months along, ³⁷since nothing is impossible with God.”

 ³⁸And Mary said, “Here am I, the one who serves the God of Love; let it be with me according to your word.” Then the heavenly messenger left her.

Mary Visits Elizabeth

³⁹At that time Mary set out in haste to a Judean town in the hill country, ⁴⁰where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. ⁴¹And it so happened, when Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb. Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit ⁴²and proclaimed at the top of her voice, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! ⁴³Who am I , that the mother of my Lord should visit me? ⁴⁴For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy. ⁴⁵ Congratulations to her who trusted that what the Lord promised her would come true.”

Mary’s Song of Praise

⁴⁶And Mary^ said,

          “My soul extols the Lord,

⁴⁷       and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,

⁴⁸       for God has shown consideration for the lowly status of one who serves her God.

          Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;

⁴⁹       for the Mighty One has done great things for me,

          and holy is the name of God.

⁵⁰       God’s mercy will come to generation after generation of those who hold God in awe.

⁵¹       God has shown strength with his arm;

          he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.

⁵²       He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,

          and lifted up the lowly;

⁵³       he has filled the hungry with good things,

          and sent the rich away empty.

It took a little bit of extra encouragement, and now the stories of Hope are rolling in.  You’ve heard some of them today.....there are probably more than we’ll be able to hear.....but I hope in looking for them, you’ve been encouraged to share them with each other as well.  It seems that this season, there are stories of Hope being printed in the papers – many of them with the purpose of raising some money for deserving organizations....but some just with the purpose of....sharing stories of Hope.   Isn’t it great how when you start looking and listening, there really ARE uplifting stories that give us a sense that Hope is alive – that people are being kind and generous and creative – dedicated to helping each other.

Our scripture today is so familiar – the story of Mary first learning that she is to be instrumental in bringing someone very special into the world.   A baby who would become someone who would call people into a new humanity,  a new way of embodying the Spirit of the God of Love.   The story in Luke says Mary was a virgin – many birth stories of Holy Beings involve a ‘virgin’ birth.  Bishop John Shelby Spong says that these stories were created to explain something important about the Holy Being --  “we’ve met something in this life that it doesn’t seem like humans could produce.”  Those who tried to relate the amazing story of the Life of Jesus were attempting to capture wordless experiences – they were creating legends because that’s the only way they could articulate the enormity of the experience they had being around Jesus.  So, this story of Mary being visited by the Holy Messenger begins to paint a picture of the extraordinary aura of the Sacred that surrounded Jesus.  Of course the story was written long after he died.....those who wrote it wanted to give some explanation to the unbelievable experiences people had in encounters with this Holy Being.  

So Mary gives voice to the kinds of Hopes the people had for their beloved anointed one – he would create justice and equality and bring Hope to those who were oppressed.  He DID do that – this is the story they were telling AFTER he had been with them!    Jesus would bring to the people a new image of a God of Love – unconditional, extravagant, compassionate love.  Elizabeth helps tell the story of the incredible effect Jesus would have on people – just being near him (even as he was still in his mother’s womb) caused Elizabeth to ‘become filled with the Holy Spirit’....so much that her baby was affected, and HE started dancing for joy!  This is some story that is being told here.  Clearly it’s a story that was meant to inspire hope and joy in others.  When this story was written, almost 50 years had passed since Jesus’ death.  Communities of people who had known Jesus,  who had lived with him and heard his teachings --- these communities had been gathering for many years by this time....they had spawned many new communities....and all these people were gathering for the purpose of trying to live the way Jesus had shown them.....these communities LIVED OUT his teachings of unbounded Love for all people --- Love that was stronger than any law or rule created by man.  These communities broke the rules that their society had written about class, ethnic origin, wealth --- Jesus had taught them that these things are nothing – what we are to do is to know ourselves as one human family, and to love and take care of each other, no matter what.  These were communities of possibility and Hope. 

What we are finding in our explorations of Hope is that these communities of possibility and love and hope are still alive today.  Hope can happen in lots of places, and in lots of ways.  I think Communities are especially conducive to the birthing of Hope. 

I received an email that has some excerpts from ‘A Pacifist Dictionary’.....when I read it I thought – Jesus would like this.  Really I did! Let me share just a few small parts with you –

Patriotism – unswerving loyalty to the first and foremost principle of our country, which is also the first principle of humanity – all people are created equal.  Because violence betrays this principle, true patriotism must seek nonviolent ways both to extend it and defend it.

Defense – Protection against violence achieved by eliminating its causes, including hatred, intolerance, injustice, and fear.  This is accomplished through the universal application of humanity’s first principle.

Freedom. A human condition that arises from a generous sufficiency of food, clothing, shelter, education, health care, civil and religious liberties, and employment opportunities.  It is a self-limiting condition; it breeds no desire for excess....a truly free person or nation sees that in a world of finite resources the drive for disproportionate wealth and power necessarily exploits or subjugates others and thus betrays humanity’s first principle.

What can happen when people live according to these principles – the principles which Jesus taught to those hungry for justice two thousand years ago.....

Lots of good can happen when people take up the guarding of the ‘first principle of humanity’.....there are too many stories to share them all, but I want to lift up two great ones,  both of which happened to appear on the same day in the Chronicle.  

Drawbridge is an organization with a vision – that children need more than just food and shelter to nourish their growth into healthy, whole human beings.  Since 1989, this organization has offered homeless children the opportunity to express their feelings through art.  Gloria Simoneaux, who created Drawbridge, says that services for homeless families focus on the survival needs of the parents, not the emotional needs of the children.  There is a deep sense of loss of control – often confusion, anger and depression.  She says that ‘doing art helps children release their destructive feelings, and helps give them a sense of control and self-esteem.’  The children gather in groups with trained facilitators who use art to help them transform ‘self-hate into self-respect, violence into compassion, powerlessness into active participation.’    For years the organization has been selling Holiday cards with the children’s art on it.....and the children know that people want to see and hear what they have to say.  There is a show with their art and essays at Falkirk Cultural Center – I encourage you to go experience these expressions of Hope.

A different kind of Vision is offered by the Seva Foundation.  Probably some of you have heard of this organization – they’ve been around for 25 years.  Their primary focus is helping people to see – people who don’t have the means to get help any other way.  The word Seva means “service to God”...this organization was begun by a group of Hopeful folks who were inspired by the idealism of the 60’s.  Dr. Larry Brilliant had just helped the World Health Organization eradicate smallpox in the world.....and knew that amazing things were possible if people got busy.  He gathered a group of folks that included doctors and hippies...including Ram Dass and Wavy Gravy.  Together these visionary folks created an organization that has helped cure blindness for over 2 million people in places like Nepal, Tibet and India.  They have created world-class hospitals where eye surgery is sought by those with money to pay for the surgery because it’s the best place to get it....and those who cannot pay a dime.  The foundation is so successful because they create programs that become self-sufficient and self-reliant. They have tackled problems like getting services into Tibet, where politics are very touchy – and sending a helicopter into the mountainous regions of Nepal, where there had been virtually no eye-care facilities or personnel to address a very serious blindness problem in that country.   They now perform 30,000 cataract surgeries a year in one hospital and six rural clinics in Nepal alone. They are expanding into Cambodia, where there are now only 4 trained opthalmologists.  There is much more they are doing, including helping Mayans in Mexico and Guatamala – and they will be expanding into Bangladesh and Egypt.

We are talking about major stories of Hope here.....thousands of volunteers, many of whom have lives and jobs here in the United States that they leave from time to time in order to give their expertise to this incredible organization.  These people are operating on the First Principle of Humanity that was described in the Pacifist dictionary --- all people are created equal....they are spreading the unconditional Love that Jesus ignited in the people he touched and the communities that gathered to share his teachings.

Friday was the day when the Virgin of Guadalupe is celebrated.....her story is one of bringing HOPE to the indigenous people who were in complete and utter despair because their people had been all but wiped out by the conquistadors.   She brought them Hope NOT by smiting their oppressors,  but by uniting the oppressors and the oppressed.  She is still uniting people of all classes and backgrounds...she is truly the Mother of the Mexican people......full of love and compassion.

I mentioned last week that while looking on the Internet for stories of Hope I found organizations that support people who are struggling......struggling with addiction,  physical and mental health issues.....emotional trauma......loss and grief.....it goes on and on.   People do care about each other.  We hear each other’s cries of pain, and we want to help relieve each other’s suffering. 

This community knows how to birth hope for each other.....we show up when we know someone’s in need.  We aren’t a big community, but we want to help --- so we are sharing a meal this week with artists who happen to live on the streets....and we are bringing socks and art materials as gifts from our hearts.   We provide a space where, on Thanksgiving, 2-300 folks show up for food, fellowship, and 12 step meetings.  This week ToniMarie and I met with some from the group who organizes this event, and they are extremely grateful that we offer our space for this purpose.  They said probably 30% of the people who come during the 24 hours they are here are just folks who have nowhere else to be....some are homeless, some just not connected to any other community.  They LOVE this sanctuary, and feel blessed by being in this Sacred Space.  

We show up to decorate this Sacred Space with life and lights – I think it shows that we care for our space and for each other.  This week we will celebrate our community with a festive dinner – and there are always some guests who join us because they are drawn into our light – we welcome them and they often return. 

Please continue to look for and share stories of Hope....as Rita and Carol shared with us last week, Emily Dickinson said:

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all,

AMEN