“What Will You Do with Unexpected News?”
An Advent Sermon Preached by the
Rev. Jean Niven Lenk
Sunday, December 11, 2011
First Congregational Church of Stoughton, United Church of Christ
Text: Luke 1:5-20; 57-66
This is the time of year where angels come out in full force – on Christmas cards and Christmas trees, in manger scenes and movies.
My favorite non-biblical angel is Clarence from the movie “It’s a Wonderful Life.” Most of you probably know the story. George Bailey has wonderful plans for his life. Unfortunately, unexpected circumstances intervene to keep him from going to college and traveling to far off countries and fulfilling all his other wonderful dreams – these interruptions include WWII and his father’s sudden death. And so instead of following through on all his wonderful plans, George lives what he thinks is a rather mediocre life in his rather mediocre hometown of Bedford Falls. It takes a visit from the gentle Clarence for George to realize that the life he hadn’t planned on and would never have dreamed of has really turned out to be a wonderful life afterall.
The angels that show up in the Christmas story go much further than deliver heavenly insights like the kindly Clarence. The angels in scripture appear suddenly to deliver unexpected, life-altering news.
There is the angel Gabriel, who comes to a young maiden named Mary, saying “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus.” It can be unexpected news to find out you’re expecting!
And there is the angel who appears to Joseph in a dream and says, “Do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife.” Joseph thinks he has only two options when Mary tells him she is pregnant: to expose her to public disgrace, or to dismiss her quietly. But Joseph unexpectedly receives from God a higher calling and more noble way, and he takes Mary’s destiny as his own.
And then an angel comes to shepherds in a field, saying “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior who is the Messiah, the Lord.” This is perhaps the most stunning, unexpected news of all: nothing short of the long-awaited Messiah is born to the people of Israel!
Do you notice that every time an angel shows up in the Christmas story, so do the words “Do not be afraid”? That’s because in scripture, encounters with angels are not the comforting twists of fate our culture has reduced them to. Far from being sweet meetings of assurance, visits from those divine messengers tend to disrupt our worlds with unexpected news that is not just unnerving and perplexing but will radically change the life we have planned.
This is certainly what happens in this morning’s readings from the Gospel of Luke. According to Luke, two births are needed to transform the world – the birth of Jesus, of course, but also the birth of John the Baptist, who serves as the forerunner to Jesus. Before the story of Mary and Joseph, Luke tells us of Elizabeth and Zechariah. As we heard in our Gospel Call, Zechariah is a priest from the line of Abijah, and Elizabeth is a descendant of Aaron, the brother of Moses. Despite this impressive lineage, there is a hole in their lives; they are childless and, as Luke politely puts it, both are "getting on in years." Zechariah dreams no more dreams; he expects little from God; he’s merely going through the motions of faith; he lives in quiet defeat. It is into the barren heart and life of Zechariah that God dispatches the angel Gabriel and changes everything, on the most important day of Zechariah’s life.
He has received the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to burn incense in the Holy of Holies, the sacred place in the Temple built for the Ark of the Covenant. As he is about to carry out his priestly duties, the angel Gabriel appears, and the text tells us that when Zechariah sees him, he is terrified, and fear overwhelms him. Altogether now, what does the angel say to Zechariah? “Do not be afraid.” The angel goes on to say, “Your wife will bear you a son and you will name him John…”
Well, does Zechariah take this news with calm, composure, equanimity? On the contrary, he is incredulous, saying in effect, “You have got to be kidding.” And because of his unbelief, Gabriel renders Zechariah mute.
When angels visit, they don’t ask whether we humans are available for God’s purposes. Rather, angels come to announce what God is going to do through us. It is not our job to make something happen, but instead to align ourselves with what is already happening by the grace of God.
Think about it. Gabriel doesn’t enter the Holy of Holies and ask Zechariah, “Hey, Big Z, would you and Liz be up for having a baby?” No, the angel simply and declares, “You and your wife are going to have a baby, a very special son.” And for the next nine months of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, while he is unable to speak, Zechariah has an opportunity to ponder his doubt and the God who makes all things possible. When Zechariah finally opens his heart to unexpected messages, divine surprises, and holy possibility, he regains his ability to talk, and when he begins to speak, his first words are full of praise for God.
I think it is a common human trait that we think we are in control of our lives, that we are in charge of our destinies. But more often than not, our lives choose us. How often has it happened that things are going along, and then suddenly we get unexpected news. It may be very good news, but it means things are going to change. We're in a relationship but not ready to settle down and the other person gets a dream job on the other side of the country... do we follow or do we say good bye? We filed adoption application papers what seemed like ages ago and suddenly out of the blue a phone call – a baby is available this week – are we? And certainly, no matter how a baby comes, our lives will never ever be the same!
Other times, we make plans, and they are interrupted by life in negative, sometimes in heartbreaking ways: a door closes on a job we thought was surely ours, an illness strikes us or someone close to us, our parents lose their independence and suddenly become dependent on us, or the economy goes south, leaving us in the dust with our hopes and dreams.
Now, when we get unexpected news or when things change abruptly or when our well-laid plans are upended (you know the saying: if you want to hear God laugh, make a plan), we have to ask ourselves the question: what will we do with this unexpected news? And if we are honest with ourselves, we are really left with only one choice: to live out the life that is now before us.
Some of you may be familiar with the name of Itzhak Perlman. He is one of the greatest violinists of all time. He was stricken with polio when he was a small child, but it has not stopped him. He plays like an angel. On November 18, 1995, Perlman went on stage to give a concert at Lincoln Center in New York City.
Perlman wears heavy braces on both legs and walks with the aid of crutches. He walks across the stage one step at a time, painfully, slowly, arduously until he reaches his chair. He then sits down, slowly puts his crutches on the floor, undoes the clasps on his legs, tucks one foot back and extends the other forward. Then he bends down, picks up his violin, puts it under his chin, nods at the conductor, and begins to play.
But in Lincoln Center that night, something went wrong. Just as he finished the first few bars, there was a loud pop. One of the strings on his violin had broken. You could hear it snap all across the concert hall. Everybody in the room realized what had happened and they wondered, “What on earth is he going to do?” Most thought he would put back on his braces and amble out for another violin or at least a new string. But Perlman didn’t do that.
He sat there for a moment, closed his eyes, and then, amazingly, nodded to the conductor to begin again. The orchestra began, and Perlman re-composed the piece in his head and played it in its entirety with incredible power, passion and purity on just three strings. Now, that would seem impossible. It simply can’t be done. But that night Itzhak Perlman refused to believe the impossible. Re-thinking, re-modulating, he re-arranged in his mind the playing pattern and performed the piece perfectly on just three strings.
When he finished there was an awed silence in the room, and then a standing ovation unlike any other. Perlman smiled, wiped the sweat from his brow, raised his violin bow to quiet the crowd, and then, not boasting, but in a quiet, pensive, reverent tone, he said these words: “You know, sometimes it is our task to find out how much music we can still make with what we have left.”[i]
The other day I was reading the online journal of a woman[ii] who has spent the last seven years battling a stage IV glioblastoma, the most aggressive and deadly form of brain tumor. In her latest entry, she writes, “We can’t control half of what hits us, but we can control how we react to it. Choose joy.”
On this third Sunday of Advent, the Sunday of Joy, the angels come to remind us that the unexpected circumstances we may find ourselves in are opportunities to open ourselves to divine surprises, to holy possibility, and to the ongoing mystery and wonder of God's in-breaking into the world. May we remember that every time the angels bring unexpected news, they also say, “Do not be afraid.” Because God is with us.
May each of remember and hold on to that eternal truth, matter what our circumstances, no matter what twists and turns our lives might take, no matter what unexpected news we might receive. Do not be afraid. Because God is with us. Amen.
