12/22/2024 ~ Fourth Sunday of Advent ~ Micah 5:2-5a; Luke 1:46b-55 or Psalm 80:1-7; Hebrews 10:5-10; Luke 1:39-45, (46-55) ~ EXPERIMENTAL YOUTUBE VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tk2hmDs-1iU

VIDEO OF FULL SERVICE: https://vimeo.com/showcase/7960701/video/1042277522

Proclaiming Greatness

“Then Mary said, / ‘My soul proclaims Your greatness, O God, / and my spirit rejoices in You, my Savior.’” — Luke 1:46-47.

In 1983 I had a friend who went for a three day battery of psychological and skills testing at the nationally known Northeast Career Center in Princeton, New Jersey. My friend had been working as a writer, a copywriter in the advertising business.

The testing center suggested that given the skill set they found, my friend should be a lawyer. So he went Princeton University Law School, wound up as the editor of the law review and went to work at a big corporate law firm on Wall Street.

At that time I was also making my living as a writer so this result caught my attention— a writer changes careers, becomes a lawyer. Writing is often a hand to mouth existence, so the law does seem to be more stable and maybe even a more lucrative profession.

And so, I went for the same three days of testing, hoping I would get a similar recommendation— attend law school. The test results had good news and bad news.

The bad news: not only should I be a writer; they told me I was off their charts on that skill set. How is that bad news? Simple— very few people actually make a living just writing. Can you say John Grisham, Stephen King?

The reality is even many famous writers do other things to keep food on the table— teach at universities, conduct seminars and when you’re very famous for a considerable fee give talks at corporate meetings.

But there was good news in my results. Most people test as doing one thing and one thing only really well and nothing else particularly well. I, on the other hand, tested as doing one thing very well but nearly everything else at least adequately well. (I shouldn’t be an airline pilot, though.)

Doing an array of things adequately well was good news since, if writing is the only thing someone does well, they will be a starving artist. The testing center told me if you do many things with a reasonable degree of competence, it’s unlikely you will ever starve. They actually said that. (Slight pause.)
In fact, the real goal of this testing center— and as I mentioned it does have a national reputation— is not so much to detect skills as to put you in touch with yourself, help you self-analyze who you are. If you learn how to do that— and part of the three day process consists of learning how to do that— over and over again— and they encourage that— if you do that then it can become routine for you.

Understanding who you are, assess where you’re at, digging deep into the soul with consistency is an invaluable asset. And, in order to constantly, consistently assess where you’re at, self examination is a skill which needs to be practiced and practiced.

I think self examination needs to be and to become regular, constant. It was, after all, Socrates who said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” (Slight pause.)

This is found in Luke: “Then Mary said, / ‘My soul proclaims Your greatness, O God, / and my spirit rejoices in You, my Savior.’” (Slight pause.)

A couple weeks ago I was chatting with someone who was retired— not unusual for this neck of the woods. After a time she came to realize her identity was tied up with what she had done in her work life. Therefore, her identity was about what she did rather than who she was.

Once she let go of what she did, it freed her to be who she was. But this movement, this change took a couple of years. Frankly, many people find their identity in their work. But is that who we are? (Slight pause.)

The Westminster Shorter Catechism of the Anglican tradition says the purpose of humanity, each of us, is to glorify God. The Baltimore Catechism in the Roman tradition says the purpose of humanity, each of us, is to know God, to love God, to serve God.

I want to suggest these are intertwined, inseparable. Glorifying, knowing, loving, serving God is about who we are, not about what we do. But I also want to suggest glorifying, knowing, loving, serving God are not even a possibility unless we first know about ourselves.

But that raises questions: how do we know about ourselves? How can we know ourselves?

First and to be clear, I think we can know ourselves only in part. What that testing taught me is invaluable because I found out we can never know ourselves fully.

There are always new avenues to explore, other ways to look at ourselves. But because we can never know ourselves fully, one of the best ways to find out about our own self is to listen to what others say about us.

Indeed, I believe when we allow others to examine, to explain, to affirm who we are— affirm who we are— that can be an essential way of getting to better know ourselves. Other people can help us in this process. (Slight pause.)

When this reading from Luke was introduced it was said Luke has a number of stories in the first two chapters. All of the stories, not just the Nativity of the Christ, are important in the context of the birth narratives. And so we need to pay attention to everything in the first two chapters and not separate out the Nativity because these two chapter are one piece, a whole.

Given that connectivity, when Mary proclaims the greatness of God she has already been affirmed twice. She has been affirmed by Gabriel and was told (quote:) “Blessed are you among women.” She is then affirmed by Elizabeth who also says (quote:) “Blessed are you among women.”

And so, having been affirmed Mary proclaims. Mary proclaims by and through glorifying God. Mary proclaims about knowing God, loving God, serving God because Mary knows who she is. Mary knows who she is in part because she has been affirmed.

Mary knows because of that affirmation what her true identity is. She is a child of God. And this may be the key.

I think we cannot glorify, know, love, serve God in the most effective way we are able, without knowing and affirming who we are, who each of us is individually. And who are we? We are children of God. (Slight pause.)

That presents an obvious question: who am I? The testing helped but it didn’t really tell me who I am. I examined that. So, who am I? Like Mary, I am a child of God. And as a child of God I am, thereby, empowered to glorify, know, love and serve God.

There is a second, equally obvious question which needs to be posed. Who are we, as a church? You see, Mary received affirmation from others. And the community of faith, this group who we commonly call the church, we need to be a place where affirmation happens.

I maintain unless we affirm one another we cannot fully, to the best of the ability of each individual and to the best of the abilities as a whole, function effectively as a community, function effectively as a church. And who do we need to be? What do we need to be as a church? We need to be empowered to glorify, know, love and serve God.

Hence, as we move forward it would be wise of us to ask a simple question. Who are we? Who are we as individuals. Who are we as a church? Indeed, this process of self-examination, this process of just asking questions about who we are might help us envision the future.

So to reiterate, these are key questions. Do we, as individuals, strive to glorify, know, love, and serve God? Do we, as a church, as a community of faith, strive to glorify, know, love and serve God? Amen.

12/22/2024
Elijah Kellogg Church, Harpswell, Maine

ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Choral Response and Benediction. The Time for All Ages at the service today had ended with a mirror being held up first to the children and then to the Congregation. At this point the pastor took that same mirror and held it up again to the Congregation before reciting the ENDPIECE. This is a précis of what was said: “New Testament scholar Nicholas Thomas Wright says the Realm of God as it is found in the Gospels is not about getting to heaven. The Realm of God as it is found in the Gospels is about the transformation of life here, now. I say if we as a church, truly glorify God, know God, love God, serve God then we will, as a church, be working toward the transformation of life here, now. What does transformation look like? Mary said what it looks like. It looks like the equity which happens when the proud are scattered, the powerful brought down, the mighty disposed, the lowly raised to high places, the hungry filled with good things. And who will accomplish this? Is it we who are called to accomplish this?”

BENEDICTION: Let us be present to one another as we go from this place. Let us share our gifts, our hopes, our memories, our pain and our joy. Go in peace for God is with us. Go in hope for God reveals to us, daily, that we are a part of God’s new creation. Go in joy for God knows every fiber of our being. Go in love, for we rest assured, by Christ, Jesus, that God is steadfast. Amen.