Introduction to Worship at the beginning of the service:
Our theme this Advent is Wonders: Beauty, Friends, Kindness and Family, each Sunday. Imagine these as the embers of our lives that will last to the end…
Message:
Today’s theme is beauty, and as I looked at our scripture reading chosen for today, I asked, What is beautiful in this story?
Today’s story in Luke does not tell us the time of the day when the Angel’s visitation actually happened – morning, evening, or midnight. Or place - where it happened. Inside the house, on the front yard, in the field outside? What was Mary doing when she had the visit from Gabriel? One thing we know from the story is the geography. Luke tells us that “In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth”. If I knew when it happened, and where it happened - I might describe through my imagination the beauty of the moonlight, or the stars, or the sunrise, the beauty of the setting - what grew in the fields, or the trees or bushes or animals which might have existed in the story. Then, I realized that the most beautiful thing, or the beauty in the story, is Mary, the youth. In Korea, there's an expression people like to use when talking about young people, expressing a particular fondness for their youthful energy - their purity, innocence and positive outlook. We have a saying, “The youth laugh (together), even when they hear the sound of the rolling fallen leaves.” And yes, it does lose something in translation. What I would like to highlight is that the “Virgin Mary”, in the story, is a youth. So, what does being a youth represent at the time she lived? And what do youths represent now, in our time? What are the situations the youth of our time are facing today? When I was young, I had no idea how beautiful I was – none of us did –but as I have grown older, all children, all youth are beautiful, every one of them, because the Spirit of Creation is most visible in their lives.
I recently learned about the Haudenosaunee concept/understanding of orenda.
It is the “Good and creative animating power present in all of creation. Children are born with it and puberty enhances it for the life journey of that child. The idea of the Holy Spirit coming upon the prophet to do prophetic work is similar to the idea of enhanced orenda.” (Adrian Jacobs, The Holy Spirit, in Theology of the United Church of Canada.)
What I see in today’s story is orenda. It is the Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit that always has moved the creation and evolution of all life in all things on the earth, including humans and human history. Today's story tells us … “Mary said to the angel, ‘How can this be, since I am a virgin?’. The angel said to her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy.” The way I understand this passage is like this…
In the dialogue between Gabriel and Mary, Gabriel’s response is not an explanation of how the pregnancy is to come about (i.e. implying the absence of human paternity; Mary’s sexual purity is to remain intact). It is a statement of reassurance, urging trust. “The Holy Spirit will come upon you” and “The power of God will overshadow you” a promise of empowerment and protection. Mary’s question “How?” is sidestepped and remains unanswered. And yet, this story quite obviously echoes the commissioning or call of prophets. And Mary's yes, this beautiful moment of empowerment only makes sense when we also equally realize the terror that is inflicted on her. We never know what happened to Mary exactly - - and yet it is also clear that there was a violation (or violence) done against a betrothed virgin. The youth. The young woman. It's the terror that vulnerable people, especially young people, girls and women, lived through, especially in the lands of Palestine under the boot of the Roman Empire and the corruption of the Hebrew people’s own kings and religious elites. Only when we see both the beauty and terror of our lives, can we know that Mary’s canticle, the Magnificat, is powerfully appropriate. It is the song for those who have been sinned-against. “God has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; God has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.”
So, what does youth represent in our own time? What are the situations the youth are facing today? We may not recognize young voices as the prophets’ right away - - but there is orenda (the good and creative animating power present in all of creation; the Holy Spirit) in them, powerfully, and painfully, when they say to us they have been sinned-against! First of all, climate change. But not only climate change… The persistence of slavery through human trafficking. For example, Sex trafficking of girls, and girls exploited into child marriages and slave-like working conditions, in Pakistan and Indonesia and so many other countries in the world. Terror. Often these places are lands of great beauty and of great poverty, desperation and exploitation. “That such a beautiful land can hold such terrible abuse of girls and women in grinding poverty and oppression is not God’s desire!” (Kim Uyede-Kai). Sadly, these stories of slavery, human trafficking, abuse of women and girls are not just news from distant foreign countries. In 2019, this year – today, estimates place the number of slaves worldwide at 46 million, with 6,500 being in Canada. We have to look closely at our supply chain - with technology, clothing, gold mining, fishing, and sugarcane farming - being areas of concern. Furthermore, it is estimated that 2,200 future slaves pass through Canada on their way to sexual exploitation, drug addiction, torture and death in the United States. This is big business with the UN estimating that $ 31.6 billion US in profits is made from slavery every year. (Teresa Burnett-Cole.)
Advent is a time of waiting… If we can see the waiting that accompanies the birth of hope, that's defined and understood and practiced each year, in a new light, we can really see both the terror and the beauty. Beauty is already there in the lands, very often in our lives, too. Look at the young people. Their youthfulness. The orenda. The animating creative power present in all creation. As much as we acknowledge the beauty of God, the beauty of the Spirit, already present in our world and in our lives, the terror is deep too. Leaves wither, they fall from the tree, winter is upon us, and yet the youth laugh because they are together and the moment of joy is now. Perhaps, we must journey through Advent with the youth…
Here’s the one-minute video from Amnesty International. This year, Writes for Rights feature 10 global cases focusing on young people under the age of 25 who are a leading force for change. Today’s message comes from the youth of Grassy Narrows Territory, Canada.
Then after watching that, let us sing “Long Before the Night (This Ancient Love)” in VU 282.
Ha Na Park
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