Saying ‘Yes’ to God
Reflections on Christmas Eve
RCL Christmas III
24 December 2024
Church of the Epiphany
Surrey BC
Many years ago I came across a Renaissance painting of the Annunciation. What made this painting stand out from the many thousands of such paintings was the moment that the artist had chosen to portray. Gabriel has just delivered God’s message to Mary and is waiting for her response. It is moment of universal silence and universal waiting.
In the centre of the painting is Mary and to her left Gabriel who leans towards her. Mary and Gabriel are framed on both sides and above by heavenly beings. Each of these beings holds a hand to cupped to their ear. They too are waiting to hear whether Mary will consent to this momentous request from God. The whole painting vibrates with the tension – will she say ‘yes’ or will she say ‘no’?
We may forget that Mary does indeed have a choice. God will not force her to bear the Christ-child. Indeed, there are many reasons for her to say ‘no’ – social stigma, public ridicule, religious scandal. Even God, the creator of the universe, must wait to hear what this young woman will say.
And let’s not forget Joseph. He will discover that his bride-to-be is to bear a child who is not his. He, too, like Mary, will face social stigma, public ridicule, religious scandal. He has the right to demand her death at worst, a divorce at best, but that is not what he chooses. Just as Gabriel came to Mary, an angel will come to Joseph in a dream to tell him to take courage, wed Mary and care for the child as his own. Just as Mary has her moment of decision, so does Joseph. And they both say ‘yes’.
In tonight’s reading from the Gospel according to John, the evangelist turns to us who hears these words and offers a promise: “But to all who received [the Word], who believed in his name, [God] gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of man, but of God.” [1] This promise requires a choice on our part, our own moment of decision. When the moment comes, will we say ‘yes’ to God or will we say ‘no’?
Saying ‘yes’ to God is not always as easy as it may seem. Saying ‘yes’ to God is not easy because it is not something that we do only once. This is because saying ‘yes’ to God is an act of love, and love is a choice that we have to make every day in many moments. Saying ‘yes’ to God is more than a feeling; it is a decision to walk a path that may lead us into ways we never imagined.
Some of us here tonight are or have been married. We know all too well that while married life begins in an aura of happiness, it soon becomes a life of choosing faithfulness, nurture and self-giving every day. That’s why Anglican marriage vows avoid asking ‘do you’ and ask ‘will you’ – a recognition of the choices we will have to make.
Some of us here tonight have borne the responsibility of caring for children. We know all too well that caring for children is not always easy and that many joys are accompanied by some sorrows and uncertainties. Being a parent or a guardian or a mentor always brings the risk of disappointing the young person we love when we have to speak words of concern.
And all of us live in relationship with other people, some whom we know, some who we do not know, some with whom we work, some of whom we share times and places. In all of those relationships there come moments when we have a moment of choice – a moment when we can choose to be ‘Christ-like’ rather than shirk that responsibility.
To be sure, saying ‘yes’ to God is not always easy and, God knows, we all have had those moments when we have said ‘no’. But the good news is that God is always waiting for us to choose goodness rather than evil, love rather than hate, light rather than darkness, life rather than death. [2] In fact God is not only waiting. Like the heavenly beings in the painting I say, God is leaning towards us, hand cupped to ear, waiting for us to say ‘yes’ even when saying ‘no’ might be easier, more expedient, safer.
Tonight we celebrate the ‘yes’ spoken to God by Mary and by Joseph. We celebrate this ‘yes’ as people who have ourselves been touched by God’s Spirit. Even as we recognize the times that we have remained silent or said ‘no’ to God, we can celebrate that we are children of God, disciples of the Christ-child, that we have said ‘yes’ to God more often than ‘no’ and that we have joined in the work of bringing God’s goodness, love, light and life into this ‘fragile earth, our island home’. [3]
My friends, rejoice this night in the ‘yes’ of Mary and of Joseph. Rejoice that we are being led by the Spirit and, as God’s children, can say ‘yes’. [4] Rejoice that all creation is waiting with eagerness to hear our ‘yes’ when God calls us “to ventures of which we cannot see the ending” [5]– not only waiting for our ‘yes’ but depending upon it. [6]
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