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Listen "Sermon | Luke 1:26-38 | THE HEART THAT GREW THREE SIZES - 3. "When Light Shines" by Rev. Joseph Sanford at Grace United Methodist Church in Franklin, Indiana"
Episode Synopsis
Do we want God to work in our lives, friends?
Do we want divine disruption?
of course we don’t want disruption; we like thinking we know what is coming!!!
Do we want divine encounter?
Maybe ask it this way:
Do we feel at peace with ourselves?
Do we feel at peace with others?
Do we feel at peace with God?
Do we have an unshakeable hope?
We might think we do until a disruption come, right??
We find the peace we seek only in a life lived in the presence of God’s Spirit.
We find the unshakeable hope in a life trusting in God’s holy disruptions…
This is how we begin to live with our HANDS OPEN
Trusting in God’s love for us to the point where we open our hands completely…
Where we can allow divine light to reveal to us what we need…and what we don’t…
Where we can be released from having to be “in control” of our lives—if we even ever could be anyway.
Essentially, disruptive light is what we seek…whether we know it or not.
Advent is anticipating the arrival of God in a new way.
Although God enveloped Mary in the same kind of presence the Hebrew people were fully aware of, what they weren’t ready for was God to show up in a vulnerable baby in the darkness of the womb of a betrothed teenage Galilean.
No one was ready for that, Mary least of all.
Maybe you’re STILL working on that one!!!
But Mary was assured that God would envelope her…even in this divine disruption…
She could’ve responded like the Grinch did and remained in her own plans unphased
…But she didn’t.
Every time God shows up in our ancient stories, it always comes with disruption and light.
If we cannot handle the light…God provides us with a shadow in an act of grace and love.
We await the Advent of Jesus’ coming by telling of the first Advent.
We tell of the Light of the World who comes in the darkest of nights.
And in the depths of the darkness, we tell of the light of God who comes in the darkness of Mary’s womb.
The use of light is no coincidence or convenience—it teaches us throughout our lives.
You are here today because you have encountered divine light in some way.
Somewhere in your life journey up to now you have encountered a divine disruption which challenged your certainty.
Or…you realize your certainties…your plans…your way of life is in need of the disruption divine light can bring.
Why else would we be here?
Why else did all of this happen in this way?
Why else would we tell this story year after year?
Why else would we long for God to come and envelope us in presence and power?
As we reflect upon our own stories…
As we contemplate Advent and all it entailed so long ago…
As we anticipate all it might entail moving forward…
Let us prepare ourselves the best we possibly can, for the unexpected.
Let us hold our certainties with open hands so that we might be ready to respond as Mary did.
Let us remember that God illuminates our lives…
God disrupts our plans not to bring fear…but to bring us hope, peace, love, and life…that we might begin to live with open-handed trust.
As we approach Christmas Day, take time in prayer to reflect upon the light.
Ponder the depths of Mary’s story and consider how her story is your story.
Take time to wonder, “Where is God at work disrupting my life…and how can I learn to live in a deeper trust that through Emmanuel, God is WITH you?”
Because the whole point of this story in to remind us that God is WITH us…
And God will continue to bring the divine disruption of light and love that we might live into a life of trust with open hands.
Do we want divine disruption?
of course we don’t want disruption; we like thinking we know what is coming!!!
Do we want divine encounter?
Maybe ask it this way:
Do we feel at peace with ourselves?
Do we feel at peace with others?
Do we feel at peace with God?
Do we have an unshakeable hope?
We might think we do until a disruption come, right??
We find the peace we seek only in a life lived in the presence of God’s Spirit.
We find the unshakeable hope in a life trusting in God’s holy disruptions…
This is how we begin to live with our HANDS OPEN
Trusting in God’s love for us to the point where we open our hands completely…
Where we can allow divine light to reveal to us what we need…and what we don’t…
Where we can be released from having to be “in control” of our lives—if we even ever could be anyway.
Essentially, disruptive light is what we seek…whether we know it or not.
Advent is anticipating the arrival of God in a new way.
Although God enveloped Mary in the same kind of presence the Hebrew people were fully aware of, what they weren’t ready for was God to show up in a vulnerable baby in the darkness of the womb of a betrothed teenage Galilean.
No one was ready for that, Mary least of all.
Maybe you’re STILL working on that one!!!
But Mary was assured that God would envelope her…even in this divine disruption…
She could’ve responded like the Grinch did and remained in her own plans unphased
…But she didn’t.
Every time God shows up in our ancient stories, it always comes with disruption and light.
If we cannot handle the light…God provides us with a shadow in an act of grace and love.
We await the Advent of Jesus’ coming by telling of the first Advent.
We tell of the Light of the World who comes in the darkest of nights.
And in the depths of the darkness, we tell of the light of God who comes in the darkness of Mary’s womb.
The use of light is no coincidence or convenience—it teaches us throughout our lives.
You are here today because you have encountered divine light in some way.
Somewhere in your life journey up to now you have encountered a divine disruption which challenged your certainty.
Or…you realize your certainties…your plans…your way of life is in need of the disruption divine light can bring.
Why else would we be here?
Why else did all of this happen in this way?
Why else would we tell this story year after year?
Why else would we long for God to come and envelope us in presence and power?
As we reflect upon our own stories…
As we contemplate Advent and all it entailed so long ago…
As we anticipate all it might entail moving forward…
Let us prepare ourselves the best we possibly can, for the unexpected.
Let us hold our certainties with open hands so that we might be ready to respond as Mary did.
Let us remember that God illuminates our lives…
God disrupts our plans not to bring fear…but to bring us hope, peace, love, and life…that we might begin to live with open-handed trust.
As we approach Christmas Day, take time in prayer to reflect upon the light.
Ponder the depths of Mary’s story and consider how her story is your story.
Take time to wonder, “Where is God at work disrupting my life…and how can I learn to live in a deeper trust that through Emmanuel, God is WITH you?”
Because the whole point of this story in to remind us that God is WITH us…
And God will continue to bring the divine disruption of light and love that we might live into a life of trust with open hands.
In God we trust