FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, ATLANTA, GEORGIA

Communion Meditation by Dr. George Bryant Wirth

The First Sunday in Advent

December 3, 2006

CHRIST AT THE CENTER: THE GIFT OF TRUST

Scripture: Matthew 1:18-25; Luke 1:26-38

INTRODUCTION

I have never seen an angel, but I believe they exist. I have not heard the voice of an angel, but I am convinced they have a message to share with us. Moreover, I think that God’s angels are watching over you and me and all of the human family on earth, because that is how the Bible describes their mission.

Gayle White, an elder and leader in this congregation who is one of the top reporters with the Atlanta Journal Constitution, wrote an article about them years ago, saying “There are signs of a revival of interest in angels today…(and) they are mentioned more than 300 times in the Bible…Theological dictionaries define them as ‘messengers of God.’” (From an article by Gayle White, The Atlanta Journal Constitution, December 21, 1991, page E6).

Next Sunday morning we will celebrate our annual Children’s Christmas Pageant, and there will be a whole host of little boy and girl angels moving all over this chancel. And thinking about them, I am reminded of the first grader who listened to her pastor preach a sermon about angels from the text in Hebrews 13: Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.

As the child was telling her friend about it, they got into an argument. The friend insisted that angels wore white robes and had wings, but the little girl disagreed. “It isn’t true,” she insisted. “Our preacher says that some of them are strangers in their underwear.”

On the windowsill in our kitchen, Barbara has positioned this exquisite white crocheted guardian angel, made by our dear friend Jonathan Jarrells in Jackson Prison…and next to it is this lead paperweight which bears the inscription written by G.K. Chesterton:

“Angels fly because they take themselves lightly.”

I

But sometimes, especially during this Advent season, the angels have a heavy message to convey. So it was long ago, as an angel appeared to Joseph in a dream and said to him:

Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit; and she will bear a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins (Matthew 1:20-21).

We have heard those familiar words so many times in Christmas pageants and Advent sermons that it is easy to forget what was at stake back then. Joseph was betrothed to Mary, which meant that they were engaged and soon to be married. But suddenly, their world was turned upside down when Joseph found out that his teenaged bride-to-be was going to have a baby.

The Bible says that Joseph was a just man, unwilling to put Mary to shame, so he resolved to divorce her quietly (Matthew 1:19). And that is when the angel appeared to help Joseph face his sense of betrayal and fear and to embrace the promise which God had in store for both of them.

You see, of all the gifts that Joseph needed to receive that first Christmas, at the top of the list was trust. Because, without trust, Joseph’s promise to Mary could not, would not be sustained. And so it is with the promises that we make in our marriages and in all of our relationships today.

Near the end of his play “The Skin of Our Teeth,” Thornton Wilder wrote this piece of powerful dialogue between a wife and her husband who were struggling to stay together:

She says to him “I didn’t marry you because you were perfect. I married you because you gave me a promise. That promise made up for all of your faults, and the promise I gave you made up for mine. Two imperfect people got married and it was the promise that made the difference.”

That’s what happened during the first Advent season, as the angel revealed to Joseph that his promise to Mary was under girded by God’s promise to both of them: Do not fear to take Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit; and she will bear a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins. The Gift of Trust, announced by the angel, was offered to Joseph. And although he did not completely understand, by faith, he accepted that gift and trusted in God’s plan.

And so can we, in our marriages, in our families and in all of our relationships. Trust is the gift which God offers to all of us. If trust has been broken or betrayed, God’s promise is that we can be healed, forgiven and reconciled to a right relationship with one another and with Him. And if you need to receive that gift – the gift of trust – during this Advent-Christmas season, then open your heart to the Lord and to those whom you love, and your trust can and will be restored.

II

Before we conclude this sermon, let’s focus our attention on the other main character in this gospel story during that first Advent-Christmas season. Biblical scholars have determined that Mary was very young – probably a teenager – when the angel Gabriel appeared to her and declared Hail, O favored one, the Lord is with you (Luke 1:28)

But that was not a comforting proclamation to Mary, who was “greatly troubled at this saying and considered in her mind what sort of greeting this was.”

Why was she troubled? Because when the angel’s message was conveyed, Mary knew in her heart that her life would never be the same again. Her plan was to marry Joseph, to settle down in Nazareth, to have children and to support her husband in his vocation as a carpenter.

But the angel proclaimed and prophesied that God had a different plan in mind:

You will conceive in your womb and bear a Son and you shall call His name Jesus, and He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give to Him the throne of His Father David, and He will reign over the House of Jacob forever, and of His Kingdom there will be no end.

That was not exactly what Mary had expected and who of us can blame her as she protested, How can this be, since I have no husband?

You see, Mary knew that her reputation would be questioned and that her upcoming marriage to Joseph would be threatened by the plan which the angel Gabriel had proposed. But something deep down in her soul realized that God was calling her to play a major role in a grand and glorious plan that would change the whole world.

So by faith, Mary answered the call: Behold, I am a handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word (Luke 1:38).

If Mary had said “No,” then we would not be telling this story today. But because she answered “Yes,” God’s plan was set in motion to bring about the redemption of the world: For God so loved the world, that He gave us His only Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish but has eternal life (John 3:16).

That is the gospel story and it all comes down to trust – trusting in God’s plan of salvation through the birth, the life, the death and the resurrection of His only Son, our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

CONCLUSION

Do you trust that plan for your life today? If you do, or if you want to, then listen to this one last story which shows us the way toward Christmas. It’s an old legend which says that when Jesus ascended into heaven, He was met there by the angel Gabriel who said “Lord, now that you are here in heaven, who will carry on the ministry that you began on earth?”

Jesus said “I have entrusted everything to my disciples and I have called them to build the Church. They will carry on where I left off.” Gabriel was troubled. He said “Lord what if they grow tired and are not up to the task?” Jesus answered “I have given them the Holy Spirit, to empower them, to help them build the Church.” “But Lord” said Gabriel “they are mere mortals. What if they don’t succeed? Haven’t you made any other plans?”

The legend says that Jesus looked back wistfully toward the earth, thought for a moment, then turned toward Gabriel and answered “There is no other plan. They can and they must succeed.”

Long ago, God entrusted His Son Jesus to us. He sent Him into this world to show us how to love, how to live together in peace, how to trust one another and ultimately how to trust in Him. That is the gift that God offers freely to us in this Advent-Christmas season. And all that we have to do is to receive it, to believe in it, to unwrap it and then to share it with one another: The Gift of Trust.

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

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