With God, Nothing Will Be Impossible
SW Nassau Conference Worship
Lent 2010
Do any of you remember the board game Perfection? I don't know if it's around anymore; it was the one with all of little yellow plastic pieces in a bunch of different shapes. The board got pushed down into its plastic case & that started the timer – and the object of the game was to get all of the pieces into the right slots before the timer went off – because when the timer went off, the board popped up and all of the little yellow pieces went flying! All of your hard work down the drain if you weren't quick enough.
I remember playing that game a lot whenever I went over to my cousin's house. And while I don't remember that I actually ever did this, I wouldn't have put it past me as a kid to have taken all of the pieces and lined them up in order in front of the board before starting the timer, because that would be the simplest and easiest way to get all of the pieces in place before time ran out, the quickest way to ensure that you would win the game, even if it was kind of cheating.
And while that may be a kid's game, it's not just a kid's way of thinking. It's part of our grown-up way of life too – this idea that we need to get all of the pieces and parts of our lives lined up in order for things to work out the way we want them to. So we spend all this time planning ahead, thinking things through, weighing our options, trying to see potential pitfalls and work around them before they happen, coming up w/ plans B, C, D, E, etc, just in case. We do it in our work lives, in our families, as members of congregations. Those of you who have less control issues may not do it as much as those of us who do, but my guess is that at one time or another, in one situation or another, we all do it.
And then God shows up. God shows up in some way, shape, or form, and says, “Here's my plan. Here's my vision for your future.” And just like that, the pieces we've so carefully laid out can go flying up in the air.
Take Mary, for instance. She was just a young girl when this story from Luke's gospel took place, probably just in her teens. And it probably seemed to her tLuke 1:26-38hat the pieces of her life were laid out pretty well, in a nice, predictable, organized fashion. As was the custom, her parents had arranged her marriage, chosen a husband for her who would care for her and provide for her. They weren't married yet, but they were betrothed, the deal was almost as good as done. All that remained before she could embark on the typical adult life of a Jewish girl of her time was for her to go and live with Joseph in his home and become his wife. All Mary had to do was follow the plan and all of the pieces would fall neatly into place.
And then along comes this angel Gabriel, sent from God. And pop! The big board sent all of those pieces flying! That always gave me a start when that happened, even though in the game you could see the timer, you knew it was coming. So imagine what it was like for Mary when Gabriel shows up and starts laying out God's vision for her life. She had no way to anticipate this change, no way to see it coming. And what a change! “Mary, you're going to conceive and bear a son and call him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and God will give him David's throne. But his kingdom will never end.”
And poor Mary responds the way I think most of us would, “How can this be...?”
“How can this be, God? It's not at all what I have planned! How can this be, God? I'm not prepared for this! How can this be God? What you are telling me I'm supposed to do is impossible.”
Reactions like this are not uncommon when we catch a glimpse or hear a whisper of what God is planning to do in the world. Because God's vision for what could be and what will be is always far beyond our own. God is always breaking into our broken world to bring hope and healing in ways that defy our imagination. And when we first learn of God's dream – and how God intends for us to be a part of making that dream a reality – our initial response is often to ask, “How can this be...?”, filling in the rest of the sentence, “since,” with all sorts of challenges and obstacles that seem impossible to overcome, because from our point of view, the pieces don't all line up – heck, sometimes it doesn't even look as if all of the pieces are there! So, God, how can this plan of yours be?
But God is not a child trying to win a game of Perfection. God does not need to have all of the pieces to be neatly lined up beforehand in order to accomplish God's purposes before time runs out. And so, the angel Gabriel goes on to explain to Mary what is about to happen. (I say explain, but it's still really a mystery, isn't it?) And he gives her a sign – because Mary's relative Elizabeth has just had all the pieces of her game tossed up in the air too. This old lady who everybody thought would never have a child is now in the 6th month of her pregnancy. She too will have a son. Nobody would have believed it was possible, but Gabriel reminds Mary, “With God, nothing will be impossible.”
With God, nothing will be impossible. All around us, at home, at work, in our churches, God is casting visions, and dreaming dreams, painting us a picture of the world as God intends it to be. And we see it in this son Mary will bear, the one whose name will be Jesus, the one who will bring good news to the poor, and proclaim release to the captives, and bring sight to the blind, and let the oppressed go free. It's all connected to Jesus, who teaches us about the kingdom of God, the kingdom that will never end – the place where the hungry are fed, and the thirsty are given something to drink, and the stranger is welcomed, and the naked are clothed, and the sick are taken care of, and the imprisoned are visited. We see it in the life and death and resurrection of Mary's son, who proves to us, that despite the evidence of the world around us, God's goodness is stronger than evil, love is stronger than hate, and life is stronger than death. This is the vision God calls Mary into, the dream God invites us to wake up to.
So as we continue on this journey through Lent and beyond into every day of our lives, when we hear God calling us to be part of things that seem like they cannot be,when it seems like the pieces of our lives have been tossed up in the air, may we hear the story of Mary and come to trust in God's promise, that with God, nothing will impossible. And may we then respond with the confidence of Mary: “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word,” daring to risk following Jesus, knowing that God doesn't require perfection, just our willingness to serve.
Amen.
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