Address given in St Mary's Nenagh on Sunday 29th May 2016, celebrating the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (transferred).
Luke’s story of Mary visiting Elizabeth (Luke1:39-56) is so charming, so human, isn’t it!
Mary was probably
quite a young girl - a teenager even – when the angel came to tell her that she
is to be the mother of God incarnate. When Mary says, ‘How can this be, since I am a virgin?’,
the angel offers her a sign: her relative Elizabeth is already 6 months
pregnant, though she is old and supposedly barren. Is Elizabeth a cousin or an
aunt? We’re not told.
So Mary hot-foots it
from Nazareth to the Judean hill-country to visit Elizabeth and see for herself.
It must have been a tough journey, over 100 km on foot or perhaps on a donkey,
over bad roads and steep rocky hills. But Mary gets there safely and knocks on
Elizabeth’s door.
When Elizabeth hears
Mary’s greeting her unborn child – who we know as John the Baptist - does an in
utero backflip in recognition of the presence of the Son of God, freshly
conceived in Mary’s womb. Elizabeth exclaims, in the words we know from the
“Hail Mary”, ‘Blessed
are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!’
And then Mary breaks
into song, the song of joy that we call the Magnificat, ‘My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit
rejoices in God my Saviour, for he has looked with favour on the lowliness of
his servant.’
I know I’m treading on somewhat dangerous
ground here!
I’m part of that 50%
of the human race which is less qualified to say anything about pregnancy and
childbirth than the other 50%. But because I’ve been closely associated with
two pregnancies and three births I know that pregnancy is a time of great
expectation. So much so that in our culture to say a woman is ‘expecting’ is a
euphemism for pregnancy – ‘a baby’ is simply understood.
Elizabeth and Mary are
both ‘expecting’ in this euphemistic sense. But they both also bring another
dimension of expectation to their meeting on Elizabeth’s doorstep. Elizabeth
has conceived late in life. She is carrying a miracle baby, and she has been told
that he will be a great prophet who will prepare the way of the Lord. Mary is
carrying even more of a miracle baby, conceived through the Holy Spirit, and
she has been told that he will be called the Son of the Most High, and will
reign over Israel as the heir of the great King David. Both of them have great
expectations for the children they are carrying.
Mary said to the angel
who announced her pregnancy, ‘Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me
according to your word’. In doing so she accepted the unimaginable
privilege of forming her son Jesus in her body - as all women who are glad to
be pregnant do. The Son of the Most High, the eternal Word of the Father, God
from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, took human flesh in and
from Mary. Jesus the Christ was, quite literally, formed in her while she was
‘expecting’.
Our vocation as Christian disciples is to be
‘expecting’ just as Elizabeth and Mary were.
As Christian
disciples, we are called to be pregnant! Whether we are young or old, male or
female, single or married, we are called to let Christ be formed in us, just as
he was formed in the womb of Mary.
What is it like to be
a pregnant disciple, one in whom Christ is being formed? We will be ‘expectant’,
always expecting something new, something growing and stirring in us, looking
to the future not some unchanging past. As Christ grows in us we will form a
deepening relationship with him. We will notice changes for the good in
ourselves. We will cultivate habits of worship, prayer and study through which
we will discern the different gifts he gives each of us. And he will enable us
to use these gifts in his service, whether in ministry within the church or in
mission outside it.
All pregnancies end in
the fullness of time - in due course Elizabeth gave birth to John the Baptist,
and Mary to Jesus the Christ. Their pregnancies lasted around 9 months, but
ours as disciples in whom Christ is being formed will last a lifetime. Stretching
the analogy to the limit, it is on our deathbed that we as disciples are
finally delivered of the Christ we have nurtured. We may pray that the life we
deliver will be an example to others of a Christian life, well lived, in the
hope of resurrection to eternal life.
And what of the Church? The church too is
called to be pregnant!
It is in the nature of
the Church to grow disciples. A healthy, fertile church is a pregnant church
which nurtures disciples in whom Christ is constantly growing. Remember, Jesus
commanded the apostles, ‘Go therefore
and make disciples of all nations’. And that can only start with
ourselves.
As we mature as
disciples – as Christ grows in us – we should expect to see changes in our
church communities, changes for the good. We do not know what they will be, but
new things will sprout inexorably, organically, in the belly of the church, just
as Christ grows in his disciples. Perhaps new forms of vibrant worship will
spring up alongside the older traditions so many of us still value. Perhaps groups
of disciples will come together, to explore and share different kinds of prayer,
or to study how God reveals himself both in scripture and in creation, and
report their discoveries back to the rest of us. Perhaps we will together find
new ways to nurture one another in faith, to care for one another in love, to
welcome the stranger, and to reach out in service to people in need, whoever
and wherever they may be.
Those outside the
church - family, friends, neighbours and strangers - will see the changes in
us, in the way we live our lives, in how we treat others. Some may be annoyed -
because our way challenges the way they live their lives. But others will feel
compelled to take a closer look, to investigate further, because they see in us
something that they hunger and thirst for.
This is how a church
community grows, first spiritually as its members grow as disciples, and then
numerically as others are attracted to it, become disciples themselves, and in
turn grow as disciples as Christ grows in them.
So to finish,
This Feast Day of the
Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary is a time for us all to be ‘expecting’ - to
be pregnant disciples as Christ takes form within us.
Let us pray that the Christ-seed
the Holy Spirit has planted within us will grow to full term and be delivered,
perfectly formed in every way.
And as disciples in
this Union of Parishes, let us pray that our church community will grow
spiritually and numerically, attracting new disciples who themselves will grow
as Christ grows in them.
