Luke 1:39-55

It’s almost Christmas! How many of you are leaping for joy at that thought? How many of you are in a panic because you’re not ready for it to be Christmas yet?

It’s not that I’m not ready for Christmas, it’s more that I am not ready for Advent to end. The older I get, the shorter this time feels. What was once a season of prolonged anticipation now feels like a brief period of panic before the realization comes that another year has passed.

Pregnancy lasts but a short nine months. A baby but a short year. A toddler for only a brief 2 years. Before you know it, they’re in school, out of school, off to college, working, and then in relationships of their own. Time my friends you see is but a blip in the radar for God. A lifetime or a hundred years, but a few seconds to God and yet… every moment a spectacular miracle of creation. Every life essential to whatever it is God’s incredible plan for this vast universe is for. Every breath that enters and leaves your lungs a greeting from someone who cares about you so much that it should make you leap for joy.

During this season where many hustle and bustle we forget what’s important. The Mighty One has done great things for us. Holy is his name. Imagine for a moment that your life is so important God took time to make it happen.

Does your soul magnify the Lord? Your spirit rejoice in God your Savior?

Blessed are those who believe that there will be fulfillment of what is spoken to you by your Lord. Imagine how your heart will leap for joy when he speaks your name.

Greetings favored ones! You are being called. You are being called out. Included. You are invited. You have been asked to bear witness to the Lord our God.

But what does that mean? Does it mean you should stand on a street corner shouting at the top of your lungs? Jesus Christ loves you! Probably not. Jesus Christ didn’t tell us to just tell the Good News. Jesus Christ told us to make disciples and I hate to tell you this but you don’t make disciples by preaching at people.

Sure, sure, you can argue it’s my job and I will argue, it’s only part of my job. I wish it was the only thing I had to do because if you haven’t figured this out yet, I love to preach. It definitely makes me leap for joy on those rare occasions when I can feel God really use the gift he has given to me and words flow like milk and honey with that bitter aftertaste promised in Revelation and through Elijah. But, that’s not all I am here to do. I am here to create relationships.

The kind of relationships I am here to build do not come from telling someone what to do. Our God doesn’t work that way. Our God gets to know us and tells us not just to love our God but to love our neighbor as well.

We’re going to do something we don’t normally do today. It’s time for an activity. We’re going to greet one another. No, not the person you’re sitting next to, but if you haven’t greeted them yet today that’s a significant problem that you can remedy in a few moments. I want everyone on the right side of the church to identify someone on the left side and everyone on the left find some person on your right. Everyone stand up.

Now, go to that person and say with the biggest purest smile you can must “Greetings, favored one!” Ready, set go! Great, now find someone else. Same greeting. “Greetings, favored one!” Good, now find another!

Are your hearts leaping with joy yet? Funny thing about human beings, no matter how introverted we are, when we push ourselves out of our comfort zone, when we interact positively with another human being where we are both cheerful, even if we’re both embarrassed, we make a connection and our hearts will leap for joy at that connection.

We didn’t have to worry about what to say. We didn’t have to worry about how they were going to react. We didn’t have to worry about them running away in terror. We just connected with an acknowledgment of commonality. You are favored.

How can this be? We wonder. How can I be favored if they are favored? They are so calm, they are so collected, they are so pretty, so smart, so… special and I’m just… me. And yet, you are favored. Your heart leaped just as theirs did.

How can this be? We who are so flawed, so fragile, so short lived? How can we be so favored?

The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. We who are so small and insignificant, just a blip of time in the expanse of a universe where we are no larger than a speck of dust. We who are broken and ill-equipped for life. We are favored.

We stand in the shadow of the Lord our God, illuminated by the Holy Spirit, saved by Jesus Christ. We indeed are favored. Blessed are those who believe that there will be a fulfillment of what has been spoken by the Lord.

You who are in such desperate need of help. Our Lord has spoken that they will come to your aid. You who are hungry will be filled with good things. You who live in fear shall be shown mercy from generation to generation. You will be shown mercy for your inequity according to the promise made to our ancestors, to Abraham, and to his descendants forever. You who believe.

Our time on this earth is short. We are but two days away from Christmas Eve. 10 days away from a New Year. 29 days until I go on vacation.. I’m very excited. 3 months until Spring. 364 days until we do this last Sunday of Advent service again. Time will just keep on barreling by as if it blows like the wind but that does not mean in any way shape or form that it is insignificant. Just as you, a tiny speck in the universe are worthy of love. You deserve to have your heart leap for joy at the sound of you name from time to time.

This Christmas treat the one’s you love as if they are favored not just by God, but by you. Treat your neighbors as if God looks upon them with favor. Treat your church and everyone in it as if it and them belong to God. Show all who enter here how favored they are and we, God’s people will be shown mercy from generation to generation. All that has been promised will be fulfilled. God has scattered the proud but will look with favor upon the lowly state of those who serve.

So let us leap for joy at the sound of our names, those who have been identified, called, and commissioned. Let the spirit glow inside us, shining a light so bright it draws others in. We exist not in the darkness of this world but in the shadow of the Lord Most High. Let us magnify the Lord in our hearts and with our song.

May, the Lord bless you and keep you;
May the Lord make his face to shine upon you
And be gracious to you;
May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you
And give you peace