Sermon for Sunday of Mary, Mother of our Lord
Sermon Preached at Camp Calumet
August 15, 2010
Texts:  Isaiah 61:7-11; Luke 1:46-55

Our Gospel text is about Mary today
And it’s only August!

Are we celebrating Christmas in August???
Did I somehow sleep through the start of Advent???

Probably not!
Then why are we hearing Mary’s Song, sometimes called the Magnificat, this morning?

Every once in a while, the festival of Mary, Mother of our Lord,
Which occurs on August 15,
Falls on a Sunday, and then we use those lessons for Sunday worship. 

Mary, so what do we know about her?

Luke is the only Gospel writer who gives her a voice.
And Mary’s story in Luke starts earlier than our lesson this morning.

The first thing we hear about Mary in Luke’s Gospel
Is an encounter between her and the angel Gabriel. 

How many of you remember what Gabriel told Mary?

Yep, she got the Good News that she would be an unmarried, pregnant 13 or 14 year old.
I imagine that not many of us would hear these words as Good News.  

I can imagine that the response that most of us would have,
Would be something like:
“You’ve got to be kidding me, I gotta to finish high school first! Come back later.”
“Or you must have the wrong Mary, you want the one down the street.”

But instead, this Mary, who must have the strongest faith imaginable
In any human being, much less a teenaged human,
Responds, “Here I am, the servant of the Lord,
Let it be with me according to your word.” 

The next thing we hear about Mary,
Is that she is going with haste to the hill country
To visit her cousin Elizabeth,
Who is also pregnant,
But at the other end of the age spectrum.
Why do you think Mary was going with haste??

Was she perhaps threatened by members of her family or clan,
After they heard the not so good news??
Did her parents want her out of town and out of sight??
Did she maybe want the comfort of an older relative, who shared her condition.

Whatever the reason,
When Mary shows up at Elizabeth’s door,
Elizabeth’s unborn child, John, gets excited and unusually active.

Elizabeth immediately calls Mary blessed,
And acknowledges her,
As the Mother of her Lord.

After Elizabeth’s blessing,
Mary breaks into spontaneous song, praising God.

The words of the song have little to do with her
And everything to do with God.

The song Mary sings
Says nothing about the state in which she finds herself,
Other than to acknowledge her lowliness
And the favor with which God has looked upon her.

The cynics among us may be thinking
If being a poor, unmarried, pregnant teenager
Is a sign of God’s favor,
Please, please let me be “unfavored”.

But for Mary, there is no such cynicism,
She has accepted the role that God has given her
And goes forth with song and praise to God.

She is already seeing God’s work in the world
And she is filled with praise for God.

She sings of how God’s mercy is for those who fear the Lord.
God has lifted up the lowly.
God has filled the hungry with good things.

Mary knows something about being lowly,
And she may even know something about being hungry. 
Yet, she speaks from the heart with praise for God.

This morning in this beautiful setting,
How many of you are filled with praise for God??

Away from some of the stresses of our everyday lives,
It seems much easier to lift up our voices
And give praise to God.

But how about this message of lifting up the lowly
And bringing the powerful down from their thrones?

How do those words strike you?

Are you feeling lowly or powerful?
Where’s the Good News, in Mary’s song, for you?

I can imagine, from what I have heard
In talking to a number of teens and young adults,
That you seem to know what it feels like to be lowly.

You are waiting for that time of being lifted up.

You are frustrated with our economic system
That requires a college degree,
Even for a low-skilled entry-level job. 

There seems to be a sense among many of you
That we, boomers have locked up the economics,
Leaving little room for young adults,
Keeping you in a state of suspended adolescence.

On the other hand, we boomers
Think we know a lot about powerlessness, too.

The corporations we once thought cared about us,
Now seem to see us only as a cost
On the financial statement,
And are only too willing to lay us off,
If the business climate changes.

We thought that if we served a company
Or school district or agency well,
We would be able to work there until retirement.

However, in our current economic climate
Too many of us have found ourselves
To be surplus!!
There seems to be nothing more lowly
Than being told that you are surplus and there is no place for you.

If you are somewhat older than a boomer,
Perhaps the way in which you feel lowly or powerless
Has to do with your health.

Maybe you have body parts that don’t work as well as they used to,
And you are not sure what will happen to you
If you can no longer take care of yourself.

Whether you are a young adult, a boomer, or a retiree,
Or some where in between these groups,
Most of us feel powerless
As least part of the time.

Our plans feel shaky
And the things we thought
We could count on,
Seem no longer rock solid.

When we hear that God lifts up the lowly,
We think thank goodness,
Count me in!

So how do we know that God lifts up the lowly.

I saw an example several weeks ago,
That I would like to share with you.

My husband John and I had the opportunity to travel to Estonia,
As part of a trip in the Baltic region.

Many of you may know that Estonia is a Lutheran country
That has within the past two decades emerged from under Communist control.

In this beautiful country, I had the chance to sit and pray
In the Cathedral of Saint Mary.
Yes, a Lutheran church named for Saint Mary the Virgin.

I sat in this church, prayed about Mary’s song,
And thought about the people of Estonia.

They spent much of the 20th century
Either being dominated by the Nazis or the USSR.

During Soviet rule,
The Lutheran church there described itself
As being 80,000 Lutherans in exile.

Yet this cathedral,
And the Estonian Lutheran Church,
And the spirit of the people all survived
To help Estonia become a lively country today.

Estonia is now part of the European Union.
Businesses and craftspeople are flourishing,
And the Lutheran Church is again alive and growing. 

Mary sang about the lowly being lifted up,
And in her church,
I saw much to sing about. 

Likewise, closer to home, here in the life of Calumet,
I see Mary’s song also being brought to life.

How many of you have ever worked at,
Attended or volunteered at a Calumet Day camp,
And saw a new spirit grow in children??

How many of you have found yourself energized,
After attending a week or more of summer camp?

How many of you have come for a retreat or a camping weekend,
And found a new relationship with God?

And how many of you, after being here for even a few days,
Have found yourselves able to live into the Calumet mission
Of saying “Yes to God’s Abundant Life”??

Calumet is yet another evidence of God lifting up the lowly,
And filling God’s people with good things. 

And yet what about that other part of Mary’s song,
Those scarier words that Mary sings
About the powerful being knocked from their thrones
And the rich being sent away hungry.

Most of us don’t feel either rich or powerful,
Yet, if people in most parts of the world
Were looking at us, enjoying leisure time in this setting,
We would probably be thought of as being part of that very select group.
So if per chance, this morning you are feeling either rich or powerful,
What good news does Mary’s song offer you?

There is a warning in her words,
That will be echoed over and over again in Luke’s Gospel,
That when you are focusing your life on money,
Or busy exercising power,
It will be pretty hard to recognize when God comes down to you.

It won’t stop God from coming,
But it may keep you from hearing God,
Or realizing God’s presence.

The psalmist tells us to “humble yourself in the sight of the Lord,”
Words that we have often sung,
Right here at Camp Calumet.

Perhaps that humble posture,
And the acceptance of your own lowliness,
In view of God’s magnificence,
Is what is needed to be able to be in God’s presence.

If you are blessed to be feeling either wealthy or powerful,
Pray about how that wealth or power
Might be used to bring Mary’s song to fruition.
Pray about how God might use you to lift up the lowly,
Or fill the hungry with good things.

When you are praying about the lowly and hungry,
That wealth and power will likely have new meaning,
A meaning that is less focused on you,
And more on God’s vision for the world.

The Good News is that God wants in the fold of God’s community,
And will help you see wealth and power in a different light.

Calumet’s “Yes to God’s Abundance”
Is pretty darn close to Mary’s song.

God will lift up the lowly,
And fill the hungry with good things.
God’s mercy is for those who fear him.
Praise be to God!

Amen