Letting it be with us according to God’s word (Luke 1:38)
Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.”
-Luke 1:38 (NRSV)
Christmas Eve 2018 Sermon Notes
Letting ourselves be used by God is a hard thing to do. It requires us being willing to let myself be taken in different directions than we might otherwise choose. It requires us being willing to turn our lives over to something greater than ourselves. It requires us being willing to let ourselves respond to the call of the Lord in the way that Mary did.
Letting God be in charge of my life is a fundamental piece of the Christian faith, and yet it is something that I have to struggle with each and every morning. Because we live in a culture that says we should be self-reliant and independent, the idea that I need to daily surrender myself to something greater than myself is completely counter cultural. It flies in the face of everything that American society tells us is important.
Even though it is hard to do, I need to be reminded that letting God direct my path will provide me with the chance to go in directions that I would not have otherwise chosen. It will give me opportunities that I would not have come up with on my own. Following God’s call means that I do not have to rely on my own feeble imagination to deal with the challenges of the world. I am able to draw on the resources of very creator of the universe.
This knowledge is why Mary was brave enough to turn her life over to the service of God. She was able to give the angel Gabriel a positive answer because she knew that she was not going to have to do this on her own. There were going to be challenges along the way. A sword was going to pierce her soul, but as the Lord’s servant she would be directly responsible for changing the fate of all humankind.
No matter how difficult things get, I am not being asked to give birth to God’s only Son. By comparison, the load being placed on me is only a fraction of what Mary must have faced. My prayer on this Christmas Eve is that we all be inspired to follow her example and let God’s word be fulfilled in our lives.
