From Generation to Generation:
We See God In Each Other
Luke 1:39-58
December 18, 2022
Emmanuel Baptist Church; Rev. Kathy Donley
Image: The Golden Cradle by Carmelle Beaugelin
A Sanctified Art LLC| sanctifiedart.org.
Note: A recording of the worship service in which this sermon was preached may be found here: https://youtu.be/gbsBA-0v9VI
It happens fairly often. Someone will be talking to me about a decision they’re making, like whether to accept a certain job offer or go back to school. They may be conflicted about the right approach in a delicate situation, wondering if they should be supportive and understanding or practice tough love. They will say to me, “I just wish God will tell me plainly what I’m supposed to do. I want to do God’s will. I’ve prayed about it, but I’m still not sure.” What they want is a direct communication from God, some kind of unmistakable sign. They think if they get it, they’ll be confident in their course of action.
The last time we saw Mary, she was receiving that unmistakable sign. It doesn’t get any more direct than having a one-on-one visit from Gabriel. In most of the art I’ve seen, angels look like beautiful, shiny people with two wings. But that’s not exactly how the Bible describes them. In Isaiah’s vision, angels have 6 wings. They use two of the wings to fly and two more like clothing, for modesty’s sake and the last two wings cover their faces, which makes me wonder what those faces look like. Ezekiel depicts angels with gleaming brass hooves for feet and with the faces of four animals – a lion, an ox, an eagle and a human. And Luke, describes the angels who sing to the shepherds on Christmas as an army. We aren’t told what Gabriel looks like, but I’m willing to bet his appearance is not calming. Mary gets the explicit communication from God that so many people in my experience say they want, and then as soon as she has it, she seeks a human to help her process it.
As soon as the angel is gone, it seems, Mary runs for the hills. Luke says “with haste”. The newly pregnant teenager heads for her relative Elizabeth whom Gabriel told her was also pregnant. It’s a journey of 80 or 90 miles.
“Travel for other than culturally expected reasons was often considered deviant behavior. While travel to visit family was considered legitimate, the report of Mary traveling alone into the ‘hill country’ is highly unusual and improper.”[1] From this we understand the urgency of Mary’s quest. Mary has heard from God. Now she needs the confirmation of a human being
She is barely over the threshold when Elizabeth affirms what the angel said. Now, Elizabeth was not visited by an angel. If she was told anything about Mary’s situation before Mary showed up at her door, Luke has not told us that. But somehow she knows. Luke says the Holy Spirit reveals it to her. Elizabeth sees God at work in Mary and affirms what the angel told her. She addresses her as “the mother of my Lord” and praises her for believing what the angel said.
We see God in each other. We often have a hard time claiming for ourselves the image of God that we bear. We are too humble or conflicted or too aware of our failures. We may be unaware of the most powerful truth about ourselves. But those around us can see and name it
In This Here Flesh, Cole Arthur Riley, writes “We need other people to see our own faces – to bear witness to their beauty and truth. God has made it so that I can never truly know myself apart from another person. I cannot trust myself to describe the curve of my nose because I’ve never seen it. I want someone to bear witness to my face, that we could behold the image of God in one another and believe it on one another’s behalf.”[2]
We see God in each other. Others see God in us. Because of Elizabeth’s blessing, Mary believes more strongly. Because of Elizabeth’s blessing, she takes another step towards living into her calling. She sings her song saying “My soul rejoices because God has done great things. From now on, all generations will call me blessed.”
This is a moment of acceptance and confirmation and blessing. It provides clarity of purpose and steadiness for Mary.
Moments when we see God in others or when we accept God within ourselves because of others are often tender and warm like this. But not always.
Over the last year, I can remember two distinct times when someone took great care to speak the truth in love to me. In each case, the person very gently shared that I had failed who they needed me to be. In one case, I had said something without understanding how my words would be received and instead of being uplifting, they were wounding. In the other, I had simply failed to show up, not been present when I was needed.
No one likes being told that they’ve let someone else down. I felt exposed and vulnerable. But I also recognized the other person’s choice to be vulnerable with me, their courage in risking that I might respond with anger or defensiveness. They took that risk in order to give me a chance to make amends and restore relationship. I am grateful for that. I believe that it is often in moments of shared vulnerability that we glimpse the face of God in each other.
Bearing the image of God is a gift and a responsibility. Others may see God in us in ways we never know. And we may be strengthened by what we see in others, even perhaps in strangers and often in those in close relationship.
Tex Sample taught at St. Paul School of Theology in Kansas City for 32 years. He taught and wrote about church and culture. He sought out and got to know people from all different walks of life. He is a wonderful storyteller. I only got to hear him speak in person one time. That was at a conference about 26 years ago, when I was new to ministry and he was close to the age I am now. But he made a lasting impression on me. You could say that I saw the image of God in him. For that reason, I want to let you hear him for yourself in this video, even though the quality is not great.
[Video in which Tex Sample tells the story of a woman of German Lutheran heritage who had suffered a serious stroke. She was unable to form many words, but could make sounds. She communicated to a visitor that she wanted him to sing. Because it was close to Christmas and because he knew she knew German, he sang Stille Nacht. She joined in and they spent the rest of the evening singing her back to life. Tex ends by saying “Someone has said that a friend is that person who knows your song and when you forget it, or can’t sing it, they sing it for your and they sing you back into life.”[3]]
“A friend is that person who knows your song and when you forget it, they sing it for you and they sing you back into life.”
John O’Donohue was an Irish theologian and poet who revived the lost art of blessing. He says that humans are distant from a place of wholeness, but that blessing can awaken and restore it.
He writes, “We never see the script of our lives; nor do we know what is coming toward us, or why our life takes on this particular shape or sequence. . . .
Our longing for the eternal kindles our imagination to bless. Regardless of how we configure the eternal, the human heart continues to dream of a state of wholeness, a place where everything comes together, where loss will be made good, where blindness will transform into vision, where damage will be made whole, where the clenched question will open in the house of surprise, where the travails of life’s journey will enjoy a homecoming. To invoke a blessing is to call some of that wholeness upon a person now.”[4]
To invoke a blessing is to call some of that wholeness upon a person now. Beloved ones, we see God in each other. Believe it or not, others see God in us. We have the power and authority, even the responsibility, to bless each other. We are blessed and we bless. Thanks be to God.
[1] Bruce Malina and Richard L. Rohrbaugh, Social Science Commentary on the Synoptic Gospels, 2nd edition (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2003), p.229
[2] Cole Arthur Riley, This Here Flesh, (New York: Convergent Books, 2022), p. 81
[3] video “Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht” from Tex Mix: Stories of Earthly Mysticism with Tex Sample, published by livingthequestions.com, 2008
[4] John O’Donohue, To Bless the Space Between Us, (New York: Doubleday, 2008) p. 199