Sunday, December 18, 2005
Sermon: “You Shall Conceive”
Scripture:
Luke 1:26-38
Reverend Larry Gerber Fertility rates are dropping from Japan to Germany to the United States. What are the chances that we’re going to want another Child to come into the world?
Her name is Aaliyah, meaning “high” or “exalted.”
It’s a perfect name, as you’ll soon see.
When Aaliyah was born, she weighed just 12 ounces, and fit into the palm of her mother’s hand. She arrived about four months early, and had been growing too slowly in her mother’s womb. When she entered the world, she was the second-smallest surviving baby ever to be born in Great Britain.
Before her delivery, doctors warned Aaliyah’s mother that her daughter had only a 10 percent chance of surviving. They recommended termination, but she and her husband said no. They had been trying to have a baby for more than 10 years. And while demographers and sociologists are always looking for signs of a baby boom, and while the last huge boom was shortly after World War II and those boomers will now begin turning 60 starting in — like — two weeks, 2006 (!), the parents of this little girl were desperate for their own little baby boom.
Against all odds, Aaliyah was born, and showed an amazing fighting spirit. After a few days on a life support machine p.2and four months in the neo natal unit, Aaliyah made it home to enjoy Christmas with her family. Said pediatrician Jeff Bissenden, “I’ve never seen anything like Aaliyah.”
She’s a miracle baby, one who has been lifted up as high and exalted by her grateful mother and father. Although this is a story that warms the heart and brightens the soul, the truth is that from Japan to Germany to the United States, we’re talking about a baby bust, not a baby boom. People are having fewer and fewer babies.
Here in the United States, the total fertility rate has dropped from 3.2 children per woman in 1920 to 2.1 children today. In Europe, fertility declined from 2.8 children per woman to 1.5, over the period between 1970 and 2000.
Why?
Perhaps it’s due to the cost of raising children, or that more women are in the workplace today than in 1920. But three sociologists at the University of Minnesota recently suggested a different theory. They believe that the reason we’re experiencing a baby bust is that we have strong government old-age pension and savings plans. These programs, they claim, have reduced the need for couples to give birth to lots of kids to take care of them in their old age. Increases in retirement benefits, they argue, are connected to a drop in the birth rate, and the bigger the benefit system, the bigger the baby bust.
Interesting theory. Does it hold water? Maybe so, maybe not. Regardless, it invites us to take another look at whether we as a nation are becoming less and less welcoming to children, less willing to bring them into the world.
Just imagine how impoverished we would be if Mary had not p.3let the baby Jesus go BOOM in her life.
Today’s Scripture lesson begins with the visit of the angel Gabriel to a virgin named Mary, a young woman who is engaged to Joseph, a hometown boy with a good, or at least decent, job.
The angel’s visit is alarming — you can understand that — but the announcement is astonishing, and quite frankly, Mary deems it to be impossible: “You will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus” (Luke 1:31).
This is not necessarily good news to a young woman getting ready for her wedding night. Any other bride might simply have left the toasters and towels on the gift table, and taken off for a few days to re-emerge later in Albuquerque, and sign a $500,000 media deal and go on NBC to explain herself.
And while — sadly — it’s not that unusual these days for the bride to walk down the church aisle six months pregnant, it was unusual then, and for Mary, it could not have been a happy prospect. Especially under the circumstances of her pregnancy.
But Mary is receptive to this news because Gabriel tells her that his name will be Jesus meaning “he will save.” Similar to Aaliyah, meaning high and exalted, Jesus is described as one who “will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David” (1:32). Gabriel predicts that he will reign over the house of Jacob, and will rule an everlasting kingdom.
Mary ponders this, but not for long. “Here am I,” she says, p.4“the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word” (1:38). Boom! A child is accepted, and the course of human history is changed forever.
What a difference a baby makes.
Well, to Mary at least.
You could argue that her baby boom is our baby bust.
Do we really want this baby?
Are we really ready to welcome this child — not into the world — but into our world?
Or are we more inclined, upon hearing the claims this child puts upon us, to hit the road and get outta here?
The challenge for us today is to consider whether we are open and receptive to the coming of Jesus into our lives. It is so significant that Mary said yes to her own particular Baby Boom, and was willing to risk her reputation in order to allow the Son of God to enter the world. She didn’t worry about her engagement, her social standing, her health, or her long term financial security. She didn’t spend a minute thinking about retirement benefits, or whether she could use a child to take care of her in her old age.
Instead, she said yes to a baby who would grow up to be the Savior of the world, and provide a way for us to be cared for eternally. The world, in which Mary lived, was not totally receptive to this new baby. Many did not believe her story. Many did not accept her Son, this promise from God: Emmanuel – God with us!!p.5 Many in today’s world do not accept her story, or her baby. We as Christians point our fingers at those who do not accept. We are disgusted about how his birthday is used as a holiday, not a Holy Day. The problem is not so much what others do and don’t do, but what we, as Christians, are doing to promote the real essence of Christmas. Last week we talked about the Essence Candle, that smells like Jesus; a couple of weeks before that, we talked about the icons that are so sacred, we are willing to sell them on e-bay, or keep them from being cut down, because of their sacredness.The bottom line is, that if we do not keep Christ in Christmas, in our hearts, the icons, essence candles, etc. will be to no avail. Those iconic images become a laughing stock to society, because we do not apply them to our every day living.If we are to really celebrate the Christ Child, we must conceive, as Mary did. We must ponder this miracle in our hearts. We must be able, and ready, to accept the Christ Child as our Savior. We, then, must go into the world, and live those words: Hear I Am Lord!!
Are we willing to be this open, this receptive, this faithful to the promises of God? Are we willing to embrace the Christ Child and let this child make a difference in our lives?
If we say yes to this baby boom, we’ll find ourselves changed. We’ll become people who have Christ at the very center of who we are, just as Mary received the life of Jesus into the deepest and most intimate part of herself. We’ll turn into people who can say along with Mary, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.”p.6
When we say these words, we are making a commitment to being open, receptive and faithful to the promises and the priorities of God. We are showing a willingness to allow the Christ child to be born in us today.
If someone has not felt the Christ Child leap in their womb, or their heart, how can we expect them to celebrate the true meaning of Christmas?We are the Christians. We are the ones who need to be making a difference in our world. We need to stand up and be counted. Yes, we need to conceive, we need to accept, and then we need to witness. A baby, the BABY, can make a huge difference, especially when we allow Jesus to go BOOM in our lives.
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Sources:
“Miracle baby,” BBC Inside Out, January 5, 2004, bbc.co.uk.
Moore, Kirk. “Hail Mary, full of grace,” December 22, 2002, St. Matthew United Church of Christ Web Site, stmatthew-ucc.org.
Morin, Richard. “Unconventional wisdom.” The Washington Post, March 13, 2005.