Mary Knew, Ya’ll: The Power of Motherhood! An Advent Sermon

Grace and Peace to you,

My sisters,

Brothers,

And

Siblings

In

Christ

(pause)

Singing is not just

For proclaiming

The love we exude

For the love we receive

In return

From the Creator God.

But singing

With one voice

With one collective voice

Proclaims to the emptiness,

An emptiness that masks as bleakness

Trying to distort darkness

Which was created as a comfort,

And peace

Enfolded as night,

So that our weary beings

Our spirits

Can rest

(pause)

This intruder

Which sometimes tries to pollute the Light,

This Light,

That concrete reminder

That the Creator God,

And God’s Presence,

Of Being,

Love,

Grace

Forgiveness

CAN NEVER BE SHUT OUT-

So the rising of our SONG

Proclaims the Glory that

NOTHING

Can separate us

From the loving arms

Of the One,

Who loved us so much,

Made sure that we experienced that love

Just as Jesus had,

Through the body,

Cradle in the arms

Of

A

Mother

Amen.

(pause)

What is your fondest memory,

Of your mother

Or that mother figure

Or Grandmother, Aunt

Someone who was like a mother,

Who refused to allow a system,

To defeat

Or malign

Our personhood,

Or a mother,

Who just wanted to make sure,

We were safe?

(pause)

This story is rather humorous,

But it involves my high school sophomore self,

And a homecoming dance

(pause)

Kenwood Academy,

Decided instead of us merely having a dance in the gym

Rented out a local downtown dance club

Just for us students.

So after the game, we all gathered to experience a club

For the first time.

And as most dances, unfortunately

With this new atmosphere,

Adding in a bunch of teenagers,

Chaos erupted.

So the dance ended abruptly,

And I called Mother,

To come and get me.

(pause)

Now,

The police and security were all around-

Giving instructions that if you left the club

You couldn’t enter back in,

So I had to time it to when I thought she’d be outside

Waiting in semi-darkness,

And waiting out the dying pandemonium,

Was already difficult

But to my horror

One of my friends came up laughing

“I think your Mother is at the door, trying to harass a cop!”

I ran to the entrance.

There, was my mother.

Hands on hips

Staring upwards in all defiance

At a cop that had to be 6’3,

At my mother who was speaking loudly,

Proclaiming all types of things,

Asserting her own self

And her own authority

In protecting that which was number one-

Her daughter.

But my 15-year-old self just saw my mother being weird,

And my fellow classmates seeing this all unfold

And I was embarrassed

(pause)

But,

That memory frozen in my mind

Of my Mother,

Willing to do whatever it took,

Is the same scene,

That plays out for women everywhere

Of mothers especially

Doing whatever it takes

To defend those that they loved,

And are invested in,

And shielding those things that can be vulnerable.

(pause)

Mothers,

who march in the streets,

Willing to put their bodies on the line,

So that their children,

And so many others

Would not be victims

To senseless violence and cruelty.

(pause)

Mothers

Who will stand in front of guns

Confront those,

Who use the bodies of their sisters, and brothers and siblings

For their gain

Who refuse to see the bodies of those in the community,

Struggling under the weight of trying to survive,

dying for a cure

(pause)

Mothers,

That will emerge from grieve and pain,

Just as Trayvon Martin’s mother has done,

Giving through her foundation

Or Michael Brown’s mother as well,

Engaging in the public system in Fergusion

Beating the system at their own game

By running for office,

By displacing and disrupting inequality

And planting and replacing it,

With stability.

(pause)

I have seen it in women,

Like my dear friend Tanya,

Who serves as the E.D. for our friends at SOUL

She wants real CHANGE

Not just for herself,

But especially for her own daughter,

And children

Like her.

When they hear our song of courage,

Determination

And strength,

When they see us fighting

Reclaiming our time,

Regaining our humanity

They understand then,

The change born

In the hands

Of

A

Woman.

(pause)

There are pictures around this sanctuary,

Images that should be the norm,

Of Mary

And of the One,

Whose coming we celebrate with song

And in whose Birth

Was in defiance

To everything tainted

By the sins

And the evil

Perpetuated by the Empire

Who thought they could manipulate

God

Through word

And deed

(pause)

Intermixed with these images

Of Mary

And of Jesus

There are photos

Of women

Whose voices,

Whose presence

Are in defiance

Of a system

Which refuses

To recognize

The humanity of those

Who because they refuse to participate

In acts against their fellow siblings in Faith and of Hope

All in the name

Of progress

Which really equals greed

of acquiring things

Or the commodification of bodies

translating into assets

(pause)

And this battle,

For liberation

And for equity

This battle,

For the voices of the lowly

Of Women

To be recognized as a force

To be reckoned with

Still continues

As if nothing has changed

As if humanity continues this assault,

Upon those,

Who are fighting

For

Freedom.

Still today,

As in Jesus’s time

(pause)

When the Empire

Had occupied

Colonized

And exploited the people

Their resources

Drained their bodies of strength

And robbed, destroying their lands

Not much has changed

(pause)

The Empire identified now as

the governmental structures

the legislative bodies

encroaching everywhere

oppressing everywhere

the sacred bodies,

communities

livelihoods

of people

who have been forced to choose,

what side of the line they are on

whether they want to have access to economic wealth

and a false status

or be tossed outside the gates

and forgotten

like everyone else,

(pause)

Even,

This has seeped into our theological,

And biblical

Scholarship

Because the Empire’s influences

Remain fast

Feeding the academy,

That force feeds to us

The false narrative that Jesus’s birth

Was only about defeating the devil-

The real enemy

And defeating our sinful selves

That we are so beyond any redemption

And that we were born

With a corruptive mindset,

All thanks to Eve,

By the way.

(pause)

That nothing in the presence of Jesus,

Had anything to do with the political structure

Of the Roman Empire

At the time,

Has nothing to do

With an Administration

Who is trying its best

To destroy all our rights,

To belittle us

To use us,

As nothing more as fodder

To advance their agenda.

Therefore,

Anyone proclaiming’

That God,

That Jesus

Stands with the oppressed

Should be disregarded

(pause)

That we should not

As Christians

As followers of Christ,

Call them out

For their part

Their implementation

Of a systemic

Racist

Oppressive

Structures

In our lives,

Until we are exhausted

And we can’t breathe.

(pause)

This is why,

Mary’s song

Is so important,

Because I think people have this misconception

That Mary was so submissive

And meek,

Do we hear

What she is saying?

(pause)

“The Creator has shown strength with God’s arm;

God, has brought down the powerful from their thrones,

Those who thought that this power was theirs,

By right

Through violence

Through force

And through

and lifted up the lowly,

the Women,

the Creator God has filled the hungry,

and the homeless

and the forgotten

with life sustaining,

life giving

good things

and sent the rich away,

with empty coffers”

(pause)

Mary knew,

Through her,

Other Women would see,

That they too,

Could be a model for resistance.

In a society that routinely belittles

The significance of women,

That the Creator would also not only speak,

But mobilize them forward

(pause)

Yes,

She was Blessed-

She was carrying the One,

Whose birth brings us together,

Who gives us hope

That God has not abandoned us.

YES

Jesus’s BIRTH,

Was the answer

To their prayers,

To our prayers

That God not forget us

That God send a way to save us

That God speaks to us,

That regardless of what we do,

We are still counted as God’s

(pause)

And YES,

Mary was exhilarated in this knowledge

That GOD would pick HER

A WOMAN

To proclaim this Good News

(pause)

But She also was an example,

About what strength lies in

Those that we discount,

That we write off,

Women,

Women who like Mary,

Like Hagar, Esther,

The unnamed Mothers who were not ashamed in fighting for life

Like Harriet, who fought for a Nation

Like so many others lifted up on this wall,

And lifted up in our hearts.

Our souls are SHINING

Because the Creator has PICKED US

To proclaim.

We have power,

That comes through the Holy Spirit

Because of the presence of Jesus Christ

Because of the Love of the One,

Who birthed us into existence, lovingly.

(pause)

My own children sometimes become nervous,

When a protest or march or demonstration is upcoming,

Because they know I will be actively participating

But I don’t do this,

For myself.

The Creator gave me a gift,

Just as all women who are a part of motherhood

Whether through birth, fostering or adoption

It is because of that gift,

How could any of us

Keep from singing

And fighting

And being

Those powerful Women,

Mothers

People of God,

The responsibility of doing

Living out faith,

So that what the Creator deemed for all

Comes to fruition

(pause)

Thanks Be to God