Surprised By God!

The Feast of the Annunciation,
Transferred from March 25, 2001

By
The Rev. Ann M. Smith

Based on Luke 1:26-38

God's call came to Mary as a surprise; and it came to her as no surprise at all. Mary as with all good Jews was waiting for an intervention from God. She had been praying for it for her whole life. She could see the need around her, the sinfulness of people, the poverty of their lives, the growing gulf between rich and poor, ruler and people. She saw the need for God to respond in a new way to humankind. She saw the need for a new life to be born into the world.

Yet when the angel gave her God's message it came as a surprise. Mary felt deeply disturbed by this intrusion into the calm of her existence. It was not surprising that Jesus – it means "Saviour" after all – was going to be born. That was an answer to her prayers. The shock came when she found that she was the one being called by God to be the bearer of the Saviour.

God's call comes as a surprise to all of us, and yet it should be no surprise at all. It is God's act through Mary; God's coming to us through the birth of Jesus, that makes her, that young Jewish woman, and every one of us, significant as God's children.

If we think about it, we know and have experienced the unexpectedness of God at work in the world. Yet it still comes as a surprise to us. As incredible as it seems, God continues to call ordinary, everyday people like you and me. Are there not moments in our lives when God is communicating with us? Have we not all experienced moments of closeness to God – times of insight and enlightenment?

I think of my sense of call to ordained ministry. When I look back on my life I see that it was not one call, but a series of meetings with the 'holy' that convicted me of my need to serve. I see too that God was with me through times that could have caused me to abandon not only my conviction about the faith, but even my life.

It was when I was about five years old that I first said that I wanted to be a priest. As I grew into my teens I realized that it was not possible. Our church did not provide for women to serve in that capacity. In fact we were not even able to serve at the altar. But I never lost the sense that it was what God wanted of me. My High School YearBook says that I intend to study at the Anglican Women's Training College, about the only avenue open to women who wanted to study Theology back in the sixties.

That never came to pass. I went to Teacher's College and taught in an Indian Residential School. Having saved up enough money I went back home and entered University. My years in University were chaotic times. My family was involved in what can only be described as a cult. I too in my search for God became caught up in it. It seemed a good thing at first. They were involved in the healing ministry, glossalalia and in other charismatic practices. It quickly became oppressive and then abusive as the leadership took charge of every aspect of our lives. We lived in community – in total about fifty of us – and we made our choices, not autonomously, but as members of the group. We were told what to wear, what to do with our lives, whom to marry, what to think!

A very troubled young woman, a member of the Group, died. She died in pain. She died alone. She died because of the group. There was an inquest. My father, the head of the Group, was held responsible, but no charges were ever laid. The church simply washed their hands of all of us. The Group got more and more oppressive and more and more withdrawn from society.

I know to this day that it was God's call to me that gave me the strength to leave. When I left I left everything – my family, my friends, my home. I felt like a failure. I thought I had failed to live up to what God wanted of me. I was suicidal. I thought it was the only way. But God was there. Miraculously I never left the church through all of that. It became a place of sanctuary for me. When my family finally left I was able to help them get on their feet.

I got into teaching. I became very involved in the church as a musician. God kept calling. And the way opened up as women began to be ordained. It became clear to me that I should go back and study Theology. The surprise of it all to me was that the Church affirmed my call. And I must say that my ordination almost ten years ago was one of those moments of amazing grace that God scatters throughout our lives.

We are all called by God. It happens in any number of ways – through prayer, through worship, and through the grace of other people. In an amazing way, God is born in us and through the Spirit reaches out through us to accomplish God's purpose in our world.

Think about how you came to know God. Where has your spiritual journey taken you? For the task for us today is to see ourselves as part of the story. The work of Christ is not finished. We look for a further birth of Jesus into the world. We know its sinfulness. We know its need. We know our need for Christ to be born in us. We know our need to constantly and consistently open our lives up to the Spirit of God. We should not be surprised at what God calls us to do.

Mary is a model for us of how we can respond to God. She did it in a wonderful way. She could have seen God's call to her as a terrible burden. After all she faced the stigma of being an unwed mother. She faced being cast aside by her fiancé. Yet she saw it as a precious gift. "My soul magnifies the Lord," she responded. "My spirit rejoices in God my Saviour." Her spirit can rejoice. She can see the situation, difficult and frightening as it may be, as an opportunity for vocation and fulfillment. Thanks be to God for her willingness. Lord make us willing to follow God's call to us.