This is an adapted form of the sermonette I preached in the morning of December 24, 2023, the Fourth Sunday of Advent. The gospel reading was Luke 1:26-38, and this was followed by a skit by our youth group, called “The Story of Joseph.”

So we just heard two stories connected to the birth of Jesus. In the gospel I read, we heard a story of Mary, about the angel Gabriel visiting her and proclaiming God’s promises. And in the skit, we heard a story of Joseph, about dreams he had through which God proclaimed promises to him.

Two of the gospels tell us the story we know and love as Christmas. The gospel of Luke, where our gospel reading is from, focuses mostly on Mary. And the skit was based on Matthew’s gospel, which focuses exclusively on Joseph. Matthew and Luke told the story of Christ’s birth in very different ways. But there’s something in common between them that really stands out for me this year.

Both Joseph and Mary receive promises from God, promises that are frankly unbelievable. And yet, both Mary and Joseph responded in faith.

The angel told Mary: “Nothing will be impossible with God.” Mary responded, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” There has perhaps never been greater faith. Joseph responded with great faith as well.

Responding in faith to God’s promises is hard. Trusting in God’s promises when they go against our own experience is really hard. It’s hard to believe that God can do what seems to be impossible. It’s hard to believe that God can shine light into every single dark place, that God can bring goodness out of any bad situation, that God will be with us no matter where we are or what we are doing.

Throughout this season of Advent, we have heard God’s promises. Each week we have spent the beginning of worship yearning for those promises. And each week we have then transitioned into celebrating that God fulfills those promises, in various ways including Holy Communion. Each week, we’ve traveled together from the Advent theme of yearning to the Christmas theme of light and joy and God’s presence with us.

And so together this season, we have practiced learning to receive and trust these promises. In that way, maybe we’ve been a little like Joseph and Mary. They were normal, everyday people like us, who were asked to believe and trust the impossible. And who then experienced the impossible, when God fulfilled those promises.

I pray that we can hold onto this throughout the year. I wonder what impossible thing God will ask us to trust next. I wonder if we will believe it. And I wonder what it will be like when God fulfills that promise too.

Image by Dorothée QUENNESSON from Pixabay