Being like Mary, so that Jesus can grow

Preached at St Alphege, Solihull at 9.15am Eucharist on Christmas Day 2007
25/12/07 - Year A
Informal sermon at all-age worship, with drawing activity for children.

Readings: Titus 3:4-7 Luke 2:8-20

I would like to invite all the children to come to the front.
Now, I wonder if anyone has a Christmas present that they would like to show everybody? [We look at presents]
Tell me, what is the most exciting thing when you receive a present?
[Unwrapping it]
Well there is a big box here that needs unwrapping! Now I don’t want you to get two excited, this is not really a Christmas present. What does it say on the label?
[Activity for Christmas morning]
So its not really a present, it is an activity for this morning. So who is going to take the lid of? What can you see?
[Drawing materials]
So this is our activity for the younger ones this morning. It might be more interesting than listening to the sermon! I would like to invite each of you to draw a picture of Jesus as a child. And draw him at the age that you are now. So if you are four years old now, draw a picture of Jesus aged four, and if you’re six years old now draw Jesus, when he was six. And if you’re a baby, get your parent to help you to draw a picture of Jesus as a baby.
So does everybody know what they are doing? Right well while you are carrying on with that drawing the rest of us can carry on thinking about Christmas.

Christmas is such a wonderful event, because God came into the world as a human being. God shared our human life with us, and he transformed our human lives, bringing light and hope and peace for the whole world.
So let’s pause for a moment and think about how this wonderful event came about. What made it happen? Well it was God who made it happen. People didn’t really have to do anything. The shepherds were jus sat on the hill as usual, and suddenly they were told that God had already done this great thing. People didn’t do it; God did it.
But there was at least one person who had to do something, and that was Mary. What did Mary have to do?
Well she had to agree to co-operate with God’s will. When the angel Gabriel told her that she was to have a baby, she said, “Be it unto me according to thy word”.
She also had to trust God. It was a risky business betting pregnant without being married. She had to trust in God’s plan for her; trust that God would take care of her.
She accepted Jesus inside her; loved him and helped him to grow. Then after he was born she fed him and nurtured him continued to help him to grow. And because of this wonderful things happened. Jesus grew up among us and lived his life for us, and died for us and reconciled us to God.

So how are the drawings doing? We have got about another minute, so you need to be finishing off now.

Now I want to suggest is that we too, are called to be a bit like Mary. We are called to accept Jesus inside us and help him to grow. Not so much physically, but spiritually, so that we can grow to become like Christ. St Paul prays that we might all grow up into him who is the head, into Christ, into the full stature of Christ. (c.f. Eph 4:13-15).
Now it is God who makes Christ grow in us. It is not something that we can do ourselves. But if we behave like Mary then we allow God to do this work, without getting in the way.
So like Mary we are called to follow God’s will for us; to say with Mary “Be it unto me according to thy word.”
Like Mary we have to trust God. Sometimes God’s ways seem very strange, frightening even but it is important for us to trust God to bring about his work in us.
Like Mary we need to welcome Jesus, feed him and help him to grow. We can welcome Jesus by loving him in the people around us; we know Jesus is present in each person. We can nurture Jesus within us by listening to his word and by receiving his sacraments. This is how we make Jesus grow spiritually in us.

Now let’s have a look at these pictures of Jesus. Can we line them up so that we have the youngest Jesus at this end and the oldest one at that end. So then as we look along the line we see Jesus growing. So here at this end Jesus is just a baby. Let’s hold the pictures up high. How old is Jesus here? So slowly we can see Jesus growing to maturity. And at this end he is really very mature and the pictures are getting very good! So here before us is the pattern for our lives; Jesus growing. Let’s live our lives like Mary so that God will make Jesus grow within us. Amen.