How Can This Be?

December 22, 2002

The Rev. Dr. Anthony J. Godlefski, Pastor

Montgomery United Methodist Church

Luke 1: 26-38

²⁶In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, ²⁷to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. ²⁸The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you." 

²⁹Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. ³⁰But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. ³¹You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. ³²He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, ³³and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end." 

³⁴"How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?" 

³⁵The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. ³⁶Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. ³⁷For nothing is impossible with God." 

³⁸"I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May it be to me as you have said." Then the angel left her.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, good morning! This morning I have for you a question and a wish. The question is for you to think about in your prayer time this week, and the wish is for Christmas for you.

Let’s begin with the Bible, and think about what happened in this morning’s Scripture. There was a young girl named Mary, and she was of a class of people called “the quiet in the land.” Back in those days, there were many religious parties; some were the zealots, who thought that the kingdom of God would come by force; and there were these people called the quiet in the land, who believed that God’s kingdom would come to earth in a gentle way. Mary was of this sort.

There was a thought among these people that God might visit His people through one of them. It was perhaps while Mary was praying on this idea that a remarkable event took place. An angel of the Lord appeared to her, the angel Gabriel, the great one who appeared also to Zechariah, and said to her, “Hail, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus.” And Mary thought to herself, “What manner of greeting might this be?”

And the angel said to her, “Fear not, Mary, for you shall conceive and bear a son, and his name will be called Jesus, and he will be very great, and he will save his people from their sins.”

And Mary said, “How can this be? How can this be? Dear angel, there is something wrong with this story. You can’t mean me! There is something wrong with this story – I know no man. There is something wrong with this story – there’s a flaw. There’s something less than perfect about it. I don’t understand.”

And the angel of the Lord said, “Mary, nothing is impossible with God.”

And Mary said, “Ah, yes. Ecce ancilla Domini. Behold the handmaid of the Lord. Be it done unto me according to your word.” And the angel blessed and left her.

How can this be? I think I’d like to retitle this sermon, “An Almost Perfect Christmas”. You see, right from the outset, there was something less that perfect about Christmas, something less than perfect about the way God came to earth. Remember, after all, He was born in a stable because there was no room for Him in the inn. It was less than perfect. And I would like to talk with you today about an almost perfect Christmas.

Here’s the question I’d like you to think about this week: is it harder for you to be perfect or imperfect? What do you think? Sometimes it is harder for me to be imperfect, and I wonder if that is so for you. I’m not talking about excellence – excellence is a good thing. It’s a noble human striving. And it disciplines us and encourages us. But the need to be perfect, my friends, is simply crazy-making.

My Christmas wish for you is that you may be freed from the tyranny of perfection. One of my favorite preachers is Dr. Malcolm Boyd of the City Church of New York. Listen to what he says about people who need to be perfect and seek perfection in others. He calls them “tormented and tormenting.” “Tormented describes them well, for they are hard on themselves. No matter how good they are, they never think they’re good enough. However much they accomplish, they succeed only in disappointing their own high expectations. When the only success they will acknowledge is perfection, anything less must be counted failure. So they have come to interpret themselves by a cluster of unhappy words – inferiority, guilt, anxiety, quiet desperation, sometimes even self-contempt and despair.”

Now I know none of you can relate to this. I know I can. It is one of the cutting edges of my own spiritual discipline – the need to have everything just right, the need to please all the people completely all the time – mea culpa. My Christmas wish for you is that you may be freed to excellence but free from the tyranny of perfection.

I want to tell you a story. This is a scary story – let me warn you in advance. I have a friend who is the godfather to an English family by the name of Belleeck. Does anybody recognize the name Belleeck? Does anybody recognize the name Minton? How about Royal Doulton? We’re talking about fine china. In the Belleeck China Company, which is in Ireland, a curious thing happens. People turn out beautiful works of art in china, the best they can do. And then, it goes to the inspectors. Each piece of china is put up to a startlingly bright light and inspected for any possible flaw. Here comes the scary part … if a piece is not absolutely perfect, it is smashed. There is no such thing as a factory second in the Belleeck China Shop.

I am kind of glad I don’t live near the shop. I’d probably be there pleading with them, “No! Don’t! It’s so beautiful; nobody can see that flaw! I’ll take it! I’ll put it in whatever space I have left in my garage!” I have Ainsley china for special occasions. I’m happy to tell you that a lot of my china is factory seconds from E-bay. I’m glad of it – I can’t see these flaws. But that’s the way it is with the Belleeck China Shop. I guess it’s okay for china, but it’s not okay for people. My prayer for you is that you might be freed from the tyranny of perfection.

Perfection carries over into our preparation for Christmas, doesn’t it? When I prepare for Christmas here at church or at home, there are two words which are very difficult for me to pronounce: good enough. I wonder how it is for you. We’re pulled in so many ways to make a perfect Christmas. I answer your email – you know I have a webTV address. While the thing is booting up, I can click into network TV, and sometimes I see this remarkable woman named Martha Stewart. My word, sometimes I think she has just a little too much time on her hands, don’t you? It’s okay not to be like Martha Stewart, my friends.

I was in a store unlike any store I’d ever seen before, a couple of days ago. It’s called Treasure Island. Have you been there? I stood looking around like a tourist. I couldn’t’ believe all the things that were there to try to make Christmas perfect. And it’s good to try to make Christmas wonderful, because it’s a reflection of God’s perfect gift to us. We strive to match it, but we need not. The whole point of God sending Jesus to earth is to say, “Let me take care of perfection, dear people. You just do your best, and then get some rest.” May you be free from the tyranny of perfection.

My dear friends, the truth is that God takes the imperfect in us and loves it perfectly. God takes our brokenness and loves us completely and totally. We are loved not because we are perfect but because His love is perfect for us. So may you be free to be gentler on yourself and gentler on your celebration of Christmas.

If you are gripped by disappointment this Christmas, remember that it’s not just about trees and presents and ornaments and stuff. You know what I’m talking about – some of you have talked today about how Christmas is going to be somehow broken, somehow less than perfect. We pray and bless you and surround you with love.

But to any degree that your Christmas is less than perfect, here is an antidote for you. The antidote is love. If you’re feeling blue about Christmas, if something is less than perfect, ask God to show you who you need to make feel happy. Ask God to show you who He needs you to smile into smiling, to love into loving, to encourage into confidence. And Christmas joy will be reflected back to you.

Oh, my dear friends, there is a conclusion to the Belleeck story. It’s in the Bible, in the book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah went to visit a pottery shop, and he saw the potter spinning the wheel. He took the pot off the wheel, and the pot wasn’t quite right. He didn’t throw it away. He reformed it and molded it and touched it with his loving hands until it was not perfect but until it pleased him. And so God does with us. God takes our imperfections and our almost-perfects and makes them perfect in His eyes, through His perfect love.

May it be so for you, dear friends, this Christmas. May you be free from the tyranny of perfection, and free to love deeply as a reflection of God’s own love in Jesus Christ.

Before we conclude, would you forgive and tolerate just one little song? [Pastor Tony at the piano]

Have yourself an almost perfect Christmas.
Let your heart be blessed.
Could it be that perfect isn’t always best?

Have yourself an almost perfect Christmas.
Think of how God came.
God’s own Son was born upon a bed of hay.
This cold world isn’t good enough,
Understood enough,
It’s true.
He came to more than just set us free.
He’s God’s gift to me
And you.

If your house can’t be like Martha Stewart’s
Know that it’s all right.
Chances are she won’t come to your house tonight.
And have yourself an almost perfect Christmas night.

Have yourself an almost perfect Christmas.
Know that it’s okay.
There must be something good to celebrate today.

If you haven’t finished all your shopping,
If the cards aren’t done,
Stop and think about the birthday of the One.

One who came to take care of us,
To be there for us
How fine.
He came to be our guide and friend
Now and to the end
Of time.

Just keep loving all the precious people
Which God does allow.
Let this be our happiness and sacred vow.
And have yourself an almost perfect Christmas now.

God bless you, my friend. And I do, too. Merry Christmas, everybody. Amen.