The Gospel: Luke 1:26-38
In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” The angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.” Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.

Prayer: Lord, you have promised that when two or three gather in your name you will be present with them. We depend on that promise today and pray that you will move among us. Lord, we pray that have you inspired Mike's preparation, that you will enliven his presentation and that you will empower our application.  Amen

The Message: Good morning. So I would like to ask my question, you know the one that I ask in my Message on a Sunday, early this in this message today.

"Do you expect to hear from God?"

Do you have an expectation that God will communicate with you? Now it doesn't have to be a voice that you hear speaking to you, but do you feel that you have established an understanding of how the Lord responds to your prayers. Or how the Lord communicates his love for you to you?           

Today we are marking the fourth Sunday in Lent and combining it with the celebration of The Annunciation. As we read the scriptures for the Annunciation we hear the story of Mary hearing from God. In a remarkable experience, Mary hears from the angel and hears what God desires from her.

I wonder if today we were to say to someone: "well I heard from God this week" what their reaction would be? I wonder if they would equate it with someone who may have stepped over the edge. Perhaps stepped out of reality?

With that question out there I want to change tack a little here and give us all some foundation for my message today.

As you all know I have just had the opportunity of a Sabbatical. An opportunity to step away from my life, with you, here at Christ Church and to reflect and consider my call and my vocation.

A Sabbatical is not just a long vacation. It is an opportunity to pause, an opportunity to consider, and an opportunity to evaluate. Many Priests when they take the opportunity to take a Sabbatical will spend time in a retreat. They will take themselves away to somewhere like the retreat house provided by the Brother of Society of Saint John the Evangelist. They will carve out time for meditation, for quietness. They will perhaps meet with a Spiritual Director who will guide them through exercises designed to help them contemplate their spiritual well-being.

They will perhaps study a particular issue or reflect on a theological subject. Then as a result of that, they will write a thesis or thoughtful paper in which they will share their conclusions for the benefit of themselves and others who might be interested in that subject. 

The purpose of a Sabbatical for many Priests is a time of taking stock of their life and ministry.

My Sabbatical was a little different from what most people would plan. Now, all of you know me. So I don't think that it will come as any big surprise that I planned something different.

I went back to Australia for my Sabbatical and I spent a good deal of my time at home with my Mum, my brother and my three sisters.  

Over the next couple of months, I will often refer to my Sabbatical and what I learned. I hope that we won't all grow weary of hearing me say: "well when I was on Sabbatical."

I hope I can apply all that happened while I was away to my life and ministry here at Christ Church.

I did engage in a project while I was on Sabbatical. I developed a questionnaire and asked those who participated with me to reflect on the question of Spirituality.  In particular, I asked people what they learned or how they thought the pandemic affected them and how they thought their spiritual lives might be different post Covid?

One point that came out of my conversations and email interchanges was that those who had established spiritual disciplines before the Pandemic and were able to maintain those disciplines generally fared better in the two years or so of the Pandemic.

On the other hand, it became clear that those people who only depended on their attendance and participation in Sunday worship to maintain their spiritual well-being didn't fare as well.

Briefly, those spiritual practices were things like personal prayer, reading of scripture, meditation, and reflection, or listening for the movement of the Holy Spirit. Or perhaps they had a means of interchanging with a small group of fellow believers for prayer, reading of scripture, meditation, and reflection, or listening for the movement of the Holy Spirit.

These activities took a variety of forms, but they meant that the individuals were engaged in some pattern of personal seeking to engage with "the Holy."

Now just in case, you think I am asking us to consider something hyper-spiritual I would like to look briefly at what we, as Episcopalians, see as a normal spiritual practice.

As I said earlier today is the Fourth Sunday of Lent. Lent began with the Ash Wednesday Service. I am grateful that The Rev Mel was available to lead that Service in my absence.  

That service begins with a prayer. You can find it on page 264 of the Prayer Book in your pew. Or you can see it on the monitors. Because I am aware of time this morning I am going to read the beginning of the Prayer and then skip to the end.

The Prayer at the beginning of the Ash Wednesday Service
Dear People of God: The first Christians observed with great devotion the days of our Lord's passion and resurrection, and it became the custom of the Church to prepare for them by a season of penitence and fasting. This season of Lent provided a time in which converts to the faith were prepared for Holy Baptism. It was also a time when those who, because of notorious sins, had been separated from the body of the faithful were reconciled by penitence and forgiveness, and restored to the fellowship of the Church. Thereby, the whole congregation was put in mind of the message of pardon and absolution set
forth in the Gospel of our Savior, and of the need which all Christians continually have to renew their repentance and faith.

I invite you, therefore, in the name of the Church, to the observance of a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God's holy Word. And, to make a right beginning of repentance, and as a mark of our mortal nature, let us now kneel before the Lord, our maker and redeemer.

So as with that piece of common Episcopal spirituality and my Sabbatical study as a background, I would like to ask my question again: "Do you expect to hear from God?"

Do you have an expectation that God will communicate with you? Now it doesn't have to be a voice that you hear speaking to you, but do you feel that you have established an understanding of how the Lord responds to your prayers. Or how the Lord communicates his love for you to you? 

Or can I ask this a different way: How many of us are engaged in the spiritual practice of listening?

So you may well be asking by now what does all that have to do with The Annunciation?  Well, The Annunciation presents us with a challenging idea. In the narrative of The Annunciation, we are presented with Mary and the visitation, but ultimately we are presented with Mary's response: Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.”

Now, it would be easy for us hearing that story to think: "well, it must have been easy for Mary." We may want to say well, obviously, she is special and as God's chosen one she is gifted in that way to accept what is asked of her.

If we do that I believe we skip over an important part of this story.

"But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God."

Did you catch those important words: perplexed, pondered, and afraid. Mary is perplexed, she finds it difficult to understand what is being asked of her. She ponders, thinks deeply, and considers what is being said. In both of these actions, it is necessary for her to listen.

I want to suggest this morning that this is something that Mary has trained herself in. it may well have been one of her spiritual disciplines.

Why would I say that well we don't have to go very far in scripture to see other examples of people who were not willing to respond in a positive way to the request from the Lord?

Many other people hear from God and don't give the kind of reply that Mary does. Not that much earlier in the Gospels Zechariah hears from God, that his wife Elizabeth is going to bear a child,  and basically says "nope that is not going to happen." As a result, he is struck mute until his son, who will become John the Baptist, is born.

I want to encourage us all for our own spiritual health and well-being to consider what spiritual practices we might engage in this Lent. I believe that if we are to develop these spiritual practices we need to engage in some way on a regular, if not daily basis.

So, to ask my question for today again:
"Do you expect to hear from God?" How are you engaging in the spiritual practice of listening?

I invite you, therefore, in the name of the Church, to the observance of a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God's Holy Word.
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I don't believe that Mary's response came from a spontaneous reaction or response. I believe it was because she was engaged in a life of spiritual practice that led her to recognize what her response should be.