How can this be? - Advent Series

Today we are going to talk about so we're starting in three weeks here . We we are going to talk about , so we're starting in three weeks . Here . We're going to talk about Advent as it relates to the ministry that we do at Regen , and part of our hope with this is not just to kind of do you know because of this that ?

But we want to invite you kind of in a reflective , meditational way , to be considering how the good news of Christmas , how what happens at Christmas , how the incarnation actually does intersect your struggles .

Whatever it is that brings you to be listening to the Becoming Whole podcast Unwanted sexual attractions of some kind or behavior that you're struggling with , or a spouse who's been unfaithful , or some past childhood wounds , or all of the above . Christmas is not just a diversion from those things .

Christmas speaks right into those things , and so this week , andrea and I are going to talk about mary and so I know I've just been talking all the time , andrea . But yeah , before I read the passage initial , just give me some initial like where's your ?

What happens in your , in your heart , when I even say the idea that these struggles and Christmas are meant for each other .

I'm going to read a good 10 verses here , so just hang with me , and this will be familiar . I know that most of you have heard this before and we're in the season where you're going to hear it a lot . But but listen , even as , even as I read , listen a bit Like what does this have to do with your body ?

So in the sixth month of , the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth , to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David , and the virgin's name was Mary . And he came to her and said greetings , oh , favored one , the Lord is with you .

But she was greatly troubled at the saying and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be . And the angel said to her Do not be afraid , mary , for you have found favor with God and , behold , you will conceive in your womb and bear a son and you shall call his name 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 father , david , and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever and of his kingdom . There will be no end . And Mary said to the angel how will this be , since I am a virgin ?

And the angel answered 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 called Holy , the Son of God . And behold , your relative , elizabeth , is in her old age .

In her old age , has also conceived a son , and this is the sixth month with her , who has been called barren , for nothing will be impossible with God . And Mary said Behold , I am the servant of the Lord . Let it be to me according to your word . And the angel departed from her . So a lot there , andrea , why don't you start ? What stands out to you .

It jumps out at me because she talks to this angelic visitor , the angel of the Lord , about her virginity , the reality of her sexual self , and she's just bringing it right out . She doesn't just say how can this be , Because you know she says how can this be from a virgin ? What do you make of that ?

And I want to backpedal a little bit , because this is a young woman who is engaged . Her mind is on what flowers will be at the wedding , which of her friends will be closest , what does her dress look like , what perfume she'll wear , right . And then this angel appears and says so , you're going to have a baby . And for her to say how can this be ?

Because she is so simply , authentically aware of her limit that she has not had sex , and she's very plain with that . And I feel right away the intersection , right of a session this morning , with a woman saying well , how can it be that God still wants to meet me ?

How can you say that God still wants to talk to me when , and very plain with her limitations of I can't quit porn ? My thoughts about him keep bringing these feelings up in me and I need to comfort myself . Masturbation's got a grip on me .

Sexuality my experience with , with what it means to be a sexual being in my body , is an uncomfortable part of my relationship with god , or how I expect to interact with god , whether it's I've done things and I can't imagine that he would want me choose me , come close to me .

I think for a lot of people , the intensity of the desire feels so overwhelming has sent them into places where they feel so out of control that the idea of and I will even say this from my own experience I loved Jesus , was passionate for Jesus , and then other times it felt like this other thing just came over me or rose up in me and I wanted to avoid

Jesus .

I didn't , I didn't want him to interrupt me , I didn't want him to talk to me , and so I think in a lot of ways , I was confusing the intensity , the overwhelmed feeling that I feelings that I was experiencing with the idea that somehow God also would be overwhelmed by these things that he would , he would like , because they eclipsed my love for God for such

a long time . In some ways I felt like they would eclipse his , his love for me , or hit or somehow eclipse me to him , and that's not the case there . I mean this experience with me . I appreciate you bring out that her virginity does not equal her goodness , that we're not looking at like cause , cause we don't .

We also don't want listeners to say like well , but she was good , see , like like .

Because for all of us in a fallen world , like we , we are very familiar and Mary would have been familiar with people around her , with her own experiences of other people's desires or their sexual expressions or whatever Like we're all aware of , of how powerful sex can be , how powerfully disruptive , disorienting can be .

Yeah , god is not overwhelmed and God does not pull away from that part of us , in whatever condition it is in us .

His thoughts are higher than our thoughts , but I think that what Mary does also , then if we recognize okay , god , these are my limits . Where are the places in my life that I can be asking how can this be ? How can this be God ? How can this be that you want to meet me ? How can this be that you still want to be part of my life ?

And that's what is set up so well ? Here is how can this be ?

And instead of letting that question turn you away from God , like , maybe more like Pilate if I could throw him into the mix here a little bit when Jesus is declaring that he's the truth and Pilate says what's truth and walks away , doesn't wait , Are there ways that , are there parts of your life , parts of my life , where I really struggle to believe in God's

goodness , His blessing , the fruit that he wants to bring into my life , and instead of taking that question to Him and remaining open to Him so we can even imagine Mary here looking this angel in the eye , so to speak how can this be ? And then waiting .

Oh , I need to comfort her right now and so asking the question and being uncomfortable , being afraid , showing that to God and waiting , yes , for the answer and waiting for that comfort . That even his messenger want to offer . That's who God is that he would want to offer that comfort that even his messenger want to offer .

That's who god is that he would want to offer that comfort yeah , so where ?

One of the reasons that I light up about this story is because I am convinced that and I'm a novice at this myself , but I'm convinced that many of us Christians know about the incarnation , we believe in it , but we've never really we haven't let ourselves adequately wrestle with , with what this is really about , what this really means , like the God of the

universe literally became in flesh , really literally became human , retained his Godhood somehow , but but literally became human , didn't just appear human , didn't just seem human , but became human in the intersection of Mary and and God . Here is significant in that the angel saying you will conceive .

You will conceive not just , hey , we're going to borrow your womb for a little bit , you're going to be a surrogate mom , but you yourself will conceive . I mean there's literally this union between mary and the holy spirit and it's not sexual , because god's not sexual . Sexual . Our human sexuality is image . It images god , not the other way around .

So there's this miraculous conception of Christ in Mary's womb , but our theology here , christian theology here , points to Jesus is in fact Mary's son . The God becomes a human woman's son . This is mind-boggling and and scandalous , wonderful , beautiful , unbelievable , like I mean certainly unbelievable , and if I could , I mean that's enough to park on .

We could spend the whole time talking about that , because that that theology at the heart of that theology is our , is our , our faith , like if we don't , if we don't truly believe that , then we're not truly believing the incarnation and nothing . We have to pin down every detail .

There is mystery here , for sure , but but this is how much god , god , loves us , this is how much he esteems , values our bodies .

And then , and then add to that this unless , because we're focusing on mary here , not just the incarnation we're gonna come back to the incarnation a bit more in two weeks but that mary , mary's yes to the lord , her may it be done to me according to your will is a kind of surrender that is substantial , like she's not saying yes to kind of some conceptual

like you know , like sometimes people think they hear from the lord like , hey , I want to , I want to do something significant in your life , you're like awesome . To kind of some conceptual . Like sometimes people think they hear from the Lord like , hey , I want

to do something significant in your life . You're like awesome , great Lord , I look forward to it , see you later . And we go about our lives and kind of wait for it to happen .

Mary is saying , yeah , she's opening herself , surrendering herself in a physical way that will have immediate implications for her life in a life-altering way , and not all positive , certainly not all easy .

And I'm undone a bit when I think about trying to pray that kind of prayer like may it be done to me , according to your word , in that way when I get to that place , andrea . It exposes these views of God that I have where I do not trust him .

But you know , what else is so fantastic in here is just the covering that God gives her . And if I'm going too far in a different direction , pull me back . But of Elizabeth , that Elizabeth endured the whispers because of her barrenness . She endured the whispers because of the shame of why can't she ?

And she was such a good woman , a faithful woman , and so to give Mary within her family somebody who's taken notes and help her , you know , be that community .

She , her yes mattered for sure it mattered . And and god , god , was gentle and comforting and gave room for her questions and provided support for her .

And I think about like so , for those men and women listening who are wrestling with something bodily , wrestling , wrestling with something sexual , where might God be saying to you and where might you find in yourself resistance to ? May it be done to me , according to your word , in the area of your sexuality Is part of your habit .

Has Christ been inviting you to give something up or to put some limitations on access to your devices ? Has he been inviting you to give something up or to put some limitations on access to your devices ? Has he been inviting you or urging you towards telling somebody else about what you're struggling with ?

Has he been asking you for access , knocking at the door of an old memory that's hard to go to because it's painful , and just saying can we go there together , in any of those areas where you might find yourself going . I don't know that I am willing to trust you there . I'm not sure I'm really willing to give up control there .

Where might Mary's prayer be instructive or invitational to you in coming back to the Lord ? Yeah , so let me just pause there , andrea . What's kicking up ?

Yes , mary , thank you for that picture of opening and allowing her body , her filled , according to his word . So I think so often we , especially men and women struggling with sexual addiction , is it will look this way , it will feel this way , I'll be rid of this Instead of being filled up with something more .

It's a shift in perspective with what healing , with what this newness that we're looking for can look like and feel like .

What are you seeing there ?

Maybe there's just so much of a fullness to life Turning off a sexual habit or saying no to a sexual habit is one piece , but there's so much more color and vibrancy to life that we are being invited to An entire new life for Mary . An entire new life for Mary , yeah , entire new life for Mary . Yeah , and it's not easy . And she did not walk away .

She could have had Jesus and skipped out . She stayed , she stayed , she stayed and she stayed . So , yeah , I feel like her invitation here is also to consider more than the black and white , the on and off .

Like whatever else you believe about mary , she literally , physically , has a different relationship with the lord than than anyone in all of history . And because she said yes , so what else ? What else might your yes to get ? For all that , it feels like you're saying no to , and yes to God does mean no to some other things .

Yes to pregnancy for anybody means saying no to some other things , but you have no idea what your yes is going to bring , and with Christ involved , you can't even know the magnitude .

People are going to look down on her , people are going to gossip , which is crazy , because I , like , in my desire to like dig into thinking about Mary , I forget about Jesus . She's not just carrying a baby , she is a literal , real baby who is Jesus . And yeah , yeah , she is a literal , real baby who is jesus .

And yeah , yeah , all right , so I'm gonna land this plane here a little bit . Let me just offer a couple of these and , andre , I want you to jump in .

Uh , what do we do when we find out in this journey that we are either resisting god , saying yes to him , um , in some way , as we're trying to break free from our sins , or we think he's leading us in a certain way , and or when we experience , we think we're running up to some of our limits and and we're kind of like capping out there and thinking that

, you know , we have that kind of how . Can this be one of the things that stirs in me , as you're kind of going through , the comfort and the , the space and the ability to ask questions is number one . We're kind to ourselves . God is kind to us . We can be kind to ourselves .

We do not need to beat ourselves up when we discover that we don't believe that God can break through our limits and when we don't believe that we can say yes . That's not a place to beat ourselves up . That is a place to remain , to ask , to open ourselves and seek his presence , his grace , to help us with that . People have heard me say this before .

I'll say it again Like one of my favorite prayers . In all the scriptures in the New Testament , a father prays it and when Jesus is talking about the importance of faith , he says I do believe , help me in my unbelief . This is that staying there thing , not like , oh , I guess I'm disqualified , but like I do do believe , help my unbelief .

And then I would also say how important it is because this has just been helpful for me .

When I find myself running into spaces where I I'm struggling just to trust god where it's I am , I'm either saying the words let it be done to me according to your word or to your will , and I notice that I'm dissociating from that , like not really like there's something in me that's kind of like pulling back inwardly , even though I'm saying it , honoring me ,

honoring him with his , my lips , hearts far from him when I find myself there or or I find myself unable to utter the words in a certain area , like let it be done to me according to your word , like that too has been a space of like , viewing that as invitation from him , like if I recognize that's happening , I can recognize it because he's letting me know

it's happening and that's opportunity for me to to remain open or to seek to open myself to him . I can't give him a big yes . Let me give him a small yes , like even the yes of I'm going to stay here for a minute with you .

Lord , I noticed this , I acknowledge this with the hope that he will come in as much , in a small way , that will grow , if I can use that the pregnancy as a metaphor there . So those would be two of my takeaways , and I know there are a lot more here , but , yeah , any final words from you , andrea , about how this intersects our folks listening .

There's a reaching down from heaven and a reaching up from Mary and there's that intersection or the grasping of hands of just an agreement , like , okay , I'm doing this with you , but to me , immediately I'm like , do you need to stretch your way to understanding ? May be done according to your word .

Do you need to walk your way , meet your way , color your way , sing your way , meet your way , color your way , sing your way to understanding your limits , to remaining , to being kind to yourself .

That story goes on to Mary's song where she's praising God and Hannah does the same thing in 1 Samuel and it just shows , like it's an invitation to echo that song that we can keep singing Like what a beautiful example even there . So the questions are so good . How can this be ? Where am I asking ? How can this be ?

Being afraid and making a face about it and letting God know right and stretching for that intersection ? Nothing's impossible with God . Unexpectedly unexpected .

Or and or may be done to me according to your word , and stay with the lord , with those , and see what happens . It's a beautiful , beautiful exercise . Second invitation is our team is here

and so if something's perking your , your interest , or you're finding yourself going like how do I do that ? Like Like Andrea was talking about , like taking a walk or color coloring with it , like how does that work ?

Like there are a lot of , there are a million different ways , gentle ways to , to , to move towards Jesus with these things , so you are not stuck because he is able . So , lord , we just pray for that . We pray for anybody listening who's feeling stuck , able . So , lord , we just pray for that .

We pray for anybody listening who's feeling stuck how can this be ? Or is feeling resistant to give you their will in this area of their lives . Lord , come closer and pray that for me and Andrea too , in the name of the Father , son and Holy Spirit , amen .