Luke 1:38a  “Mary said, ‘Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word’.”

We Methodists, historically, were not very big on Mary.  I suppose we homed in more on the ‘handmaiden of the Lord’ aspect of her personality than anything else, and we certainly did not elevate her to position of ‘Mother of God’.  Some would no doubt argue that by taking such a line, we made ourselves deficient in some way, but there it is.  Methodists are nothing if not down to earth Christians, for whom the Christian faith is very much about incarnation - theWord made flesh.

However, times and emphases change.  All branches of the church, throughout its history, have been very good at constantly reinventing themselves.  Like a chameleon, the church adjusts to the cultural and temporal conditions in which it finds itself.  The church in Bolivia is very different from the church in Bangladesh, and very different again from the church in Britain.  There is no church today which is like the church in New Testament times.  So when my eleven-year old grand-daughter says to me “Jesus was probably born in September, so why do we keep Christmas in December?’ her question goes to the heart of this very issue.  The church is a dynamic body, always adapting to the world around it, yet keeping the solid core of the gospel intact.  There are, of course, some who pretend otherwise, and would have us believe that the church never changes, and that they, and they alone, are its guardians.  That, to put it bluntly, apart from being exceedingly dull, is fiddlesticks.

It is no surprise, then, to discover that a goodly number of Methodists these days belong to the Ecumenical Society of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  So now, in Methodism, Mary is much more noticeable, and I daresay that today, there will be many sermons being preached about her in Methodist churches across  Britain, to say nothing of Methodism worldwide.

One thing which I soon came to understand when I set out on the path of doing theology was that in Luke’s gospel, there is a great deal about women.  It is not happenstance that our gospel reading this morning was included by Luke in what wanted to say to his readership.  This is something unique in the four gospels, though, of course, it is not unknown for the other three to affirm women in one way or another.  However, Mary is not, perhaps, the best model if we want to affirm the equal status of women and men in the church.  Having said that, this gospel does give Mary an exalted status among women, but that is not where I want to take you this morning.  Mary, mother of Jesus, arguably then, mother of the Church, does, nevertheless, lead me to think of the subject of women and the church, particularly with regard to priesthood and episcopacy in the Anglican communion.  Walk with me, then, for a few moments.

When some 40 years ago the Methodist Church began to take seriously the question of the ordination of women as presbyters, any opposition was not, by and large, theological, because there are no theological arguments against it.   Rather it was, if I can put it this way, cosmetic, or, if I may say so, concerned with women’s bodily functions.  The latter objections, of course, had their roots in the Old Testament.  Such attitudes and comments were extremely hurtful to the women who cared about ordination, and to those of us who cared about those women and their calling.

Since then, progress has been slow for our women presbyters.  Very few have risen to be President of the Conference, and only a disproportionate few have reached the higher echelons of the church.  The point, though, is that there is no bar on the part of the church to prevent this.  The church has tried hard to be faithful to the belief that ‘in Christ, there is neither male nor female’, and that is a high principle enshrined by the gospel.

So when the names of the episcopal candidates were announced last week, my heart leapt for joy, for as we all now know, one of them is a woman.  Not all are happy about this, however.  On the website of a certain private chapel right here in Dumfries, there is a reference to ‘the persecuted minority of Episcopalians’ (oh really?  Did you know that the Scottish Episcopal Church was into persecution?) ‘the persecuted minority of Episcopalians’ who have to endure women priests, let alone the thought of women bishops.  Well, I can’t say that my heart bleeds for this backward looking group.  The sky has yet to fall in on the church which stands for justice in the gender-equality stakes – and those who have experienced the priesthood of women know better than that.  But, enough – let me move on.

I was in conversation recently with a member of this congregation who said how much he delights in the inclusivity he has found here at St John’s.  We are indeed, in the best sense of the word, a ‘broad church’.  People of all persuasions, of theological and liturgical outlook, gay and straight, musical and non-musical, young and old, in any way you care to mention, should all be welcome here, and find a place.  If they don’t, we have to ask: what is it we are doing which is wrong?  For the gospel I preach is for all - all sorts and conditions of people, all of us with our flawed lives, warts and all, all of us falling short of the glory of God – we all together make up a congregation which together seeks to serve Christ in the church and in the world.  Let there be no divisions between us, no question of ‘us and them’, of perfect and imperfect.  Let us be open to one another, treat all as equal before God, and embrace one another in the name of Christ and for his sake.

We began with Mary, so let us end with her.  However you read and interpret this account, it surely tells of a woman who was prepared to risk her life and reputation in obedience to what she believed to be God’s will for her.  It is generally agreed that life for Mary, from that moment on, was never going to be easy.  But she took that brave decision, and said ‘let it be’.

On this last Sunday in Advent, then, we will do well to take a fresh look at what Mary can mean for us today.  She is much more than just a plaster saint put in the corner of the church.  If the core message of Advent  is about us being ready to welcome and receive the Christ, then Mary is our role model.  Advent is about hope, about longing, about expectation., feelings, which I, for one, have for the aspiration and the calling of women into the priesthood and the episcopate.

But for those, whether male or female, who are not considering ordination, remember too that welcoming and receiving the Christ is not the end of the story.  Once you do that, you are truly putting yourself in his hands and at his disposal, as the Covenant Service reminds us.  It means discipleship, and discipleship means following him whereever he sees fit to take us.  For some it is much more demanding than for others.  For some, it will involve decisions about the direction your life is going to take.  Am I just going to tread water for the rest of my life, or am I going to get out there into the deep end and take risks?  Am I going to give something of myself to this torn and divided world, to make a difference, perhaps, to the lives of others?  There are those, for whom Christ died, whose lives are still without hope, who see no future, and, as of this moment, are not ready for anything, let alone to say ‘Let it be with me according to your word’.  It could be, it could just be, that your acceptance could make the difference to their lives..  Dare you say it?  Dare you say: ‘Let it be with me according to your word.’?  It could be risky.  But it will certainly be right.