Good News Bad News (Luke 1: 26-45)

I’m showing my age now, with this reflection that first had an airing roughly 33 years ago and in harking back to a children’s author that I’ve always loved – Roald Dahl. I’ve been a fan since I first discovered his wicked little take offs he did in books like “Revolting Rhymes”. What I especially like about Dahl and this book (with fabulous Quentin Blake illustrations) is the way he takes very familiar stories and re-tells them with a twist. A lot of this involves a bit of a reality check, if you were to look at what would have happened if the events portrayed in the nursery rhyme really had taken place.  

For example, take Goldilocks and the three bears.  Usually when this is told, it’s engineered in such a way that we are on Goldilocks side. Will she get away from those dangerous bears – hurrah, she does! Let’s all cheer and shower her with praise…

What Dahl does is tell the story as it probably really was. He points out that it’s really a tale about a brazen little crook who breaks and enters, steals breakfasts left out to cool, smashes a precious little chair, smothers her dirty feet all over the beds... and then gets off Scot free! Dahl decides that she really deserves a stickier end than that – in his version she becomes the “just desserts” for the hungry bears…

I don’t know about you, but sometimes I think that some of our “faith stories” from the Bible could do with the Roald Dahl treatment. Especially some of the Christmas ones which we’ve heard many times and which can sit slightly awkwardly with our different understandings about how babies come to be and what seeing an angelic host might mean to (for example) a mental health professional. Doing a “Roald Dahl” on them would not only spice them up, but perhaps point out some things that we don’t usually notice.

So, here is the “straight” version of Luke 1: 26-45... and then a Roald Dahl styled alternative.

Luke 1: 26-45 (TEV)

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, favoured 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 favour 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 for ever, 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.

 

The Birth Of Jesus Announced (with apologies to Roald Dahl!)

Mused Mary sitting in her room

“What is in store for me when soon

I’ll have a man with all that means:

A life of drudge, domestic scenes”

 

While there she sat, musing her plight,

A shining angel hove in sight.

(Not quite what Mary had in mind –

A vision of the heaven kind!)

 

With golden voice so strong and clear

He said “Hail! You’re blest my dear!”

 

“Hail?” thought Mary, “He’s off his rocker –

It’s not raining  - but heck and bother,

What could he mean to call me ‘blest’

What has he seen that I have missed?”

 

“Don’t fear” said Angel, “Good news I bring

For you a baby – a little king.

The Son of God this child’s to be

His kingdom’s for eternity!”

 

Now Mary wasn’t at all slow

She sat and thought and said “I know

I’m not your high sophisticate,

But look here buddy, listen mate,

Despite those fancy words you say

I wasn’t born just yesterday!

You can’t have babies on your own

I’m unattached, still home alone!”

 

Said angel with a cheery grin

“There’s a secret -  I’ll let you in:

this child is not your average type

from parents who have got it right.

He’ll come on board when all Gods power

Will rest on you this very hour.

He’ll be God’s own and yours as well –

He’ll have the name ‘Immanuel’!

Your relly Liz is pregnant too…

There’s nothing that God cannot do!”

 

Well, what would you do if in the night

A mighty angel hove in sight

And dumps on you dilemma, pain…

A baby that you can’t explain?

Who will believe her, who will hear..

They’ll run her out of town, no fear!

 

But Mary – young and poor, alone

Says words that made herself at home

In God’s own heart – and ours as well

Listen as they weave their spell:

 

“I’m God’s servant” – her voice was clear

No trace of any selfish fear.

“Let God do it as he says

I’ll follow God for all my days”.

 

A more “liberal” interpretation of this sort of story would be to pooh-pooh it. Babies from thin air – that’s a likely one! It’s just a story that tries to turn an illegitimate, embarrassing birth into something much holier and mysterious.

 

I don’t want to take that kind of tack but instead take the approach of theologian Roald Dahl.

 

Mary doesn’t have to be the remote “plaster saint” that we’ve often grown up with. She is a very plucky young lady whose bravery could put a lot of us to shame.

 

If truth be known, she was probably around the age of 13, a poor, probably illiterate peasant girl who was regarded as a kind on “non-person” in the culture of the day – someone who was the property of men, of her father first before being passed on to a husband.

 

What this story does is show a special messenger from God making a beeline for her. Quite unheard of for a supposed “non-person”. God is saying to someone like Mary “I’ve got a special task for you!”

 

The other thing it does is show a very different reaction from Mary, a woman, than you get from a man earlier on. When her cousin’s husband Zechariah sees the angel - as reported in verse 8 – he’s petrified! Scared witless! You don’t get a sense of this from Mary.

 

Then, when explanations are attempted for Zechariah, all he wants is a sign, a miracle, before he’ll believe what he’s being told.

 

Mary shows much more poise. Her response is one of faith – even for this pretty tricky situation that has been thrust upon her, with its “Good news” being potentially “Bad News”. When she said, “may it happen as you said”, she immediately put her life at risk. An illegitimate baby meant that she couldn’t expect any man to marry her anymore – and her only probable source of future income would be life of prostitution.

 

In a strange sort of way, Mary is a very liberated person.

 

She’s liberated from the strictures of a society that said women were not of worth – this simple village girl is part of God’s bigger picture for bringing Christ into the world!

 

She’s liberated from the expectations that say God only works through middle-class middle-age males – God has business with old and young, educated and illiterate – anyone who will open themselves to the transforming power of God’s love.

 

Somehow she was able to turn a potentially dangerous, bad news scenario around into the good news it was meant to be.

 

Maybe one of the messages for us again this Christmas is that God is still able to work through the most unexpected and surprising people – there’s nothing that God cannot do, even through ordinary people like you or me! And maybe, like Mary, we might have trouble explaining what is really going on…     

 

Amen.

 

Advent Greetings 2022

Greetings to friends and whānau as another year draws to the close, the 61st year of me being on the planet. As per usual in thinking how to sum up this year, it is the usual mixture of gains and losses… but immense gratitude for a life that that can’t be taken for granted when looking at challenges others around me face. 

Settling in and Moving On 

Marty has continued to settle into life in Dunedin, and into life in the Carsonage. I’m reminded that this part of the world is a great place to live (always very mindful of this as I look back at photographs from the year), but that it is not somewhere you come if you want long, hot summers: we have settled on summer being a concept, rather than a season, and you just take each day as it comes. 

My work has remained fairly consistent, but aware that an ageing church demographic is really starting to bite, and with a few Anglican Churches celebrating 150 year anniversaries this year, the shape of things to come is very uncertain. One of my tasks at work was to put together some information on how to close a church, which is sad, but also the reality right now. 

Marty’s work has come and gone a bit, for a while he had a brief (but illustrious!) career with the Dunedin City Council in their Community Development area, but he has since moved on and is finishing training as a Restorative Justice Facilitator (associated with the court system) and also travelling towards a new hospital chaplaincy post. He continues to attempt a friendship with Aroha the cat, who is slowly warming… 

The moving on is to do with saying goodbye to the Carsonage (14 Carson Street) and literally moving across the hill to a larger house that will be easier to entertain in. I will have lived in the same house for 11 years when we shift, a record in terms of my time in any one place! 

Gain and Loss 

This year has meant saying goodbye to three parents in our household: Marty’s Mum (Gwenyth), Dad (Peter) and my mum (Alison). It has been great to have the extra connections with Whānau over the year in Auckland and Dunedin, with my younger brother travelling from Toronto and older brother and sister in law from Wellington. There have been a number of other significant people who have passed on, including a former workmate Ginny Kitchingman. 

I guess the biggest gain continues to be Marty in my life, and I’m very grateful for all that he brings. I’m a very content introvert, but it has been good having someone who is so good at connecting with people and making sure we get out and enjoy life. Over this year we have hosted lots of guests at the Carsonage and have also had a few trips away, for example up the Waitaki Valley in May and doing a few bike rides in Central Otago in November. 

New Beginnings…? 

I can recall in my days as an occupational therapist encouraging people to identify what key roles and activities we should be involved in at certain times of life. For some there will be stages where they have very active engagement in building careers, family life, particular passions and connections… and I am thinking now: “what’s next”? 

I’m very fortunate to enjoy good health and technically have a few years left in me before drawing on the pension. I am getting slightly itchy feet, but am very aware also that it not “just me” anymore – which has its challenges as well as its opportunities. 

I’m always asking about where I am now in my work and family life – can this be better? Have particular things had their day, what should the focus be now? I’m a great believer that there is always the opportunity to reinvent oneself and look forward to what this stage in life has on offer, but I’m very much keeping an open mind for all of this. For any of you who are inclined to pray, remember me (and all your friends) as the year draws to a close and new opportunities (possibly!) present themselves. 

 Arohanui, Andrew