“Reverse Psychology Salvation”
Luke 1:39-55
December 19, 2021, Advent 4
Introduction
Our text for today is called the Magnificat, taken from the opening line: “My soul/my being magnifies the Lord” brought to us by Mary, the mother of Jesus. It is an exceedingly important and special text for several reasons.
First, it is one of the few texts in the Bible, written in an ancient patriarchal culture, where a woman is presented as the main character, much less as one who speaks prophetically.
Second, the Magnificat offers a different understanding of the incarnation than our culture and many churches usually embrace. Her story, her role in the incarnation, is filled with uncertainty and scandal. The fear and pressure of her circumstances would have been disorienting at best, and probably more accurately, traumatic.
And third, Mary’s canticle announces a major theme that will unfold. And that major theme announcement is: salvation by reversal. A reversal that begins with Mary herself who was invited into a beautifully terrifying situation, and she said yes. She said yes.
Put all of these together, and what you begin to see is salvation by reversal. Mary’s “yes”, Mary’s willing participation in this disorienting, terrifying, traumatic event changes, it reverses, everything. Mary was asked to literally carry and deliver the love of God to a planet in dire need of such—and she willingly accepted the collateral damage of bearing that goodness in a time and place in which doing so would prove to be nearly impossible. Because reversing the ways of the world probably seems impossible. But Mary…with her yes…she shows us it is possible. And there are ways we can follow her lead, and there are ways we shouldn’t.
Move 1
On Tuesday our church participated in the City of Stow’s “Colors of Christmas” event of area churches putting on Christmas displays for folks to drive around to and see and hear Christmasy presentations. We were one of six area churches who participated. Our church did a drive-thru version of our “Search for the Christ Child” event.
We had 64 cars drive in a big circle through our upper lot, and each car got a bag to collect tokens from each “stop” along the search. A star from angels, a candy cane from shepherds, a little card with a nativity poem from inn keepers, chocolate gold coins from the Wise men. And if there were kiddos in the car, we had a nativity craft for them. It was all a great way to share and spread the Good News of Jesus who comes at Christmas and reverse the way of the world with hope, peace, joy, and love.
What we didn’t do was invite people to our Christmas Eve services—like all the other churches did. Nope. We did NOT do that. And why didn’t we? Because that might mean people would come to our church, right? And who wants that?! A lot of preachers say inviting folks to church is a good idea, but I’m here to tell you that’s a bad idea. Terrible idea. Worst idea ever. And here’s why…
Move 2
First, inviting somebody to a Christmas Eve service— way to obvious. That kind of thing is not naturally springing from your relationship with your unchurched neighbor. If you invite somebody to Christmas Eve service they’re gonna know exactly what you are up to. They’re gonna know you’re trying to introduce them to Jesus so they can to put their trust in him, and see how he can change their life for the better. People are gonna smell you coming from a mile away.
Another reason why it’s a terrible idea to invite your neighbor to Christmas Eve services… They might say no. And that’s awkward, because they’ll have to make up some lame excuse to spare your feelings—like they can’t come because they’ll be at their niece’s bat-mitzvah. News flash—they don’t have a niece and they don’t think you know what a bat mitzvah is since you go to a Jesus church. Now you just made them into a liar because you asked them to do something weird. And you’re both are going to feel terrible about it.
And if that’s not enough reason for you to not invite your neighbor to Christmas Eve services, think about this—They might say “Yes! I’d love to come. Sounds great!” Then what are you gonna do? You’re going to have to introduce them to the weird people you’ve come to love—but let’s be honest are still little obtuse. (I mean what kind of person gets up early on the weekend to sit through this guy?!) Then they’ll have to sit through this guy’s boring sermon—even though it has been carefully crafted with a message of Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love that aims to be uplifting in spite of the drain spiraling world we endure day in and day out. Does that “sound great” to you?!
But whatever… Let’s say they press through all that, see the weird people as not so bad, and start to get really interested, and want to come back? What if they want to know more about Christ and the positive change he can guide a person to? They’re probably going to ask you their questions—questions like, “Why do you go to church?” “How has your life been impacted by a relationship with Jesus?”
And then you have to tell them stuff like “My faith helps me get through the hard times, and makes the joyful times even more joyful.” Or, “My church is a community of friends who are like family, and in hard times they will support me, pray for me, even bring me food after a surgery or when a loved one dies.”
Do you really want to go through all that? Who has that kind of time? You can barely manage your current relationships. After all, those “Facebook friendship” have to be tended to constantly— gotta “like” every crazy cat videos “friends” posts. So how are you going to add a real life relationship with a brand new believer who needs actual help in growing their faith? So let’s be honest. An invitation to a Christmas Eve service is just going to put more on your plate then you got room for.
But fine, if you still want to “invite” your neighbor—whatever. But why Christmas Eve? Why not Groundhog Day or Arbor Day? How about around April Fools’ Day? Then if they say no, you can avoid the awkwardness and just say, “April Fools!” I mean, Jesus is still going to be around on Flag Day right? This isn’t a limited time offer. Your neighbors and coworkers are still going to be unaware they are a holy and beloved child of God, and the birth of Jesus changes everything for the better, the rest of the year—there’s no rush.
Christmas time is a busy season. You have cards to send, cookies to bake, shopping to get done, wrapping to do, food to prepare—the list is literally endless! Inviting somebody to church is just going to mess up your whole schedule.
And if all that’s still not enough to convince you to NOT invite someone to church, ask yourself… Do we really need a more people in this place? More people means more work. Nursery attendant. Youth director. Membership team. The Stewardship Team will have to count more offerings. Not to mention the pastor is going to have to call them—but the pastor has newsletter articles to write, meetings to be at— plus those whimsical Tweets don’t write themselves. But none of that extra work will have to happen if we all agreed to just not invite anybody to church.
So let’s all get on the same page here. Just say no to inviting people to church. It’s probably what your neighbors are going to say to your invitation anyways.
Move 3
Ok I’ll admit, I probably over did that bit a bit—and I am probably going to regret it because inevitably the satire will be missed and an angry letter will come. But I had fun putting all that together.
But what was that? Reverse psychology, right? Which is a tactic where you advocate for a behavior different from the actual desired outcome. And we’ve all done it.
“Oh you don’t want to even try the broccoli covered in cheese!? Excellent! More for me! Oh wow. You’re right. This is terrible. I’m so glad you don’t want to eat any.”
Yes, reverse psychology has elements of emotional manipulation, but there are some scenarios in which this tactic can help guide a person toward a positive direction. I mean, you’re not going to forget how your preacher went on and on for 800 words about how you should NOT invite people to church. Which will get you thinking about how we should be inviting people to church.
Helping a person who is going one direction, reverse directions toward a better one—well that’s kind and compassionate. And it’s Gospel.
*******
Mary shows us the salvation of the world comes in a way no one expected—in a completely reversed message. A baby? A woman? Shepherds? A barn? These are the major players and setting? No, no, no. This is not the direction the incarnation was supposed to go. But yet here we are. God’s incarnation—God’s plan for salvation for the world—a complete reversal of what was expected. And thank God it was because what the people expected (and wanted) wasn’t going to work. But what does work is reverse salvation.
*******
Mary shows, and tells us, how the direction the world is going can be completely reversed—for the better—every time we say yes to God and God’s beautifully terrifying plans.
Conclusion
You and I get to play a role in this reversal of the world—a place burdened with sadness and disconnect; a place in need of reversing its direction.
Like Mary, we have been invited into God’s beautifully terrifying plans, and we are similarly pregnant with a capacity to bring kindness and healing through the hope, peace, joy, and love of God.
So let us consider how we can take an active role in reversing the direction of the world, and point it toward the salvation that comes again at Christmas. And let us do so… by considering Mary and her willingness to say yes to the beautifully terrifying. Let us consider the traits of Jesus that resonate most deeply with us—especially those that seem so lacking in the world—and realize they are what we are invited to birth into the world: compassion, forgiveness, grace, love. Let us let the hope, peace, joy, and love of the incarnation—that leads to salvation— form within us anew this Christmas, and then find a way to release it into the world. Do that, and we reverse the way of the world… for the better. Amen.
Pastoral Prayer, December 19, 2021, Advent 4
Merciful God, it hardly seems possible we are so close to Christmas as it seems Advent just began. We rush through this time as though we have a mighty schedule to keep. We plot out our days, minute by minute, crowding each moment with tasks that need accomplished. We promise ourselves each year we will not get so caught up in the pressures and demands, particularly the commercialized parts, and yet, it always seems to happen, despite our best efforts—and before we know it, another Christmastime has come and gone before we had a chance to take it all in.
Holy God, we don’t want that to happen. We want to embrace this Christmastime for what it is—time to step closer to you, to see and feel again the unimaginable miracle of your son coming to change the world, reverse its direction, through hope, peace, joy, and love.
So we pray in these final days of Advent you help us to see that if we reversed our ways, for even a moment, we will take in this unlikely miracle, again, and it can again heal us and point us in the direction you would have us go— all while helping to show others the way too.
So it is our prayer O God, help us unbind ourselves from these worldly ways, and see what you have invited us to.
May you help us be like Mary, and say yes to your invitation to participate in your plans of salvation for the world.
Hear now, we ask, the prayers that are on our hearts and minds this day. And may you hear them as we offer then to you in this time of holy silence.
All this we pray in the name of the one whose Advent we wait for, Jesus the Christ, who taught us to pray saying, “Our…”