Sermon on Luke 1:26-38

Pastor Jennifer Garcia

“If you want God to laugh, tell God your plans,” goes the saying.

That certainly was the case for King David when he decided he wanted to build a house for God.

I’m sure it came from a good place. God had chosen David the shepherd boy as king, had made him victorious in battle even against a giant, and had of course led David’s ancestors out of Egypt and through the desert to the Promised Land.

David was attentive to the fact that, though God’s people were settled from their wanderings in the wilderness, the ark of the covenant, God’s holy seat, was still housed in a tent. And he decided it was time to do something about that.

But God had other ideas.God hadn’t asked for a house. God didn’t need a house. And David would not be the one to build a house for God when the time came.

David told God his plan—and God laughed.

Isn’t that how it so often goes?

We envision something we think is a good idea, and so we go for it. We might even assume it’s what God has in mind for us.

We want things on our timeline. Our society urges us to maximize our productivity and be as efficient as possible. We’re supposed to envision our goals as if they’ve already happened and manifest positive energy.

But, as Stephen Covey said, “It doesn’t really matter how fast you’re going if you’re heading in the wrong direction.” And it doesn’t matterhow nice your goals sound if they don’t line up with what God has in store for you.

Or in other words: we plan—God laughs.

And that’s so frustrating sometimes! Has there ever been something you were really excited about—a program or a contest or a relationship—and you thought it was just perfect for you, but it didn’t work out? It’s crushing.

And sometimes, there’s no silver lining to be seen. Some things are just disappointing, or even tragic. I’m not going to say everything happens for a reason, because I don’t know that I believe that. I think God can work through difficult and tragic circumstances to create something out of it. I think there are times when we can make meaning out of the ashes of what our life was. But I don’t think that makes the tragedy okay.

But that’s not really the type of thing I see in David’s story here. I see someone who wanted to give a gift to God, but that gift wasn’t his to give.

I see this as one of the more minor disappointments or setbacks we experience in our lives. The ones that feel like a punch to the gut when they happen, but that we know we’ll recover from given some time.

I experienced one of these when I was waiting for my first call. The very first congregation I interviewed with seemed like a great fit. I was so excited. We did a second interview, and they even invited me to tour the building.

And then, I got the phone call that they were moving forward with a different candidate. I understood, and I was happy for them, but that was also really hard to hear. There were definitely some tears shed over that disappointment.

They ended up with a really fantastic pastor who is a great fit, and now I’m super excited for all of them. But at the time, I was crushed for myself. I was in for what felt like an eternity of waiting. Nothing seemed to be happening.

But then, after many months, I got the invitation to have a conversation about serving here. I was practically jumping up and down. I couldn’t stop smiling, and there might have been a little laughter bordering on hysterical.

As disappointed as I was about that first congregation, it turned out God had a much better idea in mind for me—one I never dreamed of for myself.

What it took was time.

There are two different words for time in Greek: chronos, which is linear time, like chronology; and kairos, which is God time.

Kairos operates very differently from chronos. Have you ever looked at the ocean and had a moment of awe that seemed to last forever, but was actually only a few minutes? Or have you ever been in a state of “flow,” where you’re working on a project and hours fly by unnoticed as your soul lights up with inspiration? Kairos time is like that. As our reading from 2 Peter two weeks ago reminds us, “with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day.”[1] God doesn’t work in our timeline.

That was certainly the case for David. He wanted to build God a house, but instead, God promised to build David a house—a legacy of rulers that would shepherd God’s people throughout time.

And boy did it take a long time for that promise to be fulfilled. God’s kairos time wasn’t just talking about in David’s lifetime: it would be fulfilled about a thousand years later in Jesus.

It was fulfilled in a kairos moment we call “the annunciation,” when the angel Gabriel was sent to talk to a girl named Miriam, or Mary. Her life went from chronos time—living her ordinary, everyday life—to kairos time in an instant at the appearance of an angelic messenger of God.

Mary knew the promises God made to David and all God’s people: promises of a Messiah, promises of liberation, promises that God’s people would be a blessing to the world.

And all that was coming true in that moment—God’s promises fulfilled in a simple “may it be” from an ordinary young person from nowhere special. This kairos moment would change the course of Mary’s life—and human history—forever.

“’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,’” said the angel.

Chronos and kairos time met when God became one of us. God was born in a human body with a human name and human friends and laughed and cried, celebrated and sorrowed, and ultimately died a human and humiliating death before defeating death at death’s own game.

God doesn’t work in our timeline. I’m sure David never dreamed of what Jesus would be like a thousand years in the future.We are limited by chronos time. We, like David, don’t always get to see the fulfillment of God’s promises in our lifetime. Sometimes we do—like when my waiting for a first call ended with getting to do ministry with all of you beloved people—and sometimes we don’t see it and have to trust in God’s faithfulness. Because God is faithful. God was faithful to David, to Mary, and is faithful to us. God keeps God’s promises.

And God invites us into kairos time. That is what Sabbath is about. It’s about stepping out of chronos time and settling into kairos time. As Pastor Jaz reminded us last week, God gave the Sabbath to a people who had been enslaved for generations. They were to rest and remember that God is a God of freedom and liberation—they were no longer enslaved to labor. Their value was not in their work but in their identity as children of God. The same goes for us, beloved children of God.

We may not always see the fulfillment of God’s promises in our lifetimes, but we can trust that God is faithful and keeps God’s promises in kairos time. And God invites us into kairos time to rest in the promise that we are beloved children of God, and because of that we can throw off the chains of productivity and hustle our society binds us with.

Rest in kairos time, beloved children of God. Remember that all things are possible with God. May it be so.

[1]2 Peter 3:8