“But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah, who are one of the little clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to rule in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days. 3 Therefore he shall give them up until the time when she who is in labor has brought forth; then the rest of his kindred shall return to the people of Israel. 4 And he shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God. And they shall live secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth; 5 and he shall be the one of peace.” – Micah 5:25
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39 In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, 40 where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. 41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit 42 and exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. 43 And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? 44 For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy. 45 And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.”46 And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48 for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; 49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. 50 His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. 51 He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. 52 He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; 53 he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. 54 He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, 55 according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever.” – Luke 1:39-55
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We have arrived at the last and final week of Advent! This morning our Advent candle is the candle of Love, and our Close to Home series focuses on “Seeking Sanctuary”. These two things are related, but a person could easily speak for a half-hour on each subject, and I hope to cover both in less time – so hold onto your hats!
I’m going to start with Love today because I’ve preached on love before so we just need a brief overview. First Corinthians 13 – that great chapter on love – tells us what God’s love is like, and gives us something to aim for in our own relationships. The apostle Paul writes those unforgettable words: “love is patient, love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; love is not irritable or resentful; love does not rejoice in the wrong but rejoices in the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails… In the end only three things remain: faith, hope, and love: and the greatest of these is love.”
I believe if we could live out this one chapter – put these words into practice for an entire lifetime – we would fulfill all the requirements of God’s law and then some. Of course this is impossible for imperfect people, but it’s a goal to shoot for. Besides, it’s a lot easier to memorize I Corinthians 13 than the entire book of Deuteronomy!
This morning we want to remember that God loves each one of us like that. And that’s where our faith really begins.
As we turn to look at sanctuary, we immediately see that sanctuary is – or can be – an expression of love. The Close to Home devotional invites us to think of sanctuary as a form of love: sanctuary defined as a place of quiet, of safety, of rest, a safe haven. And as the devotional says, “Sanctuary is not only a place, it is also people who say “here I am – I’m here for you.””
Taking these two words, then – love and sanctuary – let’s turn to our scripture readings. In Luke’s gospel we see Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, welcoming her relative Mary into her home. Luke tells us that Elizabeth was “filled with the Holy Spirit” – which was a rare thing before the coming of the Holy Spirit in the second chapter of Acts. This puts Elizabeth in the ranks of the prophets.
As we listen to what Elizabeth is saying, bear in mind she is speaking before Mary speaks, and Mary did not call ahead or email ahead to tell Elizabeth she was coming. Elizabeth didn’t even know Mary was pregnant. But in the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Elizabeth calls Mary blessed, the mother of our Lord, and says her own baby John is leaping for joy in her womb at hearing the voice of the Mother of the Messiah. And she blesses Mary for believing and trusting what God told her would happen. Then Elizabeth, who loves Mary dearly, gives sanctuary to her young, unmarried, pregnant relative.
As we listen to this story, we may ask “what can we be doing?” The answer to that varies from person to person. But Mary gives us some suggestions when she says: “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour.” In any time and in any place we have faith in God, we can praise God, and we can rejoice in all that God has done.
Moving now into the concept of sanctuary: where it comes to sanctuary, in the words of CS Lewis, this morning I’d like to take us “further up and further in” – starting with a solid definition of the word ‘sanctuary’ and a short history of how it has been used.
The dictionary offers four definitions of the word ‘sanctuary’: (1) a place of refuge or safety… (2) a place where one is protected (3) a holy place (4) the… holiest part of a church; the altar or high altar. The word ‘sanctuary’ comes from the Latin word sanctus which means holy… or from the Latin word sanctuariam which means sacred place. So the original meaning of the word sanctuary is deeply rooted in the holiness of God.
Seeking sanctuary is something people have done almost for as long as we have written history. Back in the Middle Ages a church’s sanctuary – just like the room we’re sitting in now – was a sacred place where someone accused of breaking the law could go to request sanctuary and mercy.
This practice had its roots in the book of Leviticus [chapter 26]. Back in ancient Israel, when the Israelites moved into the Promised Land and divided the land up between the twelve tribes, God commanded the Israelites to give the Levites – the priestly tribe – six cities to use as cities of refuge – where, if a person accidentally killed someone, they could run to a city of refuge and be safe from capital punishment (which was the law of the land at the time). Even in ancient Israel, as today, the courts recognized a difference between murder (which is deliberate) and manslaughter (which is accidental).
So God created cities of refuge. And in the Middle Ages the churches picked up on this. The Merriam-Webster dictionary says: “Historically, churches have been places where fugitives could seek at least temporary protection from the law. In Anglo-Saxon England [925AD and earlier] churches and churchyards provided 40 days of immunity, and neither the sheriffs nor the army would enter…”
The United States traditionally has had similar practices, not written into law, but respected as tradition. If someone claims sanctuary in a church, most government authorities in America will not challenge the church’s jurisdiction. For this reason, in the 1800s churches were often stops on the Underground Railroad. In the 1980s churches gave sanctuary to people from Central America who were fleeing the wars there.
And in recent years many churches have given sanctuary to people whose lives are in danger and are seeking asylum but have not yet been legally recognized. Just a few of the churches who provided sanctuary in this year of 2021 – and this list comes from the Washington Post and/or Christianity Today (I only had time to check two sources – there were more available):
- Wesley Memorial United Methodist Church in Charlottesville
- The First Unitarian Church of Denver
- Unitarian Society of Northampton (Mass)
- Umstead Park United Church of Christ in Raleigh
- First English Lutheran Church in Columbus, Ohio
- New Sanctuary Movement in Philadelphia
(and here’s another: First United Methodist Church, Arch St., Philadelphia – credit WHYY)
Please understand: when I talk about churches giving sanctuary, this is not about politics. This is about obeying God’s word to take care of strangers and people in need. The church’s practice of giving sanctuary is ancient and time-honored and has its roots in the Old Testament.
By way of illustration I wanted to share with you something that happened a few years ago not far from here. In fact some of you may be aware of it. [Church member] KS was involved, and I’m sharing this with her knowledge and permission.
There was a family who worked and went to school locally: a mom, dad, and three kids, with a fourth one on the way. They were from Central America, and they were here in the country legally. They were in the process of becoming permanent residents and were working to become citizens. The Dad was self-employed, and the mom worked in the family business, and the kids were doing great in school – the older kids often got their pictures in the local school magazine for their schoolwork. One of the younger kids was in K’s preschool class, and the mother was in my English as a Second Language class, and that’s how we all got to know each other. And the mom used to say to me – she’d point to her belly – and she would say “I have an American citizen!” She was so proud to know that her baby, the child who would be born here, would be American (which by the way is one of my favorite laws in our country: anybody who exits the womb on American soil is automatically an American citizen).
One day K called me to say that the Dad of the family had been arrested and taken away by ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement). They had cuffed him and perp-walked him out of the house into their car in front of all the children – who were understandably distraught – and they took him to a facility for foreign prisoners four hours away.
I could hardly believe what K was telling me. This family are such good people, and they are better at being citizens than a lot of citizens I know! Of course I asked what happened and what we could do.
As the facts became known over the course of a few days, it became clear that the family’s immigration attorney had dropped a ball. I don’t know if it was criminal or just stupidity, but the bottom line was he had failed to file some required paperwork by a given deadline, and as a result the family – literally overnight – had gone from being here in the country legally to being here illegally. Just like that.
K and I kept asking: What can we do? And the answer came back: write letters to the judge – who would be meeting with the Dad in a few days – asking the judge for leniency, asking for a second chance, explaining what good citizens this family would make, asking to let this family stay in the country, and explaining why. So K and I got as many people to write letters as we possibly could, saying how much we were hoping this family would become citizens, and how hard-working they were, and how amazingly well the children were doing in school, and asking for the father’s release. Which we did. And then we waited.
I’m pleased to say everything worked out in the family’s favor. The Dad was released, things were straightened out, and the young family is still in America working towards citizenship. I haven’t seen them for a while, but K tells me they visited her last Valentine’s Day and brought her some of the kids’ artwork.
I’m glad things worked out this way. But if they hadn’t, this family could have become one more family seeking sanctuary in a church. In fact Pastor M and I talked about which churches the family might approach if it came to that – it was that close.
Taking sanctuary in churches is not something people plan on doing. It happens because people have nowhere else to turn.
When a church offers sanctuary, we bear witness to the world that God’s law is higher than human laws; that God’s mercy is higher than human justice. And this is just one example out of thousands.
Of course the ultimate sanctuary – the holiest of holies – is the Kingdom of God itself. This is the home God creates for all who love him. This is the mansion Jesus said he was going to prepare for us, and that he would come back to take us to. This is the promise that Mary and Elizabeth were so excited about: that Mary’s baby would turn the power structures of this world on their heads, lift up the lowly, and fill the poor and hungry with good things.
It has already started: Mary’s song is both ‘now’ and ‘future’. We live our lives in Advent time, between the ‘already’ and the ‘not yet’.
But we can be sure of this: our God is a God who not only stands for justice, but whose character defines justice. Our God acts with compassion. Our God not only wipes away our tears but collects every tear in a bottle. Therefore we who love God and follow God are called to go and do the same: to welcome the stranger, and the neighbor, and to say to anyone who needs sanctuary: “in the name of Jesus, I am here for you.” AMEN.
(preached at Fairhaven UMC and Spencer UMC, December 19, 2021
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