The word Christmas, of course, comes to us from the Old English for Christ’s Mass, the Medieval church’s great feast day celebrating the birth of Jesus. And that being the case, we don’t know when the first Christmas, the first mass commemorating the birth of Jesus, was held. It wasn’t in Bethlehem of Judea as shepherds kept watch over their flocks by night. It is the Nativity, Navidad, Noel, Natal, that we will celebrate in 23 days.

Nitpicking, of course, but a good reminder that there really was no first Christmas, as if there were others to follow. There is the Nativity, the Birth, the once-for-all, center-of-history invasion of time by the eternal God. There will be no other. No “sorta likes” or “maybe agains.” There is no other provision for the salvation of humankind than the Incarnation – the birth, life and death of Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh, once for all. Veiled in flesh the Godhead see, hail the incarnate Deity.

Each of the four weeks of Advent, the celebration of the coming in anticipation of the birth, we will consider God’s call to one or some of the main players in the story of the Nativity. Because we celebrate only one nativity, the Nativity, we will remind ourselves that these are only one time in all history calls. Never again will Magi be summoned from the east to bring treasures to the new born king. Never again will shepherds hear an angel herald announce, “To you in born this day in the City of David a savior, who is Christ the Lord,” and then all the armies of heaven’s angels bursting into their glorias. Never again will a good and simple man like Joseph be called to put aside his shame and marry his betrothed who is carrying the Son of God. Never again, will a young virgin be called to bear a son and give him the name Jesus.

Never again. Thanks be to God, never again. This incredible story that begins with Magi, shepherds, angels and an obedient peasant couple in a remote district of Rome’s far-flung empire is enough. This amazing story that ends with King of the Universe sharing a final meal in an upper room with his fishermen and tax collector friends and being put to death by Rome’s executioners and for sinners such as those gathered in that upper room and here this morning, and then rising in defiance of death and calling all who will believe to life lived for eternity with him – this story, this gospel, is sufficient. Nothing needs to be added, save our willingness to trust its truth

“The virgin’s name was Mary,” Luke tells us. No one knows or needs to know her age, but the best guess, and that’s all it is, puts it at 15 or 16. She was pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, who we will meet next week. They are from Nazareth in Galilee, the other side of the tracks. By its setting and its players, the story is improbable from its beginning. And it soon moves from the improbable to the impossible.

The Angel Gabriel is sent by God to Mary with this message, “You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and be called the Son of the Most High.”

The King James Bible puts Mary’s response this way, “How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?” Yes, pure and simple, but Mary understands a few things. It was improbable that the angel should call her highly favored. It was impossible that she would be pregnant with a Son destined for David’s throne.

Mary was right. Impossible. But, then, it was also at least improbable, if not impossible that her cousin Elizabeth, old and barren, should be six months pregnant, which she was. “Nothing is impossible with God,” Gabriel said.

Some of the TV preachers tell us that this text means that we should never give up on having our ships come in. They tell us that God is already scouring the real estate market for a million dollar house just for us, a new job where the coffee breaks are long and the pay check fat, a family where no one pouts and everyone gets along, a school where all the students get A’s and are captain of the team. They tell us to dream of a world, a here and now world, where we live our best lives, always becoming a better me.

Mary never dreamed of the world of the better me. In fact, Mary has never dreamed of a world where virgins conceive and old women get pregnant. But she has dreamed of a world where the proud are scattered in the imaginations of their hearts and rulers are brought down from their thrones. She dreams of a world where the humble are lifted high and the hungry filled with good things.

Mary, the peasant girl from Nazareth on the wrong side of the tracks, may have thought her dreams impossible, until Gabriel came to her with God’s call, which she accepted. Ever since, God has been about the business of extending his mercy from one generation to the next. It seems impossible, but he is calling us, you and me, to accept his invitation to join him in his work, the work of helping make Mary’s dream come true, the Kingdom come. It begins with remembering that with God all things are possible.

People have asked why I am leaving Park and heading to the other side of the state, (and will I be an Eagles fan?). The only answer that matters is because God has called me (and I hope not). But then some have talked as if being called is just some sort of pastor thing. It’s not. He calls us all.

God calls us to saving faith in Jesus Christ and then to self-giving service in the name and for the sake of Jesus. And it might seem improbable at first, even impossible. Some of us think too lowly of ourselves – God would or could never save someone like me, not if he really knew me as I know me. Some of us think to highly of ourselves – I would or could never trust in someone or something I cannot see, I think I’ll trust in me rather than in Him. But on the cross of Christ the impossible happened. There the sin of self-loathing and the sin of self-pride, and all the other sins of the human race, were nailed to the cross so that we bear them no more.

And called to faith in Christ, we are also called to service for Christ and love to Christ. Is it possible that by ringing a bell at the Beaver Supermarket a life might be changed? Is it possible that a week in Mississippi or two weeks in Brazil will make our world a better place? Is it possible that prayer and Bible study diligently undertaken will open the doors to a life that more completely glorifies and enjoys God? Forget the big house and the cushy job, godly dreams are of glorifying God and enjoying him forever.

With God nothing is impossible.