Sermon for 4th Sunday of Advent – “A Quantum Leap”, preached at the Eucharist, Sherborne Abbey on Sunday 22 December 2024 by The Reverend Robert Green (Micah Ch 5: v 2 – 5a; Luke Ch 1: v 39 – 55).
In 1913 the pioneering physicist Niels Bohr introduced a groundbreaking theory of the atom. He called it the “quantum leap”. His ideas led to a revolutionary understanding of atomic physics, and lay the foundation for modern quantum mechanics. His theory challenged the established Newtonian physics and the classical understanding of the atom. Until then a deterministic perspective had provided a sense of order and predictability for the physical world, suggesting that the universe operates according to fixed immutable laws. Now all that has changed.
Bearing that in mind let us look at our celebration of Christmas just a few days hence; not the commercial interpretation of this season, but the spiritual reality when God made the quantum leap across the divide between heaven and earth, from eternal divine to mortal humanity. But, there are still a few more days to go, we are not quite there yet- we’re still anticipating it. It is still Advent, and our Gospel reading this morning prepares the ground for the actual event as it features two women who find themselves in extraordinary situations. Elizabeth is too old to have children, but she is pregnant. Mary is too young, too virginal, yet she too is pregnant. Mary goes to visit Elizabeth, a relative, and the two women meet. They are very different in age and experience, yet each understands the other recognising the workings of God in each of their lives, and who has generated two miracles inside them, and those miracles are already communicating. Elizabeth’s child leaps in her womb in the presence of Mary’s son. Two women and two unborn children already know what is happening. No wonder Mary bursts into song, and it is no ordinary song; what we now know as the Magnificat. It may have echoes from the Old Testament, but it paints a very radical picture where many accepted values are turned completely upside down, where the proud are scattered, rulers are brought down from their thrones and the humble are lifted up, the hungry are filled and the rich are sent empty away. It is here we need to remember the context in which they are living. For all this to happen the powers that kept the world in slavery had to be toppled. In Mary and Elizabeth’s world that meant that God would have to win a victory over the bullies, the power brokers and forces of evil. In other words Herod the Great, a puppet king, whose brutality was backed up by the threat of Rome who occupied the land. The prophets spoke of mercy, hope and fulfilment, reversal, revolution and victory over evil, and we heard in Micah the prophecy about Bethlehem, an insignificant town in the hills of Judah, where “out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel”. One day this will all happen. The expectation was there, but how it might come about was less clear. Isaiah comes closest when he prophesied “a little child shall lead them”.
Over time some of Bohr’s ideas have since been supplanted, but his “quantum leap” still remains valid, and our physical world is less fixed and predictable than was previously thought. As one commentator on the Theology of the Book of Revelation has written: “Creation is not confined for ever to its own immanent possibilities. It is open to the fresh creative possibilities of its Creator”. Does this not put our celebration of Christmas into an entirely new perspective? God did make that quantum leap, and he used very ordinary people to do it. No doubt both Elizabeth and Mary were alarmed, and perhaps frightened by their circumstances. Elizabeth is far too old for pregnancy and childbirth. Giving birth was at that time at considerable risk even in more normal circumstances. Mary’s situation as an unmarried mother was culturally unacceptable, and for her too the future is uncertain. When they are together these doubts are transformed in to joy. Yet nothing has changed or vanished, Mary is still unmarried, and Elizabeth is still elderly. It is only a leap of imagination- a leap of faith which recognises the hand of God at work.
So as we prepare to celebrate this greatest quantum leap of all – God with us, let’s celebrate these two joyful women and echo Mary’s song in our hearts. May we be inspired and assured that like them, that, what may seem difficult and uncertain can be transformed into a cause for joyfulness. It is when they met together that they created the circumstances for this leap of faith May we give thanks for this community of faith in this Abbey, and resolve to strengthen the bonds of faith and communion with one another.