Why the Christmas Story is Good News, and Why It Matters to Me

On Christmas Eve I have always preferred to let the Christmas story preach itself. Carefully placed and rehearsed and paced, read out from the pulpit of this beautiful sanctuary, accompanied by pipe organ and carols, the seven lessons are like seven gems in a filigree setting. What more can one say, but that which has already been said:

“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.”

And,

 “Do not be afraid.”

And,

“I bring you good news of great joy. Unto you is born this day a savior, who is Christ, the Lord.”

This story is trustworthy and true. It may not have actually happened this way, but it is trustworthy and true. The Jesus Story is just one version of the overarching story of God and God’s people. It is the story of what lengths God will go to, for the people, to save the people-- to save us from each other and to save us from ourselves. This story is an invitation: God invites us into relationship. We get to decide how to receive the invitation. Whether to receive it as good news, bad news, or no news, is up to us.

According to the gospels of Luke and Matthew, the story of God’s incarnation was received with mixed reviews. The same may be true today. God comes with justice. This is good news. It is good news for shepherds in the field, good news for low-wage workers, good news for the alien wanderer in the land. Good news for the merciful and the meek. But bad news for Herod. Bad news for those who oppress the workers and visit violence upon the homeless traveler. The light that shines in the darkness is not the innocuous glow of the twinkling tree. It is a searchlight, which allows no injustice to hide from God who comes with justice, to set the prisoners free, to bring down the mighty from their thrones and life up those of low degree.

According to God, we are free. We get to decide whether or not to turn and walk back into our prisons. According to God, our eyes have been opened! We get to decide, whether to keep watch and bear witness, to call out when we see suffering, or whether to close our eyes and pretend not to see.

We get to decide how to live in response to this story. Living faithfully, day after day, is not easy living. It is thoughtful, spiritual, mindful living. Fortunately we are not left on our own. We have the church, and the promise that God will guide us. We are in good company.

This is a church that seeks to know and share the love of God which we find within us, and within these stories. We live to be faithful in our relationships with one another, with the church universal, with other people of faith, and with God. You, all of you, are welcome to come and be a part of this church. We don’t pretend to have all the answers. God knows. But we are a safe place to ask the questions, about how to live faithfully, do justly, and walk humbly with God and with each other.

Whatever we decide, about God, about the story, about the church, God is always seeking us out, inviting us in, because God is love; and I hope you will agree, that is good news.

May the peace of Christ be with you, this night, and always. Amen.

God Is With Us

19 December 2010

Isaiah 7:10-16; Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19; Romans 1:1-7; Matthew 1:18-25

“And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matt 28:20b (the last word)

                In life, in death, in life beyond death,

                                God is with us.

                We are not alone. Thanks be to God.

                                                                --“A New Creed,” United Church of Canada, 1980

                Today we have lit the candle of Love, and we have read and heard the story of the birth of Jesus, from Matthew’s point of view. Matthew’s birth narrative is much briefer than Luke’s; and where Mary is the focus of the birth narrative in Luke, in Matthew’s gospel Joseph plays the pivotal role.

                Poor Joseph. In our crèche, his figure stands like an accessory to Mary, like Ken to Barbie. He is always in the background. In Catholic tradition, Mary becomes the Queen of Heaven, but Joseph, he is just a saint. Sure, he has a few hospitals and a children’s aspirin named after him, but there are few great works of art that focus on his love and care for the child. In Christmas pageants too, he gets few lines, if any. Stage direction: Joseph approaches Inn, knocks on the door. Enter innkeeper. Joseph: “Got a room?”

Because Matthew’s version of events is recorded so tersely, I believe an appreciation for Joseph requires some faithful, respectful, and I hope not too fanciful, expansion of the story. To be faithful to the time and place, we must set aside our modern, western notions of marriage.  For most of the world, throughout much of history, marriage was considered far too important to be initiated by a boy and a girl. Marriage was arranged by elders and relatives who knew better. Joseph might not have even seen Mary before the betrothal ceremony, and may have had little contact with her after. The two ceremonies-- one for betrothal, when a woman was claimed by the husband’s family; and one for the marriage, when the man and woman began to live together as husband and wife—were separated by a sufficient amount of time (6 months or so) to confirm that the bride’s family was not trying to pass off “damaged goods.”

So, for Mary to turn up pregnant during this time is a grave dishonor, a shame upon Mary’s family, and upon Joseph’s too. All deals were off. Mary would not only have been disgraced, she could have been killed according to the law-- stoned to death as an adulteress.

That Joseph had resolved to dismiss her quietly shows that he is not only a righteous man (that is, a man who would not take an adulteress as a wife), his resolve to dismiss her quietly also shows that he is a compassionate man. This internal struggle, between righteousness and compassion, between the letter of the law and the spirit of the law, mirrors the moral struggles of the church to which Matthew addressed his gospel. And it foreshadows the teachings of Jesus, as recorded in the Sermon on the Mount: all those “you have heard that it was said” sayings that call us to go beyond the letter of the law, even to ignore the law, to be compassionate, as God is compassionate.

After he had resolved to do this, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Do not be afraid.” This is the fulfillment of God’s promise—Emmanuel—God is with us. This is the beginning of the Gospel, and this is the end: Emmanuel, God is with us. Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

When when Joseph awoke from his dream, the pathway was clear. Confronted with the law, torn between obligation and compassion, Joseph, emboldened by the promise of God’s presence, chose compassion. So may we all.

Isaiah's Vision; Paul's Hope

Texts for Sunday, December 5: Isaiah 11:1-10’ Psalm 72:1-7, 18-19; Romans 15:4-13; Matt 3:1-12

                The scriptures provide the following job description for kings: justice for the poor and meek, deliverance for the needy. Peace will come, the prophet promises, with a leader who will serve the last and least of the people. And on that day, the wolf shall lie down with the lamb, the cow and bear will graze, the lion will eat straw like the ox. And pigs will fly, the prophet might add. Like, “That’ll be the day.”

                Cynicism is easy, too easy. Anyone who is paying attention to news from Washington knows that our kings and princes have recently decided against deliverance for the needy. The least of these don’t even make the list of very important people. That is not how it should be.

                Jesus and the prophets held up a different picture. A vision of peace, that peaceful place where predators become herbivores, and prey have no worries. And this is written to give us hope, the apostle Paul wrote. Hope is the antithesis and the antidote to despair. Hope is powerful. Hope is not just wishful thinking, hope is a commitment to live in the present as if the future has already arrived.

                It is hope that drove the people into the wilderness of the Jordan, to be baptized by John. John announced the coming of the prince of peace and taught the people to prepare for his coming. “Repent!” was the word he used. Repent means “turn around.” Repentance is a reversal of course. Repentance clears the way for a new and better future. And repentance confirms in each of us the hope for a better future.

                Hope, three times in this brief passage Paul uses that word. Hope is extraordinary. Hope requires a minute shift in vision, just a small but powerful movement. Elsewhere in the letter to the Romans, Paul explains it this way: Suffering produces Endurance, and Endurance produces Character, and Character produces Hope. Somehow that proclamation seems counter-intuitive, because we all can think of examples of how suffering produces nothing but more suffering. But we also have witnesses to the power of hope. We have Paul, and we have Gandhi, and we have King, and we have Tutu. We have Wiesel, and Kushner, and so many others, people without headline names. We have witnesses to the power of hope, hope that the wrong shall fail, and the right prevail, with peace on earth, good will to all.

                And our witnesses show that living in hope gives us the power to join the movement of the one who ushers in the age of justice, and righteousness, and peace.

                May the God of hope fill you with all peace and joy in believing, that you may abound in hope, by the power of God’s Holy Spirit. Amen.