Be An Angel!

Luke 2:8-20

December 23/24, 2011 (Christmas Candlelight) • Portage First UMC

Cathy went into labor in the middle of the night. I hadn’t been asleep very long when she woke me up to tell me it was time. I knew what that meant! And so we hurried around, got to the hospital and got all settled in. I learned that night that labor is nothing like it is on television—you know, where the woman gives birth in just a few minutes. No, there are long hours of waiting, and there, at Ball Hospital in the middle of the night, we waited and waited and waited and watched as the hours ticked by. You see, I wanted to tell someone, but I was also smart enough not to make any calls at 2 a.m. So we waited—until about 6, and then I started calling. We called our parents first, then some friends and my senior pastor, and then anyone else we could think of who might want to know the news. Christopher wasn’t even born yet, and we couldn’t wait to tell someone.

But when the baby is the Son of God—who do you tell first? And who does the telling? Over the last few weeks, we’ve been journeying through the Christmas story, beginning in Nazareth, and traveling to such places as Bethlehem and Ein Karem. But tonight our journey brings us back to Bethlehem, back to Joseph’s hometown, back to his family’s home and to a stable tucked under his family’s house. Mary and Joseph have made the long, 10-day journey from Nazareth to respond to a Roman-ordered census, and now at some point after their arrival, the time has come for the baby to be born. I imagine Mary would have preferred to be back home in Nazareth for the birth, but babies don’t arrive on schedule; they care little for what else is going on in your life at the time. When Christopher was born, I was just five days away from being in charge of a major community-wide hunger relief fundraiser. When Rachel was born, it was Maundy Thursday, Holy Week, three days before Easter. Babies care little about our schedules; they come when they want to come, and the Son of God is no exception. He comes when they are in Bethlehem, far from Mary’s home and family, with no real way to let anyone know. No phones, no e-mail, no Facebook, no text messages. But God went one better than those methods of communication. And the first people he told were about the most unlikely.

In words that are famous to anyone who’s at least watched A Charlie Brown Christmas, Luke tells us that the first people to hear the good news were shepherds, living in the fields around Bethlehem, keeping watch over their flocks by night—because it was lambing season, the time of year when baby lambs were born, a time when they had to keep constant watch over the sheep in case any of them had trouble giving birth (Card, Luke: The Gospel of Amazement, pg. 48). Shepherds may not have been at the bottom of the social ladder, but they were close. Typically, they were uneducated and poor and considered religiously unclean. Rabbis had even gone so far as to ban them from testifying in court; their word was no good. They smelled of dirty sheep, and people disliked them because they often allowed their sheep to graze on private property, on their neighbors’ property (Card 48; Bailey, Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes, pg. 35; Hamilton, The Journey, pg. 113). You would not have wanted your sister or daughter marrying a shepherd (Kalas, The Christmas People, pg. 21). In the midst of a lowly and humble village, these were among the lowest of the low. So when the Son of God is born, God chooses to announce the birth first to people whom no one liked, no one listened to, and no one cared about.

And that’s interesting, because the Old Testament is full of positive references to shepherds. One of the most beautiful is one we often read at funerals to remind us of God’s comfort. You probably know it well: “The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing” (Psalm 23:1). Somewhere along the way, people forgot that one of the ways God relates to his people is as a shepherd, and I wonder if that’s at least part of the reason why this birth was announced first to these low-class, forgotten laborers. God was, in some sense, reminding the people: what they do, the way they care for and nurture their sheep, that’s the way I care for you. God is a shepherd—and sometimes we still treat him like those Bethlehem villagers treated the ones out in the field. We don’t listen to what he says. We treat him as uneducated when we act as if we know better than him. And we resent his intrusion into our lives—we will call you when we want you, God. Otherwise, keep your distance. The Lord is a shepherd—and we often treat him that way.

To these Bethlehem shepherds, God sends angels—at first just one, but eventually a “host,” a whole bunch of angels. Throughout these Advent messages, we’ve been trying to peel back the layers of tradition and assumption to see the story the way it really happened, and one of those layers concerns the angels. We picture them (in fact, in our nativity sets, they’re always pictured) with wings, flying about in the night sky. But the word for “angel” simply means “messenger.” Angels are someone with a message, and in Scripture, they normally appear as ordinary people. In fact, in the letter to the Hebrews, we’re told we might even “entertain” an angel without being aware of it (13:2). I remember one icy night when we lived in Kentucky, and Cathy and I and a friend were driving back from Lexington to Wilmore when we hit an icy patch and slid off the road. We got the car well stuck in the ditch. So we put Cathy behind the wheel and Rob and I tried to push the car out, to no avail. All of a sudden, a man came up behind us and asked if we needed help. Of course, we said, and he joined his strength with ours and pretty soon the car was out of the ditch and headed the right way. “God bless you,” he said, and walked away. When we looked, he was gone. There were no cars nearby, no houses lit up. We had no idea where he came from, and to this day I believe he was angel, but he had no wings, no glowing presence. He appeared to us just as a man. In Luke’s story, there is some sort of the sense of God’s glory, God’s presence, enough to make the shepherds tremble a bit as the angel delivers God’s message to them: “I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger” (2:10-12).

Now, the implication is that the shepherds were to go find the child, to visit him. Why else would the angels give such specific signs? But shepherds, you remember, weren’t welcome in town. They weren’t welcome in respectable homes. If they tried to visit this child who is the Savior, the Messiah, the royal figure they’ve been waiting on for centuries, there’s no way they’d be let in—at least that’s what they must have been thinking. How could they possibly go visit such a dignitary when they knew they wouldn’t be welcomed (Bailey 35)? But, the angel had said the baby would be wrapped in cloths—probably scraps of cloth, rags—and he would be lying in a manger. Not a bed, not a crib, not a cradle, a manger. Something cattle ate out of. Rags and a feeding trough—those are signs for shepherds. Not only a way for them to know they had the right baby, but also a way for them to know that the baby was just like them. He wasn’t born in a wealthy home; he had to have been in a peasant’s home, perhaps one like theirs. Maybe they wouldn’t be turned away. And so they work up their courage and say, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about” (2:15). And in that simple statement, they show confidence that God has not forgotten them. This baby has come for them, for lowly shepherds, for forgotten people. He is their savior, too.

So what does it mean, then, that Jesus is savior, as the angel said, “for the people” (2:10)? For him to be savior, it means he’s saving “all the people”  (including us) from something. Those shepherds, and many others in the first century, expected the Messiah to be a military man, one to run off the Romans and set up a throne in Jerusalem. He would rule like the kings of old. But it became obvious, as this baby grew up, that Jesus didn’t come to do that, nor did he come to save people from something as small as the Roman Empire. So what does he save us from? Or, perhaps the better question, is what does he save us for? Jesus came to save us from all the destructive ways we try to live our lives—we call that “sin.” It’s all the things we do that rebel against God and God’s plan for our lives. Jesus saves us from guilt and shame, from hopelessness and despair, from fear and death. You see, what began in a manger in Bethlehem really wasn’t finished until Jesus gave his life on the cross in our place, taking the punishment we deserve for our sin. That’s when he said, “It is finished” (John 19:30). And, ultimately, what began in a cave in Bethlehem reached a real climax when Jesus walked out of another cave on the first Easter, alive again (Hamilton 116-118). Jesus came to lead us away from the addictions and the selfishness and the anger and the bitterness and all the ways we break our relationships with each other and with God. He came as Emmanuel—God with us, God living among us. He came to lead us toward a life that’s better, life the way it was intended to be lived. Jesus came to save us from ourselves.

Pastor Jim Harnish tells a parable that might help us tonight, a story about his grandfather, who lost his son in World War II and his wife to a heart attack shortly thereafter. He was left with a teenage daughter and a younger son to raise. In the wake of that kind of grief, the grandfather began drinking, and by the time Harnish had been born, it wasn’t a casual activity. He had a real problem, and the local bartender would often call and ask the family to come get him and take him home. One night, the family was driving to church and they saw the grandfather’s car at the bar. Harnish’s father sadly said, “He’s at it again.” Then Louella entered the picture. “She was a simple country woman who worked as a waitress at a local diner.” When the grandfather began to show an interest in her, she made it clear she wasn’t going to put up with a drunk. If they were going to go out, he had to quit drinking. And he did, miraculously. Soon after that, they got married and he lived past ninety; she lived to be a hundred, but Harnish says his grandfather would not have lived that long or that well had it not been for Louella’s self-giving love and strict demands on how he was going to behave. He writes, “She saved my grandfather by the power of her love.” And that’s what Jesus does. “He comes in infinite love to save us and to lead us into a whole new way of living so that we become the agents of his saving love in the world” (Harnish, All I Want for Christmas, pgs. 43-44).

That’s what the shepherds did, at least that night. We don’t really know anything more about them beyond this Christmas night (Kalas, The Scriptures Sing of Christmas, pg. 23). Did they become followers of Jesus? Did they go back to the fields or did they take on a new job? We don’t know any of that, and it’s useless to speculate. What we do know is that those who saw angels on that holy night became angels themselves—not of the heavenly variety, but of the message-giving variety. Luke puts it this way: “When they had seen [Jesus], they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what they shepherds said to them” (2:17-18). Now, remember, they lived in a world where their testimony was not considered valid. If it came from a shepherd, you didn’t have to believe it. And yet, Luke says, the people who heard them were “amazed.” They marveled. They admired what the shepherds told them. It ought to remind us that there is something powerful in telling what you’ve experienced—your own personal experience with the baby of Bethlehem. Your story doesn’t have to be flashy or well-prepared. It just has to be yours. The shepherds just told what they knew. That’s what angels—messengers—do. They tell what they know.

So the first question for us this Christmas is this: have you experienced the baby of Bethlehem? Have you let him save you? It’s a gift, you know. You only have to receive it, to allow him to be part of your life and bring you to the life God intends you to live. And once you have experienced him, then, like the shepherds, we’re called to tell everyone what we have seen, what we know. We’re called to point others toward the savior, toward the manger so that they, too, can come to know this baby, this Jesus. We do that with our words. We do that with our lives. We do that with the ways we choose to use what we have. One way we’ll do that tonight is by sharing our offering. Everything we gave tonight will go toward two causes. Part of what we have given will go to build clean water wells in Togo, Africa, so that people there won’t have to die from preventable diseases. And another part will go to help feed children in our own community who live in “food insufficient households.” Kids will have food on the weekends because of your extravagant generosity. Near the end of this service, we will proclaim that the light shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot overcome it (cf. John 1:5). Any time we have a chance to shine the light of Christ against the darkness of our world, we’re being angels, messengers of good news. So live a life that shows others the light of Jesus. Don’t just light a candle tonight as a ceremonial act. Let it remind you that you are the light of the world (cf. Matthew 5:14), called to shine his light in your words, in your deeds—in everything you are and everything you do. The light of the world is born, Jesus is here—thanks be to God!

Not a Silent Night

The Sermon Study Guide is here.

Luke 2:1-7

December 17/18, 2011 • Portage First UMC

Sometimes very precious things can lose some of their luster over time. For instance, take an engagement ring. When it’s presented, the diamond sparkles and shines, and the ring is worn with pride and admired by all. But as the years pass, as the engagement turns to marriage, and as life settles to something resembling normal, the diamond gathers dirt and begins to lose some of its shine. So you might take it to a jeweler to have it cleaned or to restore it to its original brilliance. In fact, the more the ring is worn, the greater the need for occasional cleaning, so that all can see what it really looks like. In many ways, the Christmas story is like that diamond. It’s something that’s very precious to us as Christians, but over the centuries, it’s gathered lots of layers of dust and tradition and stories that have little or nothing to do with the way its told in the Bible. For instance, most of our nativity scenes contain donkeys and sheep and perhaps a cow or two, but where are animals mentioned in the actual story? You won’t find them there. So during this season of Advent, we’ve been trying to peel off those layers, so to speak, so that the story can shine with its original, intended power and brilliance in our lives. We started with Mary in Nazareth, and how she took a huge risk in saying “yes” to God. Then we looked at Joseph, who most likely lived in Bethlehem, and how his humility made him the perfect foster father for Jesus. Last week, we looked at Mary’s visit to her relative Elizabeth, and how important it was especially at this point in Mary’s life for her to have a mentor, someone who could help her through these difficult days.

But this evening/morning we come to what is, perhaps, the most tradition-laden part of the Christmas story, and that’s the actual birth of Jesus. Luke 2 tells the story of Joseph taking Mary to Bethlehem, and while they are there, she gives birth to the baby who is the savior of the world. Matthew tells that whole story in a single sentence: Joseph “did what the angel of the Lord commanded him and took Mary home as his wife” (1:24). I want you to remember that phrase, “took Mary home,” because it’s a very important one. Joseph “took Mary home.” And where was Joseph’s home? Bethlehem. Now, Luke gives us much more detail, which is why many scholars believe Luke actually interviewed Mary at some point. He has much more of the story than anyone else does. We know that Mary returned home to Nazareth just shortly before John the Baptist was born to Zechariah and Elizabeth (1:56), and it’s possible Joseph accompanied her back to Nazareth at this point. Wedding plans were going to need to be made, and the wedding was probably going to have to be moved up. So they travel back to Mary’s home in Nazareth (a 9-day journey), and they put together a wedding, but somewhere in the middle of all that, the government steps in and throws in a new wrinkle.

Luke says, “In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world” (2:1). Augustus was, in some ways, the man who transformed Rome from a republic into an empire. Some call him the first Roman emperor, but he really was just a bloodthirsty tyrant. He issues orders for a census. Everyone must be counted so that he can tax them and get more money into the Roman coffers. When Luke gives us this historical context, it’s not just to fix the date. It would also have reminded the first readers that this is a time of upheaval, a time of great change. It’s a time when rulers were in the business of declaring themselves to be gods. “Augustus” means “exalted one,” and he carried the title, “Son of God.” Some people called him the “savior” of the world, and others called him “lord.” It was a corrupt, confusing time in human history (Card, Luke: The Gospel of Amazement, pgs. 47-48; Wright, Luke for Everyone, pgs. 22-23).

Now, Luke says this census took place when Quirinius was governor of Syria (2:2), and that presents a problem for historians. We know Herod the Great was the Roman-appointed king in Israel at the time of Jesus’ birth, but Herod died in 4 BC. Yes, the modern calendar is off by at least four years. Jesus was not born in the year 0. But historians struggle because the only recorded census under Quirinius took place in 6 AD—maybe as much as ten years after Jesus was born. However, recent archaeological evidence has been uncovered that Quirinius was probably governor twice, the first time from 10-7 BC (Card 48), and so it’s possible that a census was done then as well. But the larger point Luke is trying to make is that it was a dangerous time for a child to be born, especially a child whose followers would call him son of God, savior and lord. Caesar had already claimed those titles—what happens when someone challenges his claim? What happens when some people begin rejecting the creed “Caesar is Lord” in favor of one that says, “Jesus is Lord”?

So the government orders a census, and Joseph and Mary, who may have just begun to settle in to Nazareth, are now forced to return to Bethlehem, because that’s where Joseph is from, and that’s where he has to go register (2:4). Now, it’s about a ten-day journey from Nazareth back down to Bethlehem, if you take the short route. There are two possible routes they could have taken, and I’ll let you explore those in your small groups this week, but the best evidence we have is that they would have taken what is called the Way of the Patriarchs, through Samaria, past historic landmarks that meant so much to them as Jews. They would have passed the place called Jacob’s Well, named after one of their people’s ancestors. They would have passed the place where Joshua set up the place of worship when they first conquered the land. They would have followed the path that the ancient army of Assyria took when they conquered the nation of Israel. But this was not an easy route to take. [VIDEO: Judean Journey] The first part of the journey would have been on a plain through the Jezreel Valley, past a place called Megiddo, which in the book of Revelation (16:16) is the “hill of Megiddo” or Har Megddio, and they would have followed well-worn paths, but as they got further south, they would have crossed into mountainous areas and harsh desert lands. On the ninth day, they would have arrived in Jerusalem, and one more partial day’s walk would take them to Joseph’s hometown of Bethlehem (Hamilton, The Journey, pgs. 93-96). And while we picture Mary riding on a donkey, there is no mention of that in the text. Now, I would guess Joseph had something for her to ride on, but being poor, it’s entirely possible she might have had to walk. And even if she rode, how comfortable would it have been to be on the back of a donkey, nine months pregnant, for ten days? So when Luke says they “went there,” we have to remember it was not an easy journey. It was hard. It was unwelcome. But it was what they had to do.

Luke doesn’t tell us how long they were in Bethlehem before Mary gave birth. We always picture it as: they arrived, she instantly went into labor, and Joseph hurried around to find a place for them to stop for the night. But Luke says, “While they were there” (2:6), implying that they had been there for a little while at least (Bailey, Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes, pg. 26). Which brings up the question I posed a couple of weeks ago: why does Mary give birth in a barn if this is Joseph’s hometown? Again, this one of those layers we need to peel back. The movies all have given us the idea that Joseph, panicked about the baby coming, runs from Motel 6 to Super 8 to Holiday Inn Express, trying to find an empty room, but they all have their “No Vacancy” signs hanging out. That’s the way it’s always portrayed in the Christmas pageants and the living nativities, and that’s based on a mistranslation in the King James Version.  Luke 2:7 in the King James Version says, “there was no room for them in the inn.”  But did you catch what I read today? “There was no guest room available for them” (2:7). We need to understand what houses were like in that time if we’re going to read this passage correctly, because when we hear “inn,” we picture a commercial motel, and Bethlehem in those days was unlikely to have been large enough to have a commercial inn. And anyway, that’s not the word Luke uses. If he meant a motel, he would have used a different Greek word. He calls the place that’s full a “kataluma,” the same word that’s used later in the Gospel to describe the place where Jesus and his disciples eat the last supper. It’s a guest room, usually an upper room in a private home. [VIDEO: Nazareth Homes] There would typically be a main room, where the family lived, and maybe there was also a second, smaller room that was used for sleeping. And upstairs was the “kataluma,” the guest room, where the children slept when there were no guests in the house. Because of the census, because everyone has come home, that’s the room Luke says is full. The “kataluma” is full of other relatives. Joseph came home to Bethlehem and took Mary to his family, but the room they would have ordinarily stayed in was full (Hamilton 97; Bailey 32; Wright 21).

“While they were there,” Luke says, “the time came for the baby to be born” (2:6). Perhaps Mary woke Joseph up in the middle of the night, like Cathy did to me, and said, “It’s time.” I remember wondering, up to that moment, if we’d know the right time. I shouldn’t have wondered; moms seem to sense when the time is right. And it’s at this point we need to know a bit more about first century houses. They typically, especially in poor houses, did not have a separate barn, out back somewhere, like we would. The stable would have been attached to the house, perhaps at a slightly lower level, or perhaps on the same level as the main room. For one thing, this meant the animals you owned were protected at night from thieves and predators. For another, especially in the colder months, the animals in the house provided additional heat (Bailey 29). And so when the time came for Mary to give birth, the stable also provided a more private place in a house full of company for her to deliver her child. She wasn’t alone, as we often picture it. She was surrounded by Joseph’s family, maybe even a midwife of sorts, and in that place, “she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger” (2:7; Hamilton 98). A manger was a feeding trough; it’s what the animals ate out of. This was no sanitary hospital, and contrary to what we will sing as we light candles this coming week, it was not a silent night. Do you know any mother who is silent while she is giving birth? Do you know any baby who is silent when he’s thrust out of a warm womb into a cold world? This was not the picture-perfect silent night. This was a normal birth, taking place in a stable, with the baby eventually laid in a feeding trough. And I can’t help but wonder if, at some point, Mary leaned back, looked around, and with tears in her eyes, thought or said, “This is not how I pictured it. I thought I’d be in Nazareth with my mother, my family, my midwife. I thought I’d be at home, not here, ten days from home, in a stable. This is not how I pictured it. This is not what I wanted for my son.” Contrary to our mental images of that first Christmas, Jesus came into the mess and the muddle of ordinary, noisy, crowded, complex life. Into the messiness and the pain of our world, he was born, and he spent at least his first night sleeping in a feeding trough. “It was disappointing and depressing and hard. Life can be that way” (Hamilton 100).

Don’t get me wrong—I love the song “Silent Night,” and Christmas Candlelight isn’t complete for me until we sing that every year. But I think sometimes, too, when we have this idea that Jesus’ birth was anything other than ordinary, we give the impression that you can’t really follow Jesus if your life is a mess, if your life is anything but “calm and bright.” That’s one of those layers we’ve put over the Christmas story, and I believe it’s one of the stumbling blocks that keeps people who are in a mess from coming to Jesus. It was not a silent night. It was a holy night, to be sure, but it was messy, and muddled, and for Mary, it took place in the midst of a journey she didn’t want to take. Some of us are on journeys like that right now. In the midst of the joy and the celebration of the season, we’re traveling a road we never imagined we would travel. And it’s hard. And it’s messy. And we’re wondering if there is any hope.

Maybe it’s a journey of a marriage that seems to be falling apart, and you’ve gotten to the point where you are just two people co-existing, or maybe you’ve had your spouse walk out on you, and this unexpected journey is not where you want to be this Christmas. Maybe you’ve lost a spouse or a loved one, or you’ve faced medical diagnoses that you simply can’t do anything about. Your life has become one trip to the doctor after another, and that’s not the kind of life you planned on. Maybe there’s something from your past that has caught up with you, and you thought it was long behind you. I know some of you have lost your job, and the journey you’ve been on seems endless, and you’re not sure whether it’s time to just take any job or try to get some new training. Some have ventured out and started a new position or a new ministry, and it’s just not worked out the way you hoped it would. I have a friend who has such a deep heart for ministry, but the doors just aren’t opening like he thought they would by now. Did he miss God’s call? Is he somehow on the wrong path? It’s hard; he’s not sure where the next paycheck is coming from. Still others of us are struggling with children who are on a destructive path, and no matter what we do, it seems we can’t turn them around. We know they’re going to hurt themselves and others, but our words fall on deaf ears. Many sleepless nights have been spent crying and praying and worrying over what they will do next. Maybe there is addiction, or broken friendships, or misunderstandings—life has its moments of disappointments and times of overwhelming sorrow or intense pain (Hamilton 100-101). Mary’s journey to Bethlehem reminds us that sometimes we end up on journeys we’d rather not take.

And yet, in the midst of the mess, Mary had a confidence that God had called her on this journey. She must have held tight to the words of the angel who appeared to her nine months before, that God was blessing her. This didn’t look much like blessing, but Mary knew that God has a broader view of things than we do. God had been with her all through these nine months; there was no reason to think that God would abandon her now. I wonder if the whole journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem was, in some way, God reminding Mary of that truth. As they passed by all those places where God had been found to be faithful to people in the past, Mary could find her faith strengthened that, just as God had been with them in their difficult situations, God would be with her in this one. I remember one Thursday evening—and the reason I remember it was Thursday is because it was my day off in those days—but I got a call to come to the hospital if I could because one of our pastors, John Paul Jones, was having emergency surgery that night. An unwanted journey in the middle of the night. So I hurried over there, and got to visit with John Paul for a while, then the senior pastor came in and we gathered around John Paul’s bed with his family and we prayed. And after we finished, John Paul looked at us and said, “The best of all is, God is with us.” As it turned out, those were among John Paul’s last words. He never woke up after that surgery, but at his funeral, every one of his family members expressed the faith that God was with them and God had been with John Paul during that unwanted journey. Mary reminds us to have a confidence that God has called us on this journey, even if we never understand the reasons for it. God does with us.

We have that confidence because of the Bible’s resounding chorus that there is nothing God can’t redeem. His name, throughout the Bible, is redeemer, and there’s this great picture in the book of Joel in the Old Testament, where the prophet sees a devastating locust swarm coming on the land, destroying the crops and ruining everything. The prophet sees it coming as an act of judgment on God’s part, and it probably is. It’s probably also more than just locusts, because there is a promise of an army that is coming to destroy the people because of their lack of repentance before God. It’s a horribly devastating image. But then, there’s this picture: God calls the people to return to him with all their heart, and when they do, God says, “I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten” (Joel 2:25). I will redeem all that you think is lost. In the midst of an unwanted journey, Mary and Joseph both knew this baby being born was going to bring redemption to the world. This baby was going to save the world. His name, both were told, was to be “Jesus,” which means “God saves.” And the angel even went further in telling Joseph, “You are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). So though this birth looked nothing like Mary thought it would, and though this journey had been unbelievably difficult, she knew that, in some way, God was working through her in this baby to save people from their sins.

And that, ultimately, is what this season is about. Christmas is about hope—about having hope and about giving hope, even when (especially when) life gets hard. Pastor Adam Hamilton writes, “We are called to be prisoners of hope—captured by hope, bound by it, unable to let go of it. Hope is a decision we make, a choice to believe that God can take the adversity, the disappointment, the heartache, and the pain of our journeys and use these to accomplish his purposes” (102). Did you hear that? Hope is a choice. I’ve known people who have made the choice for it and against it—and their lives reflect that choice. Those who live with hope tend to face adversity with more confidence and more strength than those for whom the slightest stumble is an invitation to give up. And sometimes the choice for hope is seen in the decision to hang on to someone else’s hope when you feel you have none of your own. Some of you know it’s been a difficult year for me personally and professionally. In the midst of many, many good things happening here at the church, there have been some significant disappointments and some things said to me that were very hurtful. And there was a patch this fall where I wasn’t sure I wanted to do this anymore. I was on an unwanted journey and, honestly, I was ready to give up. I’m only still standing here this evening/morning because there were a few people who poured hope into my life and helped me see it, too. I’m forever thankful for those saints, but they remind me of our need not only to grab onto hope but to be available, in our hope-filled days, to pour hope into someone else’s life. This baby came to give hope in the midst of difficult and unwanted journeys. He came to give the hope of salvation to every man, woman and child. And we, his followers, are his ambassadors (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:20), offering that same hope to our world.

Every once in a while, I get to do that, too. I’m not one who claims I’ve ever heard an audible voice from God, but there have been a few times when I knew beyond the shadow of a doubt I needed to do something at that very moment. One of those moments happened several years ago. We had a lady in the church named Barb, who was a true lady. Always put together, always very proper. When she showed up a month early for her photo directory appointment, I should have known something was wrong. A couple of weeks later, I was told she was in the hospital, so I decided I would go see her that afternoon. But there was this nagging sense that I needed to go right then, so I did. When I walked into her room, she had just been told she had advanced stage cancer, and that there was nothing the doctors could do. No family was around, and why they told her that without her family is beyond me, but we got a chance that morning to talk about hope, to pray and to commit whatever was left of Barb’s life to Christ. I did not see her again; she died very quickly after that. But Barb, that day, faced her unwanted journey with hope—not because of anything I said, but because she trusted in the baby of Bethlehem who came to bring us life and peace and love and hope and salvation.

Where do you need hope this evening/morning? As we pray, can you entrust even that situation, that unwanted journey, to Jesus? Let’s pray.

The Piercing Truth

The Sermon Study Guide is here.

Luke 1:39-45

December 10/11, 2011 • Portage First UMC

Sometimes, you’ve just got to do something—or at least, I do. When I’m fretting over something or thinking through something, it helps to have my body active, focused on something other than the worry or the issue. So I can relate to Mary in the Gospel lesson this evening/morning. You remember how Mary has just received word that she’s going to become a mother, and that the baby conceived within her is from the Holy Spirit. That’s a lot for a 13-year-old girl to take in, and so as we continue looking at her story from the Gospel of Luke, we’re told she “got ready and hurried” (1:39). She wasn’t just going to sit around; she needed to do something. The angel, Gabriel, had told her that her relative, Elizabeth, was miraculously pregnant in her old age, and so Mary decides she’s going to go help Elizabeth. Luke says she “hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea,” which, according to tradition, is the town of Ein Karem, a small village about an hour’s walk from Jerusalem, not far from Bethlehem, but a long way from Mary’s hometown of Nazareth—about eighty miles, in fact. A journey by foot from Nazareth to Ein Karem would have taken about nine days, so Mary would not have made the journey alone. She would have joined a caravan heading in that direction—both for companionship and safety (Hamilton, The Journey, pgs. 62-63).

Nine days across three mountain ranges—it would have been a long journey, but an important one for Mary. I wonder if, at this point, she has even told her parents about the angel’s visit, or exactly when in this timeline she told Joseph, her betrothed. Perhaps he came to visit her when she was at Elizabeth’s house—we don’t know. But Mary needed to see Elizabeth. She needed someone who was not her mother to talk to, to gain perspective from, and so she heads to Ein Karem under the story of helping Elizabeth during the last three months of her pregnancy.

Ein Karem was located about five miles southwest of Jerusalem; today it is part of Jerusalem, one of its neighborhoods with a population of around 2,000. Today it is home to academics and artists, but in the first century, it was perhaps home to priests, being close to the Temple and to Jerusalem. Elizabeth’s husband, Zechariah, was a priest who would serve periodically in the Temple courts, and he and Elizabeth had made their home in this village. Elizabeth is described as a “relative” of Mary’s (1:36), but we don’t know any more than that about what the particular relationship was. The word can be as narrow as “cousin” or as broad as “of the same nation.” So we don’t know the exact relation Elizabeth and Mary had, but we do know that Elizabeth is the one person Mary felt she could talk to, one who would understand, because Elizabeth, too, was experiencing a miraculous pregnancy.

You may remember from the beginning of Luke 1 that Elizabeth and Zechariah, were old and childless. Doubtless they had prayed for a long time to have a child, and yet God had not answered that prayer the way they wanted him to. By now, they had given up, and then one day, when Zechariah goes to serve at the Temple, an angel shows up and promises him a son—and more than a son, a preacher who will prepare the way for the Messiah. Zechariah doubts, and is made mute for nine months, but apparently he found a way to get the message across to Elizabeth, because she did, in fact, conceive in her old age is now in her sixth month. She’s been in seclusion, probably because, like many who have struggled with infertility, she’s undoubtedly been through many miscarriages and failed pregnancies. So Elizabeth is staying safe this time until Mary arrives. Now, remember, this was in the days before e-mail or snail mail for that matter. Elizabeth probably doesn’t know Mary is on her way, nor does she know Mary is pregnant. Probably no one knows that except Mary at this point. Yet, when she hears Mary’s voice, the Spirit of God fills her and the baby within her, whom the angel said would be filled with the Spirit even before he was born (1:15), leaps in her womb. And Elizabeth joins the ranks of those Old Testament prophets, who speak words for God, when she says to Mary, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear!…Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!” (1:42, 45). Elizabeth doesn’t give Mary a blessing; she recognizes the blessing God has already given to Mary (Culpepper, “The Gospel of Luke,” New Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. IX, pg. 55).

Two weeks ago, we talked about what it means to find favor with God. The idea of blessing, here, is the same thing. To be blessed by, or to find favor with, God is not a path to the easy life. It’s not some sort of spiritual superiority where your faith is deeper and better than someone else’s. To be blessed, as the Bible defines it, means you find yourself as a part of God’s plan. You are part of what God is up to in the world. It’s not about getting more material stuff, which is the way we usually think of blessings. This time of year, it’s not about having more presents under the Christmas tree than anyone else. To be blessed means you believe what God has said to be true (Culpepper 55). To be blessed means you follow with your whole heart what God has called you to do, whether it’s easy or not. At the beginning of the year in a couple of weeks, you’re going to be invited to again pray the prayer of John Wesley, to renew your covenant, your relationship with God, and part of that prayer says, “Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt. Put me to doing, put me to suffering” (UMH 607). It’s not an easy prayer to pray, but it is one that leads us to the truly blessed life. A Bible teacher from an earlier generation, William Barclay, put it this way: “The piercing truth is that God does not choose a person for ease and comfort and selfish joy but for a task that will take all that head and heart can bring to it” (qtd. in Hamilton 68). So Mary is blessed, Elizabeth says, because she’s willing to do what God calls her to do, no matter what the cost. And Mary, I have no doubt, needed to hear that word from Elizabeth; to hear that word of encouragement might have been the main reason she made this long trip.

And so the first thing we take away from this short episode in the Christmas story is that we need people in our lives who will say what we need to hear. Not necessarily what we want to hear, but what we need to hear. Today, we call them mentors, and we all need people in our lives we look up to, people we look toward when we need to make a decision or choose a direction or hear a word of encouragement. We all need an Elizabeth in our lives—a mentor, a guide, someone who can walk with us and also show us the way. When I was in seminary, one of the “classes” we were required to take was called Supervised Ministry. It was what it sounds like. We were assigned to a local church and learned from the pastor while being engaged in ministry. I was assigned to Harrodsburg United Methodist Church and the pastor was Mike Powers. Mike was fantastic to work with. He took me along on hospital visits, led me lead prayer meeting, let me preach and lead worship. He taught me more in that semester than I probably ever learned sitting in a classroom. It wasn’t that Mike had a set of notes he was going over. Rather, Mike walked with me, let me do things, let me fail sometimes. And sometimes we would just sit and talk about ministry. He invited Cathy and I into his family, and he shaped me, probably more than anyone else, into the pastor I am today. Who’s your mentor? Who do you turn to for advice, guidance? Who is the first person you want to call when things go well or when things fall apart? Mary hurried (1:39) to Elizabeth, because she knew Elizabeth would understand and would be there for her.

But just as Mary needed Elizabeth, Elizabeth needed Mary. With failed pregnancies and years of disappointment behind her, she needed someone to draw her out of seclusion (Hamilton 65), to encourage her. In some ways, Mary was someone she could invest her life in so she wouldn’t be so consumed with the fear surrounding her own pregnancy. Just as we need an Elizabeth, we also need a Mary, someone whom we can pour our lives into, someone we can mentor, someone we can share faith with. Who’s your Mary? Who is that younger person you’re pouring your life into? One of the great privileges of my life right now is the opportunity I have to serve on the Board of Ordained Ministry. In fact, for the last fifteen years or so I’ve been able, in a variety of ways, to encourage new pastors, people who are in the process of answering their call to ministry. Now, I hate meetings, and most of those things involve meetings, but it’s the one place in the Annual Conference I believe I can make a difference. When you pour your life into the future leadership of the church, you impact the larger church. I sometimes complain about the work, but I recognize it as a privilege to be able to mentor people that way. And then, when I look out at this congregation, I see the same thing happening.

[PF Hope] I see people who are giving of their time and energy and life to, in quiet ways mentor people here. I see a band that has, as part of its heart, developing new leadership and new musical talents. I see several people who have stepped up to give of their time in the nursery and in Kids Slam, to teach and encourage the youngest among us. And I know there are many other things going on that I’m not even aware of, connections that are made, relationships that are built, week after week.

[McCool] I see adults who pour their lives into the youth of our church—in Sunday School, in youth group, by taking them to camp, by encouraging them to sing and use their gifts in other ways. Every January, I watch as adults step up to work with the youth in our Confirmation class, helping them learn about Jesus and about the church. I think of those of you who, as we’ve established new styles of worship services, encouraged the leadership even though you don’t prefer that style of worship. You’ve stood behind the 11:30 service and PF Hope and you’ve offered words of encouragement when things get tough. And we’re counting on you to offer even more than that, to offer a helping hand when there is a need. That’s part of giving of yourself as well.

Like Elizabeth, we’re called to pour our lives into those God has placed in our path. So who’s your Mary? And who’s your Elizabeth? Who are you walking in faith with?

After Elizabeth greets Mary, Mary breaks out in song, a passage of Scripture we called the “Magnificat,” a Latin word that means “magnify” or “glorify.” It’s a song full of Biblical references, verses and images Mary would have learned growing up (Wright, Luke for Everyone, pg. 15)—but most importantly, it’s a song that celebrates the “great reversal” her son is coming to bring: the proud ones scattered, the humble lifted up, the hungry filled with good things, and the rich sent away empty. It’s a picture of a world turned upside down, or if we think in Biblical terms, a world turned right side up. When you read the Scriptures, you see how God has a heart for those who have no one else to stand up for them. Jesus came and he reached out to the least, the last, and the lost—the ones nobody else cared about. And so should we. Mary’s song reminds us again that those who follow the baby of Bethlehem are called to care for those who have no one else to care for them.

And that’s why, as I said two weeks ago, we’re going to again give away our Christmas Candlelight offering this year. Half of it will go to provide clean water wells in the community Lauren Falk is working in in Togo, Africa, and the other half will go to provide food for children in our community who live in “food insufficient households,” children who may only get food the school provides each day. Every penny we give during our Christmas Candlelight services will go to serve those whom Jesus loves, because it’s his birthday, not ours. What might happen if we give half of what we normally spend on each other to the offering? Or what might happen if we match what we spend on ourselves and give it away this Christmas? Christmas, after all, is not about getting. It’s about giving—about giving ourselves away to someone else as we mentor and encourage them, about giving what we have away for the sake of those whom Jesus cares for. That’s how we celebrate his birthday. Mary and Elizabeth teach us that, for they knew that the babies inside them were going to change the world, turn it upside down. That’s what God was about to give to the world.

[McCool] And so, today, as we think about and meditate upon their story, we are going to be reminded again of that great gift God gave, the gift of a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes, the gift of salvation for all who will receive, the gift of new life to all who believe. Our prayer this day: God, lead me back to Bethlehem so I might know again the hope and the peace and the world-transforming power this baby brings. Our choir is going to come and take us back to that ancient time and place, and help us remember.

Inconceivable!

The Sermon Study Guide is here.

Matthew 1:18-24

December 3/4, 2011 • Portage First UMC

Several years ago, a man named Walter invited his friend Arthur to go with him on a drive through Southern California. As they drove, Arthur noticed there wasn’t much to see. The area looked like a barren wasteland—a few trees, some ramshackle buildings, not much else. When they stopped, Walter began telling Arthur of his big plans for this land, and how he wanted Arthur to join him by becoming an investor in his dream. Walter had enough money for the main project, but he wanted to make sure the land around the area would be protected; he wanted a friend to own it. He was sure that in the next few years, restaurants and hotels would be begging to buy the land. In Walter’s mind, it was a sure bet, but when Arthur looked around, to his mind the whole plan was inconceivable, so he turned Walter down. Because he couldn’t see Walter’s dream, Art Linkletter lost the chance to buy the area that now surrounds Disneyland, Walt Disney’s dream-turned-reality (Jeremiah, Signs of Life, pg. 149). For one person, the dream drove him. For the other, it was inconceivable.

The power of a dream can change everything. I’ve been reading the biography of the co-founder of Apple Computer, Steve Jobs, which was published just shortly after his death, and two things have struck me, even though I’m not yet halfway through it. First of all: though I admire Jobs’ genius, I would not have wanted to invite him over for dinner. He wasn’t often a nice man to those he was close to. Second, he was a genius, and he could often see things no one else could see. He was talking about touch screen computers in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, long before the technology existed or anyone else was thinking about it. The things that today have become the iPhone and the iPad, Jobs was envisioning thirty years ago, and he was able to push people to share his dream, to make things happen that everyone else said was inconceivable, impossible. The computer that became the Mac should have been created by Xerox; they had the idea first, but Jobs was the one with the vision, the one who pushed others to make it work—all because he dared to dream.

The power of a dream can change everything, so that what is inconceivable to many of us becomes reality because some people dare to dream. Today, in our journey through the Christmas story, we come to one who was a dreamer. Much like his Old Testament namesake, Joseph, as we encounter him in Matthew’s Gospel, hears from God most clearly in a dream, and because he listened as he dreamed, an inconceivable baby was born. This morning, our Advent journey brings us to the little town of Bethlehem and to a carpenter named Joseph.

Now, if you watch popular movies of the Nativity, you would tend to think that Joseph, like Mary, was from Nazareth, but I want to consider this morning the very real possibility that Bethlehem was actually Joseph’s hometown (Hamilton, The Journey, pg. 38). For one, when Bethlehem is mentioned first in Luke’s Gospel, it’s called Joseph’s “own town” (Luke 2:3), the same designation Matthew uses to describe Capernaum when Jesus is living there (it’s his “own town”) and Jesus himself uses that term to describe Nazareth as the place where he is from (his “own town”). Beyond that, we know from historical records that there was continual work going on in Jerusalem, particularly on the Temple which Herod was rebuilding. It wasn’t yet finished in Joseph’s time, and even if he didn’t work on that project, there would have been a lot more work for a person with his skills in and around Bethlehem and Jerusalem than there would have been around Nazareth. Now, some, then, wonder, if Joseph was from Bethlehem, why did Mary have to give birth in a barn? We’ll talk about that in a couple of weeks! But Joseph and Mary likely lived in a long-distance, arranged relationship. Last week, we talked a little about what their betrothal was like and we know, for instance, Mary doesn’t immediately tell Joseph about the pregnancy. Joseph “finds out” about it later (1:18). And on top of all that, when the baby is born, they don’t go back to Nazareth. They live in Bethlehem, in a house, Joseph’s house that he had prepared for his bride as was the custom. They live there for maybe as long as two years. They only go eventually to Nazareth, Mary’s hometown, to avoid danger from the political ruler (cf. Matthew 2:21-23). Bethlehem, then, makes sense as Joseph’s hometown.

[VIDEO: Bethlehem Cityscape] Now, today, Bethlehem is a thriving small city with a population of somewhere around 26,000 at last count—a little smaller than Portage. Much of its industry centers around the Church of the Nativity, the place where, tradition says, Jesus was born. It is a Palestinian city, [VIDEO: Bethlehem Walls] and today’s politics being what they are, it is a city surrounded by a wall. The wall is supposedly for protection, but largely it just makes life in Bethlehem difficult. Bethlehem is not that far from Jerusalem—six miles, a two-hour walk, but getting from Bethlehem to Jerusalem requires going through a checkpoint. So if you live one place and work in the other, just getting to work is a trial. In Joseph’s day, of course, the city was much smaller, maybe somewhere between 500 and 1,000 people. It was a blue-collar town, made up of shepherds, bakers (“Bethlehem” means “House of Bread”), millers and laborers like Joseph. It wasn’t world-famous, but it wasn’t unknown like Nazareth was. There were stories from the Hebrew Scriptures that centered around Bethlehem. Rachel, Jacob’s favorite wife, had died and was buried here. The Book of Ruth takes place in Bethlehem, and the greatest king Israel had ever known, King David, was from Bethlehem (Hamilton 39-40). It was known, but not terribly famous. So, again, like with Nazareth, God didn’t choose a world-class city. He chose an ordinary place and an ordinary man to help do his greatest work in the world.

Now, there’s a lot we don’t know about Joseph. He’s “the mystery man” of the Nativity story (Card, The Promise, pg. 20). He stands in the shadows (Card, Immanuel, pg. 42). Luke (2:41-52) tells us about Mary and Joseph taking Jesus to Jerusalem when he is twelve, and after that, we don’t hear any more from Joseph. Church tradition says he died sometime after that, and Mary was left a widow to raise her children. But in the Gospels, we simply don’t hear from him again. However, Joseph is described in a couple of ways. First, Matthew tells us (13:55) Joseph is a carpenter—the Greek work is tekton, which can mean builder, craftsman or stonemason. An arch-tekton was a master builder; you can hear the word “architect” in that, can’t you? But Joseph was just a tekton, a humble woodworker (Hamilton 41-42). We’re also told Joseph was a “just man;” the translation we read today says he was “faithful to the law” (1:19), and that’s part of it. To the best of his ability, Joseph wanted to do what God commanded him—and all of God’s people—to do. He wanted to be found faithful to God’s law. And yet, as this story progresses, we find he is willing to break the strict interpretation of the law in favor of compassion. We know he could have had Mary stoned because of her pregnancy, but instead, he decides to divorce her quietly, to end the betrothal formally, and let her live. He doesn’t want to have the shame of raising a child that isn’t his, but he doesn’t want to harm Mary, either. Being a “just man” includes being compassionate toward the weak and exhausted (Bailey, Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes, pgs. 43-44).

We also know Joseph was a dreamer—or at least God could best get his attention through a dream. Mary had a direct visitation from an angel. But, for whatever reason, an angel comes to Joseph in a dream now and after jesus is born (cf. Matthew 2:13). A dream can change everything. Joseph is working in Bethlehem, and, as we’ll talk about next week, at some point perhaps, he learns Mary is visiting her relative Elizabeth, who lived just four miles from Bethlehem. Perhaps he visits her there and learns she is pregnant. Matthew says Mary “was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit” (1:18). The word there doesn’t indicate any sort of gossip; it simply indicates she could no longer hide her pregnancy. It was obvious to everyone, include her betrothed, that something was going on (Carson, “Matthew,” Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Vol. 8, pg. 74). A baby was growing in Mary’s womb, and Joseph knew it wasn’t his. Matthew says that because he was faithful to the law, he had to decide what to do. In my mind, I picture him returning to Bethlehem, trying to figure it all out. Matthew says he “considered” what was happening (1:20), but that word not only contains the idea of pondering, of thinking deeply, it can also be translated as, “he became angry” (Bailey 45). Joseph, understandably, is very upset. He’s hurt. He feels betrayed. He’s probably astounded to think Mary is not the sort of woman he thought she was. And so he makes a purposeful decision. He won’t ask for the death penalty; he will divorce her quietly (1:19). He doesn’t want to make a big deal about it; he just wants to move on with his life. This baby Mary is having was not part of his plan.

It’s at this point, when Joseph has made up his mind, that God intervenes. I always wonder why God didn’t tell Joseph what was happening up front, like Mary was told. Why did Joseph have to find out the way he found out? I don’t know for sure, but I wonder if part of it is because Joseph was too busy, working, getting things done, hurrying to the next job—too busy to pay enough attention to an angel who might speak to him. Joseph very well could be a lot like us, and the only time he slowed down enough for God to speak to him was when he was sleeping. Any of us like that? It’s hard for us to stop and listen, even to those around us who are speaking. Especially this time of year, we hurry from here to there and rarely think deeply about what we are doing. Joseph had made up his mind, but there was one piece of information he didn’t have or he didn’t believe, and so in his dream, when he had no choice but to listen, an angel of the Lord came to him and told, “Do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit” (1:20). God is at work here, Joseph, fulfilling ancient promises (1:22-23), and if you rush to take control of the situation yourself, you just might miss what God is doing. Your dreams may be hard to see now, but God’s dreams for you are just beginning!

So perhaps the first thing Joseph teaches us is to slow down, to not rush around and miss the message of the season. The way we celebrate Christmas in America is to fill our calendars full of activities and events and parties to the point where, when we get to Christmas, we’re exhausted and have little energy left for celebrating Jesus’ birth. And I’m guilty of that. In the next twenty days, we have seven holiday activities, four concerts, three parties and a partridge in a pear tree—not to mention all the “normal” activities of our lives. Now, I’m not saying that to get sympathy. I’m confessing that I rush around and I act like this season is all about me. But it’s not. This is Jesus’ birthday. He’s the one we’re supposed to be celebrating. The Son of God has come to earth. He was born in a manger, and he grew up in humble surroundings and then he died to save us from our sins. That’s the message, and like Joseph, unless I learn to carve out time to slow down, I’m going to completely miss it again. How about you? Does Joseph’s life speak to you at all? Does God need to get your attention again this Advent season? What’s it going to take for us to center our focus on the baby of Bethlehem instead of ourselves as we celebrate his birthday?

The second thing I want us to notice about Joseph is that he, like Mary, doesn’t come from wealthy and significant surroundings. Joseph, as I said, is even less known than Mary, and he lived in a small and humble town. Everything he owned could, probably, fit in his toolbox, and while he was likely a craftsman who took great pride in his work, he wasn’t one who would have signed his work. He made good, strong, useful things and lived a humble life. And yet, every day, when he walked out of his home, he stood in the shadow of something that reminded him not everyone approached life that way. In an effort to be remembered, King Herod had built a huge monument just outside Bethlehem that he named in honor of himself: the Herodium. [VIDEO: Herodium] This is one of the places we’ll visit next year when we go to the Holy Land. It’s a huge man-made mountain that stretches four hundred feet in the air, fifty feet taller than the Great Pyramid of Giza. At the bottom there were villas for his friends, along with a huge pool—an extravagance in the desert. At the top was a palace for Herod—containing Roman baths, lavish bedrooms and a huge central hall. It was extravagant, and the whole structure overshadowed everything in Bethlehem. It was meant to remind the people who was in charge (Hamilton 52). Herod drew attention to himself, and his kingdom ended up in ruins. That’s all that’s left—ruins for sightseers to visit. Joseph, on the other hand, humbly carried out the mission God called him to do, and we still remember his selfless sacrifice. He served without expectation of reward, and his faithfulness is a model for us all to serve whether we get recognition or fame or reward. Can we serve others in that way? The one Joseph took as his son would later say that if we do our acts of righteousness in order to be seen by others and get their approval, that’s all the reward we will get. Instead, Jesus said, do it quietly, in secret, and know that God the Father knows and will reward us (cf. Matthew 6:1-4). Certainly Jesus had seen that in his earthly father, Joseph.

One more thing I want to note about Joseph’s story, and that’s how God will use our darkest times to do his mightiest work. When Joseph went to bed that night, even though Matthew says he had made up his mind, it couldn’t have been easy. All his hopes and dreams had been dashed to the ground. The woman he thought he would marry had, in his mind, been unfaithful. He was going to be divorced before he had even been married. Hope was inconceivable at this moment. This might very well have been the lowest moment in Joseph’s life, and yet in that moment, as Joseph would soon learn, God was at work doing something amazing. In the midst of his darkness, God was still moving, and would continue to do so. Matthew says rather easily that Joseph “took Mary home as his wife” (1:24), and yet that could not have been easy. He would endure the scorn, the ridicule, the stares, the gossip—just like Mary would. And yet, in the midst of Joseph’s darkest time, God is at work in a mighty way. To our minds, it’s often inconceivable that God would use our darkness, our struggles, our difficulties to make a difference in the world. We find it so inconceivable that we work and pray to avoid disappointing or difficult circumstances. Above all else, God, don’t let me hurt! And yet, what would have happened if Joseph had walked away from Mary? What if he had left her as a single mom to raise this child herself? He would have missed out on the great blessings God had in store for him. How much of God’s blessing do we miss when we try to skirt or avoid disappointment and difficulty? I know from my own experience, and I’ll bet you know from yours, that it’s very often in the darkest times of your life when God works the most (Hamilton 45-46).

Several years ago, I was in the midst of a rather difficult patch in my ministry, rough enough that I remember laying on the couch one night and actually reading the want ads to see if there was anything else I could possibly do. There were a lot of things that had happened, including receiving a note from a person in the church who told me exactly what my problems were and why God wasn’t speaking to me. Ironically, it was during that time when I felt closer to God than I had in a while, largely because there was, literally, nothing else I could do. I had to learn to depend on God because everything I did wasn’t working. Like Joseph, I would make up my mind to do this thing, and then, often as I slept, God would change my direction. He would remind me I needed to pray for that other person rather than lash out or act hastily. It was in that dark time that God did a lot of work in me, and also during that time when the church I was serving at the time experience a growth spurt. So I say that to warn us not to be afraid of difficult or disappointing circumstances—that might just be when God is preparing to do some amazing things. Joseph learned that, and we need to, maybe now more than ever.

Of course, it’s hard to get that perspective, especially during this time of year when everyone seems so happy, when we’re told we should be joyful. But what if your most difficult season is right now? What if you feel like, rather than walking in the light, you’re stumbling in the dark? What if it’s inconceivable to you that God might work in this patch of your life? One way we want to help with that is through our Longest Night Service, which will be held on December 21 at 7:00 p.m. The longest night of the year is the time when the church declares that, as the Gospel of John says, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:5). One of the reasons Christmas is this time of year (because December 25 is very unlikely the date Jesus was born) is because it is so dark and we use this season to proclaim Jesus as the light of the world, and the light of our lives. Our Longest Night Service is meant to do just that: to offer hope when we are hurting, to remind us that God is still inconceivably working even (maybe especially) in our darkness. So I encourage you to come, and bring someone with you who is also struggling this year. Come and be reminded that God is still working, bringing light to the darkness.

And be reminded this morning that it might just be your darkness God uses to minister to and encourage someone else. It’s very possible, even probable, that what you’re going through or what you’ve been through might be what God uses to touch someone else’s life. I’ve heard countless stories of people who have gone through abuse and seen how God, then, used them to help bring healing to someone else in a similar situation. Or someone who went through a divorce, or someone who was fired, or someone who finds themselves in a job they dislike—I could on and on, but the point is this: God never wastes anything. Your disappointment, your struggle is an avenue for touching the lives of others who need the hope only someone who has been there can offer. How can you help someone have a dream that seems inconceivable to everyone else? How can you help someone listen for God’s amazing movement in their lives, even when life is hard?

And, of course, even as we celebrate Christmas and the birth of Jesus, we remember that the ultimate example of God working in painful and difficult circumstances is what happens to this baby when he grows up. Jesus didn’t just come so we could exchange cards and gifts and eat a big meal to remember his birthday. Jesus came to show us that suffering can be redeemed. In some way we don’t always or often understand, suffering can bring healing. That’s part of what is going on when he gives his life on the cross. Christians believe Jesus suffers and dies and then is raised to life in order that salvation can come to you and me. When we share in the bread and in the cup of communion, when we do what we he told us to do, we are recognizing on some fundamental level that God was doing his most powerful work at just the point when it seemed as if the world had won, as if the world had killed the Savior. But we see it differently. On that cross, we see the hope of the world. Jesus died so we could live, and this bread and this cup reminds us of that truth. There is nothing you or I can go through that God can’t redeem, and he showed that most when Jesus was on the cross. So as we remember Joseph this day, we remember how God will often work in the midst of the darkest times. And in the midst of worst of those times, Jesus asks us to remember. It’s inconceivable to our minds, and yet it is in the darkest times when God shows up most powerfully. So let’s come to the table and remember, and celebrate, and give thanks that our God redeems absolutely everything.