Sheep, Abundant Life, and Jesus

We celebrated Youth Sunday this week. This means that our youth participated in and lead major portions of our worship service, including delivering the proclamation of the Gospel. Here is the script of their message. FYI: "Mobley" is a sheep who makes frequent appearances in our church.

John 10:1-10

Narrator: Today we celebrate one of my favorite Sundays of the year. It’s the Fourth Sunday of Easter and every year, we call this day Good Shepherd Sunday.

Angela – But, why?

Narrator: The scriptures we read reflect the theme of Jesus as Good Shepherd.

Daniel – Shepherds were very important people in Jesus’ day.

Jesus – Shepherds are important people in any age. Even today.

Angela – But, why?

Mobley ­– You cannot over-estimate the importance of sheep – or shepherds. But especially sheep.

Anna ­– Why would you even say that?

Mobley – What?

Anna – You know, sheep are so important! Shepherds are so important. It’s people who are important. They are more important than some dumb sheep.

Mobley – Dumb WHAT!?! Who is calling who DUMB!?!

Narrator: Whom

Mobley – What?

Narrator: Whom. It’s whom. You said, “Who is calling who dumb?” To be grammatically correct, you should have said, “Who is calling whom Dumb?”

Everyone groans

Narrator: Okay, I think we are losing focus here, people.

Mobley- Ahem!

Narrator: Sorry, Mobley. People, and sheep, listen up. As I was saying, the scriptures on Good Shepherd Sunday describe the way that Jesus is our shepherd. Using that metaphor, Jesus as shepherd and those he loves and cares for as sheep, was an easy way for Jesus to get across an important lesson to the people of his time. Because they, the people of his time, were familiar with shepherds and the role of shepherds with sheep.

Anna – Well, I never saw a shepherd.

Angela ­– That’s because you are living in, like, 2017. Jesus lived in like, uh, um. What year did Jesus live?

Daniel – Jesus lived in the first century.

Angela – So what YEAR was that!

Daniel – Let’s just say it was a long, long time ago. About 2000 years ago, in fact.

Narrator: Well, in Jesus’ time, there was no doubt about it. Everyone knew that at least to sheep, shepherds were important people.

Jesus – Throughout the Scriptures, the people of God were referred to as sheep, and those who cared for them – whether kings or prophets, were often referred to as shepherds. And I was sent to be a shepherd to the flock of people - God’s people.

Anna - So, not sheep?

Jesus -  Not exactly.

Narrator: In today’s text, Jesus uses an image familiar to the people of his day, to make a point about spiritual leadership. Good shepherds bring people to life through Jesus, but those who avoid Jesus are dangerous to the flock.

Angela - In what way are they dangerous?

Narrator: They distract people from believing in, and trusting in God. In some cases, they even destroy people’s belief and trust, because they pretend that what they do and say is from God, but then they act in ways that are opposite what God desires.

Jesus: So instead of loving people, being forgiving, and merciful, and helpful to people, they get in the way of people’s faith, say and do hurtful things, are unloving, unkind and dishonest – in other words, they are everything that is the opposite of what I taught is the way that God operates, and what God wants people to do.

Narrator: Jesus came to save people from sin, and to give them eternal life. Believing in Jesus is essential. But there are some people who misrepresent what God wants, and misrepresent how God says we should treat one another.

Jesus: So, what I said is, “Very truly I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit.”

Daniel: Where is the gate?

Narrator: Not where, who.

Anna: Who what?

Narrator: Not what, who. “Who” is the gate?

Mobley: What is this, an Abbott and Costello routine?

Angela: Let me get this straight. The gate is not a thing, but a person?

Narrator: The gate is Jesus.

Daniel: But I thought Jesus is the shepherd.

Narrator: He is. Jesus is both gate and shepherd.

Mobley: I’m confused. Who are the sheep, then?

Daniel: You are, Silly.

Narrator: Yes, Mobley, you are a sheep. And when Jesus told this story, he was being metaphorical. That means he was comparing people to sheep, or saying that the relationship of Jesus to his people, is like the relationship of a shepherd to his sheep.

Anna: Now I’m confused.

Jesus: Don’t feel badly, little sheep. My disciples were confused as well. 

So, I gave them this explanation: “Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not to listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture.” Now this is the part I really want you to remember: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”

So, believe in me. Follow me. It is through this gate of belief and trust and knowing me, that you will be given full, abundant, true and eternal life.

Jesus exits.

Narrator: You see, Jesus wants abundant life for all people. That is why he came. That is why he continues to shepherd his people. The life he offers is only available through him. But the reality is that there will be people who will try to distract you with fancy words or concepts or other means like denying the very existence of God, or saying that there is another way to the life that Jesus offers besides just following Jesus, listening to his Word, and obeying him.

Mobley – You got all that from this gospel?

Anna: Why did Jesus talk about gates and shepherds?

Narrator: Well, just before this reading, there is the story of the man who had been blind from birth. Jesus healed him, and for the first time in his life, he could see.  

Angela: Jesus healed a blind man, and that made him think of gates and shepherds?

Narrator: Well, what happened after Jesus gave sight to the blind man made Jesus want to warn people about those who were like thieves and bandits, who don’t enter the sheepfold by the gate.

You see, when the blind man could see again, everyone was shocked.

Daniel: Who wouldn’t be?

Narrator: Right. Well, the Pharisees were supposed to be the shepherds of the people of Israel. They were supposed to care for them, and teach them, protect them from spiritual harm, and nourish them. But when the formerly blind man came in to the synagogue, the Pharisees interrogated first his parents, and then him. He told them it was Jesus who had healed him. They wouldn’t believe it. Finally, when the man insisted that it was through Jesus that he was healed, they threw him out. They expelled him from their community. Any good Jew was to have nothing to do with him. They refused to believe that Jesus’ healing work came from God.

Mobley: So, bad shepherds, right?

Narrator: Really bad shepherds.

Daniel: So, what is the point today? We aren’t exactly sheep, you know.

Mobley: Hey!

Daniel: Certain company excluded – meaning, included in our flock.

Mobley: Gee, thanks!

Narrator: Well, what do you think? Are there those today who might be like the bandits and thieves that Jesus spoke about?

Anna: How about people who say other people aren’t good enough to be in their church?

Angela: Or people who say that God doesn’t love everybody or that some people aren’t acceptable to God?

Daniel: Hey! Who says that? I’ll give ‘em what-for!

Narrator: Remember what Jesus said about abundant life? He said that he came to save all people. He came to forgive sins and make all people acceptable in the eyes of God. He came to make sure that everyone could have abundant life. He came to be the gate, to be the one who shepherds all people into that kind of life. And anyone who says that he or she believes in Jesus will do the same by sharing Jesus’ way of love and mercy, kindness and forgiveness.

Daniel: What does a-BUN-dant life mean? I have a hard time even saying that word. A-BUN-dant. A-bun-DANT.

Anna: Doesn’t it mean having a lot of life? I heard it means having a rich life. I want to be rich! Does it mean that if we say we believe in Jesus, that God will make us rich?

Narrator: Not exactly. Abundant life means a full life – a life full of good things. But they are not the kind of things that you put in your piggy bank, or other riches that we pile up, although there are some people who do say that those kinds of riches are signs of God’s blessing.

But Jesus came to give us life that is full to overflowing with God’s love – so full, that we can’t help sharing it with other people, and telling them where it comes from. When the bible, or our pastor talk about eternal life, they aren’t just talking about life after death. They are talking about life that begins here and now, and is made full by knowing the one true God and Jesus Christ, whom God sent into the world.

Abundant life is knowing the voice of the good shepherd who truly cares for us. Abundant life includes life in community, and finding security and nourishment not from material riches, but from being part of the flock of Jesus Christ. It is life that is full of meaning and value which lasts in some way even after we die.

Mobley: You know, it’s really true what Jesus said about sheep.

Narrator: What’s that, Mobley?

Mobley: That sheep know the voice of their shepherd. That they follow the voice of their shepherd. Without a shepherd we struggle to find good food and we sometimes get lost, and then we can’t find our way home. Sheep won’t follow a stranger’s voice, but if our shepherd speaks, we know his voice and we follow him, because we will find our true home in him.

Narrator: Well said, Mobley. There are many voices speaking to us in our world today. But God sent just one voice, the voice of our shepherd Jesus Christ. It is the voice of our one true shepherd, Jesus, that will bring us home, give us abundant life, love us, care for us, protect and nourish us, all for the sake of love.

Narrator: So, people, let’s give God thanks for sending Jesus, who is for us both gate and shepherd, who knows us and whose voice of love and care we recognize.

All Together: AMEN!!!!!!

The Original, Honest-to-Goodness, No Strings Attached Gift

Christmas Day Sermon 2016

Merry Christmas! May the grace, peace and love of God be with you on this holy day, and may it grow in you, throughout the coming year. Amen.

          I am so excited to be with you this morning, on Christmas morning, no less. Christmas Day services are a bit unusual here at Grace, but today being a Sunday, it seemed only right. So I am especially happy to see all of you here today as we get to celebrate “the reason for the season” on the holiday itself, right?   

          Truthfully, most years, about this time on Christmas morning like many people, we are embarking on our family celebration. Here is what that would look like in my family, back from the time I was just a pup; the turkey would be entering the oven about now; gifts are being distributed; the coffee and hot chocolate are being poured; and we would be settling down for an epic Christmas gift opening session with the entire family.

          Growing up, these sessions took hours. With 3 kids, plus my parents and grandparents all together, we carefully took turns, each person opening one gift at a time with the appropriate amount of time oo-ing and ah-ing and picture-taking over each gift. Hence, the epic amount of time our gift-opening took.

          And as my husband and I were raising our kids, we tended to carry on that same tradition. Oh, and not to forget, in addition to all the people receiving gifts, we could never neglect the animals in our lives. The cats and dogs got to open their gifts first. Predictably, the dogs were always more cooperative, sniffing out their gifts and gleefully tearing them open, with cameras flashing and lots of encouragement.

          Giving and receiving gifts is fun, and on Christmas Day, part of the fun of the season, is the gift exchange.

          But sometimes, totally unexpected and surprising gifts come our way.

          So just imagine my surprise when, the other day, I received a message that I had won a $100 gift card to a store of my choosing. And just last week, I won a cruise to the Caribbean for seven days and six nights aboard a luxury cruise liner. And a couple of weeks before that, I was awarded a brand-new iPad. Not just any iPad, either. This was the iPad Pro – the new Super Computer.

          The thing is, each of these gifts and prizes came with some strings attached. There was something I had to buy, or ‘do’ to obtain this “gift” or “prize.” Something like taking a survey, or giving up my left kidney or selling my firstborn child, I’m sure. Nothing is ever truly “free,” is it?

Needless to say, I won’t be receiving any of those gifts any time soon. They were all too good to be true.

          But today we celebrate the best gift possible. One that is truly free, unmerited, and with no strings attached. A gift for the ages. A gift beyond our wildest dreams. Today we celebrate the day ‘when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared.”

          What a gift we have in Jesus! This is a gift that won’t wear out, come in the wrong size, or come with strings attached. It is revealed to us in the words of the gospel from Luke. And this gift changes our lives, it changes everything.

          Today we hear those words we have heard so many times, as the nativity story has been repeated every Christmas Eve, in  many a Christmas pageant, and with every showing of A Charlie Brown Christmas: “To you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.”

          In the gospel we encounter the fear-turned-wonder of the shepherds, and the angel song, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!”

          Our gifts to each other pale in comparison to the wonder of the divine gift of God, the gift the Lord made known to those, unlikely-to-be recipients of free offers and brightly wrapped packages – shepherds, living out in the fields.

          The lowly shepherds could never have expected such a gift. They hurry as quickly as they can to the stable in Bethlehem, where they find the gift that the angels had unwrapped for them – the child, lying in a manger. They heard the words of the God’s promise, delivered by the angels, to you is born; for you is given. For lowly, outsider shepherds, for Mary and Joseph, for us today, this is good news indeed.

          The words from the letter to Titus today reveal the extraordinary value of this gift, for all people–this child is true gift , given out of God’s goodness and lovingkindness. For the people of old these words – “goodness and lovingkindness” signify the manifest favor and generosity of God.

          “Goodness” and “lovingkindness” of the Lord in the Old Testament was code for the unmerited, gracious mercy and love of God, which is now embodied in Jesus.

          The text from this letter unpacks for us the meaning of this gift : that God, out of God’s great store of love for humankind has given us this gift of God’s own Son, not because of anything that we have done or will do, but according to God’s mercy.

          Jesus is God’s response to the sin and death in the world; Jesus is God’s solution to the chaos and hurt of humanity. Jesus is the saving Lord, the one who brings us eternal joy and salvation. Jesus is God’s assurance of constant presence, secured for us through the Holy Spirit.

          The constant movement of the Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit is revealed as we are reminded of our baptism, when God washed us clean and created new lives in us, forever.

Once again today, we are reminded that God gives this gift not because of who we are or what we’ve done, but because of who God is and what God has done through Jesus, beginning on a Bethlehem night and continuing through the life, death, resurrection and ascension of the child born there. In Christ, the Messiah, God promises and delivers a unique peace to the entire world.

          This is the real gift of Christmas, freely given to us all today: That despite the chaos and hurt of this world, despite poverty or oppression, despite our griefs and our failures, our sin and our brokenness in all its forms, God has come into the world, in the incarnation of this child born to us this day, and has delivered the perfect gift of love. This is the great surprise of Christmas Day, given in and through Jesus Christ, our newborn king. Let us all rejoice and be glad in this most perfect, amazing, glorious gift of all!

Alleluia! Amen.

         

Good News of Great Joy: The Expected yet Unexpected Gift

Christmas Eve Sermon 2016        

            Merry Christmas on this most beautiful, holy night.

            For some of us, this night brings excitement, anticipation and joy. I’ll bet for some among us it is even your very favorite night of the year, this night on which we hear the good news of great joy for all people – Christ, our Lord, is born!

            Some of us may be feeling content tonight, reflecting on sweet, sentimental memories and anticipating the new memories you will make this year. The sights and sounds of the evening may bring a bit of sweet nostalgia.

            But this is probably not true for everyone. Perhaps it is not true for you. Maybe you are among those whose memories are tinged with a bit of sadness for changes or challenges in your life.

For others, this season brings memories which include unhappy times that no amount of nostalgic gloss can repair. If so, you may be searching for healing peace, and I pray it will be yours this Christmas.

Still others of us are all too aware of the magnitude of grief and terror in our world tonight. For all our holiday joy, we cannot ignore the pain that surrounds us because, as our Bishop, Bill Gohl reflected recently on an icon rewritten to include the image of the wounded child of Aleppo, "Christmas is for the child in all of us - we just can't forget that every child is our child - not just the one in the manger."

The truth is that as we gather this holy night, we come from vastly different experiences of life and of Christmas. But from wherever we come, we gather in homage to our newborn king. Because, we share the good news of great joy for all people—Christ, our savior is born!

            I wonder, how many of us have arrived at Christmas Eve utterly exhausted? Exhilarated perhaps, hopeful perhaps, observant and even expectant, perhaps. But still, well and truly exhausted from all the preparations: the shopping, the decorating, the cooking, the baking, the gift-wrapping, the Christmas card writing, the music preparation and so many other things you have been doing while still living your everyday lives in the days and weeks leading up to this Christmas Eve.

            For some of you there has also been travel that brought you across hundreds of miles, to be reunited with loved ones this holiday.

            The exhaustion of which I speak may come from our busyness, or from a deep well of grief and sadness that is only accentuated by the frivolity of the celebrations surrounding you.

            Indeed, this joyful season can take its toll.

            Yet, here we are tonight, surrounded by the glow of thousands of lights and regardless of what other feelings you may have brought with you, it is my prayer that you will be blessed by a profound sense of godly peace.

            Take a deep breath. Breathe in the tranquility of this moment.  And as you do, breathe in the good news of great joy for us all: the Messiah, the Lord, has come among us. <p>

            As we gather together tonight, let us remember that the blessing of peace for which we hope and yearn is brought to us not by the beautiful candlelight in which we delight, nor by the wonderful Christmas hymns we love to sing, nor even by the prayers we pray this night.

Rather, it is God who brings us peace, of God’s own will and through God’s love, not because our preparations and celebration bring God to us on this night, but because God chose long ago to be with us, to abide with us, to be present among us always, to save us from sin, and evil, and death for eternity; and God blesses us as God’s love incarnate, Jesus Christ, comes to us in this blessed birth to bring about the fulfillment of God’s promise.

            Therefore, even and especially if you come from a place of sorrow and sadness, the Christmas message is for you. You have a place in this Christmas gathering. God’s word of grace and hope for all who long for peace and joy.

            In the birth of Jesus, God comes among us to fulfull God’s commitment to peace and justice with God’s own righteousness. And so we sing out this good news of great joy for all people, Christ the Lord, is born!

            Through this human birth – God takes on human flesh and form. It is an unexpected, awesome, miraculous, magnificent gift of pure love and grace for all people. 

            The birth itself is humble, and scary. The child’s mother is young and inexperienced. She is not surrounded by the knowledgeable and loving ministrations of her kinswomen as she gives birth to the Messiah, but is likely attended only by strangers, and perhaps her betrothed, Joseph, while laboring on her birth mat. What an unprecedented – and perhaps uninspiring? - nativity.  

            The Messiah, God’s anointed one comes to us not with a mighty army or with superhuman powers, or with well-honed weapons and zealous warfare as we might expect, and even desire.

            Instead, God comes to us in a messy, noisy, complicated human birth. God comes to us as a helpless infant, born to an unwed couple - homeless travelers, strangers without a place to stay in the city, surrounded by the sights, sounds, and smells of a stable, born into a time and place in human history marked by instability and oppression. What an odd setting in which to deliver God with Us, Emmanuel, Our Lord and Savior.

            Our text tells us that when Jesus was born, the first to hear the “good news of great joy for all the people” were lowly shepherds, living in the fields. They were the first to hear the glad tidings, from an angelic visitation, that the fulfillment of prophecy had come to pass; “born to you this day in the city of David, a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.”

            The shepherds are sent to find this child, to pay him homage, and to witness this wondrous event.

            The angels tell them: the baby will be wrapped in bands of cloth; he will be lying in a manger – the feeding trough for animals--homeless as he is. And yet, the angels confirm, he is truly the Messiah, the Lord.

            All these details are so familiar to us – we’ve heard this story time and time again, and yet it still seems so unlikely. It must have seemed impossible to these simple shepherds.

            Yet God being God, the story of Jesus’ birth is all about the unlikely, seemingly impossible and even scandalous ways in which God operates, which is truly good news of great joy for all people – for God defeats the powers of earth—coming to us as a little baby to dwell with us, to teach us and lead us, and ultimately to die for us. Then he will once again be wrapped in bands of cloth and laid in a borrowed vessel –just like at his birth.

            But Jesus the Messiah will rise again, leaving behind those pieces of cloth that bound him in death – for nothing could keep him from his mission to ensure salvation and eternity for us.  

            My friends, this is indeed good news of great joy for all people, because – the Savior, Jesus Christ has come – and it changes everything.

He comes to bring healing, and peace, joy and mercy, forgiveness and grace, and everlasting love and life.

            The thing is that God redeeming the whole world through this birth, making not only the unlikely, but the impossible happen, may seem strange to us, but it is so in character for God. 

            The same God who created the universe out of a shapeless void, who freed the Israelites from hard-hearted Pharaoh, who parted the Red Sea, brought forth food from the sky and water from a rock, who made barren women like Sarah and Hannah and Elizabeth bear of their own, is certainly capable of bringing about the birth of the savior of the world in just this way: as good news of great joy for all people.

            Whoever you are and from wherever you come this Christmas night, may the insurmountable peace of Christ be with you. Know that Jesus is truly God’s love made manifest, for you; Jesus is savior of the world, for you; Jesus defeats sin and death, for you. And his coming changes everything, for you.

            God speaks to us through the great good news of this gospel – you who are weary, I will give you rest; you who are struggling, I will bring you strength; you who sorrow, I will increase your joy; you who feel excluded and isolated, I am with you; you who walk in darkness – the light of Christ shines for you and on you; you who mourn – you will rejoice as with joy at the harvest; you who are burdened, put your yoke upon the Lord, and he will give you rest. And for you who are jubilant, excited, expectant and hopeful, God bless you as you share your joy and this good news.

            For this child, of humble birth, will establish God’s kingdom with justice, peace, and mercy.

Now let us continue our celebration as we praise and glorify him with song and prayer. And may the blessings of peace and joy of this Christmas-good-news unfold in your lives day by day. Amen.

             

           

           

           

The Other Side of the Story

          Like the carols we know so well, our gospel reading of the nativity of Jesus describes the story we just love to be reminded of; the sweet baby Jesus, born in a stable, swaddled and laid in a manger, where the animals warm his little body and perhaps a drummer boy even shows up, to sing him a song. It is a story repeated in countless Christmas carols and songs. Books and cards and other beautiful artwork throughout the centuries have portrayed the nativity scene in gorgeous colors and tender depictions which have helped us visualize the scene of this holy family on this holy night. Sweet. Comforting. Reassuring.

          And so, we often gloss over the shocking, frightening, startling and improbable aspects of this story. We rarely contemplate the surprise, the terror, and the radical reality of the event. It becomes for us more like a fairy tale, and less like the history of Christ’s advent that it really is. And so I invite you to spend a little time with me tonight taking a second look at the gospel, rubbing off the familiarity so that the unexpected and mysterious good news at its heart shines out.

          You know the story that begins: “In those days a decree went out from Emperor Quirinius that all the world should be registered…Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea to the city of David called Bethlehem….he went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child.  While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child.  And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them at the inn.

          Jesus was born into the humblest of circumstances: unwed, teenage mother, a carpenter father who commits his life to raising this child not his own, poor animals yielding space in their shelter to this child being birthed among the sights and sounds and smells of a barn.     

          Then come the shepherds, “keeping watch over their flocks by night.” Sometimes we think of shepherds as a lot like their charges—peaceable, non-threatening, maybe a little bit woolly.  But in reality, they were tough—tough enough to drive away or kill the beasts that preyed on their flocks.  They were probably cold and dirty and smelly.  They lived in the fields with their sheep, after all, and they were despised by a large segment of the society, who saw shepherding simply as a necessary evil, who thought that while someone had to do the job, the less visible shepherds were, the better. 

          And yet, amazingly, these dirty, despised shepherds lurking in the night are the people God shared the good news with first. Incredibly it is the lowliest of characters who are the first to know the miraculous news of the Christ child’s birth. The shepherds had no right, no expectation, and no hope of being singled out for such great news. And yet, God chose them and lifted them out of the mundane setting of a hillside night to witness to the dawn of God’s coming to dwell with humankind.

          And how did God share the news? Through “an angel of the Lord,” and “a multitude of the heavenly host.”  Our songs and carols often describe the angel host as a heavenly choir, which can make us forget what the word “host” actually means in the Bible— where a “host” is an army.  So if you’re going to imagine what the angels looked like as they sang out the good news, forget the choir robes and harps.  Instead, picture battle gear and war drums.

          We might imagine how the words of the angel must have sounded to the awestruck shepherds. 

“Do not be afraid—”  (Yeah, right! they think). 

“for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all people.”  (Sounding good so far…) 

“To you”

“Is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.”  (For us? All right!  Yes!  The news we’ve been waiting for!  News fit for an angel to deliver!)

“This will be a sign for you—” (Oh good, signs!  Bring on the tongues of flame, the shining stars, the rushing winds, the invisible hand writing on walls!)

“You will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.”  (Wait—what? Me?)

          I doubt that many of us here tonight would hold out hope for angelic visitations and divine messages to be delivered to us, personally. I for one know that if I were visited in the middle of the night by a heavenly army, lit with the light of a thousand candles and announcing this unexpected, unprecedented, incredible proclamation, I would indeed be terrified. We, too might feel that we have no right, no expectation, and no hope of being singled out to share the good news of Christ’s coming among us, and yet, it is for us that God took on flesh and blood, becoming one of us, one with us, in order that God might truly dwell with all of humankind. And like the shepherds, unlikely though we may be, God has chosen us to help tell the story of a love so strong that it has broken the bonds of evil, sin and death. God has blessed us with grace upon grace, and made us worthy to tell this story.

          The improbable, unexpected and amazing fact of the birth narrative is that it tells us that this good news is for everyone. The promise and the good news of this Christmas story is in the details. When God came, it was not to the high and mighty, the powerful, the flashy, the rich, or even the priestly. Rather, when God came to dwell it was with the meek, the mild, the lowly, unexpected, vulnerable, and weak, and those of no account, except to God. 

          You and I have much in common with these characters. We may or may not consider ourselves weak, vulnerable, or lowly. But we know ourselves to be imperfect, broken, sinful beings. We live in a world fraught with danger. The news coming from our towns and cities, from countries near and far, from the government and our schools is troubling. We ourselves know deep doubt and fear. We know failure and we know the weight of disillusionment. We know the brokenness of addiction, divorce, depression, loneliness that may surround us. We know loss, grief and the inevitability of death.

          And so, while it is true that we might feel undeserving of being singled out to share the good news of Christ’s coming among us, the truth is that if God can work in such an extraordinary way through ordinary characters like shepherds and a teenage girl and her carpenter husband from a town of no special significance, God can work in and through each and every one of us, in and through each and every one of our stories as well. 

          Like the shepherds, unlikely though we may be, God has chosen us to tell the story of the radical love that turns the tables on worldly power. Through God’s astounding, radical incarnation in a stable in Bethlehem, we are assured t

hat the blessed and esteemed of God are found not in earthly mansions and boardrooms, but in the ghetto. God has come among us not to lift up the successful but to raise the struggling, dying, thirsting ones. God is revealed in the mundane everyday places of our lives and in our world – and this truth is terrifying – for the powers that be. And it is wonderful – for us.

          In the birth of Jesus Christ God makes God’s intentions known. In taking on human form, God’s love is made manifest in an infant. God’s incarnate love, Jesus becomes the embodiment of God’s grace, and the world, and our lives, will never be the same. We are freed from all that troubles us, all that binds us. We are lifted up and blessed by God’s amazing grace, to be a blessing for the world. Through this love, we are freed to become the messengers of God that the world needs to hear. Amen.