Luke 2:22-40
Questions …
Children ask a lot of questions …
“Are we there yet?”
“Why are there stars at night?”
“Why do we have to go to church?”
Little Susy asked her mother, “Where did I come from?”
Mother, a bit stressed about this, tried with all of her might to answer the question without getting into too much detail.
After a labored effort, Susy looked at her Mom a little perplexed, “Well, I was just wondering. Today in school, Heather said she came from Phoenix and Brad came from Houston, so I was wondering where I came from.”
Questions …
Good questions … good faith …
Faith is less about answers, and more about good questions …
We’ve been asking a lot of good questions during Advent …
With Mary, How can this be?”
With Joseph: What now?”
With the Innkeeper: Can I make room?
And, the shepherds: Are we included?
Good questions …
Over the years of ministry, I’ve always made one promise – there’s a good answer to every question … but rarely a simple “yes” or “no” – faith-questions are challenging, and so are faith-answers … but there are answers …
Yet every answer seems to have more questions …
I think God designed the world that way, faith that way, so that we never quite get there … we’re always on the road … always questioning, always pondering, always probing and testing …
To keep faith alive …
To keep the doors wide open …
To keep on growing and thinking …
To keep love expanding …
But for every good question, there is a good answer … and today we settle back and enjoy what we know.
For a few moments, we put our questions to bed …
And just celebrate:
Hark the Herald Angels Sing …
Joy to the World …
It Came Upon a Midnight Clear …
O Come, All Ye Faithful …
The ineffable glory … the blinding light … the mystery and the majesty of God’s mighty love.
There’s a time to settle back and sit on down – enjoy what we know about this thing called faith, and our Savior, Jesus!
To Mary’s question, How can this be? – the answer: by the Holy Spirit, the power of God … Okay, said Mary …
To Joseph’s question, What now? - the answer: it’s gonna be okay, Joseph; God’s involved in this one … and Joseph said, Okay!
To the Innkeeper’s question, Can I make room? – the answer: of course you can – there’s always room somewhere for Jesus.
To the shepherds in the hills, Are we included? – the answer: Of course you are; everyone is … welcome to the kingdom of God!
Answers … of course … but I suspect even as I review our journey through Advent, you’re thinking to yourself … those answers are only begging for more questions …
And that’s right …
But there comes a time to sit down and relax … to enjoy what we know … about our Savior.
That’s what we’re doing today …
With Simeon …
A good and decent man devoted to the things of God.
God promised him, You’ll see the LORD's messiah before you die.
That day, the Holy Spirit guided Simeon into the temple, and there he sees Mary and Joseph, with baby Jesus …
Simeon takes the child into his arms … and praises God …
Such a sweet image of faith …
Taking Jesus into our arms …
And praising God …
Today, we do that …
For a few moments, no more questions …
Just sweetness and love …
We take Jesus into our arms …
Simeon says, Now I can go … my eyes have seen the promise of God … a Savior … salvation for all peoples … for the Gentiles and for Israel; for all the world … everyone … because no one is ever left behind.
Those special moments in life when everything seems just right – a fine evening out … a good meal … those lovely days we all have from time-to-time, and we go to bed at night rejoicing in God’s goodness and favor.
On Friday, Eva and I drove down the 405 to the 105, and on the interchange to the 105, as the highway arches high over the 405, you can see forever … and it was a clear day … we could see downtown … snow capped mountains to the east, and then Eva said, Palm trees … alright, I’m done!
There’s nothing more to see … this is amazing!
Those special moments in life when the puzzle is all pieced together … when things make sense … and we know who we are and where it’s all going.
Today, we enjoy what we know!
A Savior, and Jesus is his name.
There will be plenty of time for more questions …
Simeon hints as things to come …
This child will cause the rise and fall of many … and many will stand against him … because he will reveal their inner thoughts, and it won’t be a pretty picture …
And to Mary, Simeon says, Momma, your heart will be pieced with a sword … you will hurt for every hurt he suffers … you will know every pain he endures … you will feel the lash of the whip, the bone-crushing nails driven into the cross … you will see your son die.
Yes, there will be time for more questions …
But I love how the text works here …
Just as Simeon begins to grow dark …
Anna the prophet comes over to Simeon and begins to praise God … this child is the one, the redemption of Jerusalem.
Anna was 84 … a widow most of her life … not an easy time of it, but a life devoted to the things of God … a woman of prayer and spiritual discipline … giving thanks to God for the child …
Today, we enjoy what we know …
No questions today … there will be time for questions later on, but today, we celebrate our Savior.
For God has done a mighty work …
And the mighty continues …
In every heart and across the world …
In every faith and in every prayer …
In every church and in every temple …
In every mosque and in every synagogue …
Wherever women and men of faith gather to pray … to worship … to read their holy texts … to practice justice and love … forgiveness and mercy …
The mighty work of God continues …
Today we celebrate what we know …
Today, like Simeon, we take Jesus into our arms … he’s small enough for that …
We praise him because he’s the light of the world and the hope of humankind …
We give thanks for a salvation that includes everyone …
We give thanks for a great love that holds us every day of our life … a great love that embraces us when we die … a great love that provides for our wellbeing, in this life, and in the life to come.
We give thanks for love …
Because all love comes from God …
God is love … and where’re we see love, we see God!
We give thanks for grace …
The power to start all over again …
The power of hope … no matter what …
We give thanks for faith …
For the light that shines in the darkness …
For the bread of heaven and the cup of blessing …
For the water of baptism and the promise of the gospel …
For goodness all around us …
For mercy and merriment …
For children who ask lots of questions …
And for all the good answers that come, sooner or later …
And for more questions …
And today, for a few moments - pure joy …
Simeon said, I’m done!
Anna said, Me, too!
What we’ve waited for is here …
A book has been finished … a new book has been opened …
Dear Christian friends, I rejoice with you today in what we know …
As we end one year and begin another …
We take up where Simeon and Anna left off …
We sing for the world around us …
We hold Jesus in our arms … and show him to the world …
Merry Christmas dear friends …
Unto us a Savior has been born …
For all the world …
For you and me …
And for all those we love …
No one is left behind!
And Jesus is his name!
Amen and Amen!
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Monday, December 22, 2008
Shepherds: Are We Included? - December 21, 2008 - Advent 4
Luke 2:8-20
Ever feel on the outside of things?
One of the strangest moments in my life – years ago – a conference in Madison, Wisconsin … weather delayed my flight … so I arrived a day late.
In the day I missed, several hundred folks had already made connections, decided where to sit, and pretty well worked things out …
I was the odd-guy out …
I remember the feeling … made a deep impression on me …
But the conference leader made an effort to welcome me … and it worked … it wasn’t long before I melded into the event …
I’ve not forgotten the feeling … of being the odd-guy out … nor have I forgotten the effort by the conference leader to welcome me.
Ever feel on the outside of things?
Years ago in West Virginia, the early 70s – Donna and I had our first church … actually two of them – Camp Creek and Ridgeview – one built beside the road, with the rear half on stilts hanging over the creek, and the other, nestled up a holler against the mountain.
Boone County, he poorest county in the poorest state in the nation … coal miners out of work … a lot of men with busted backs and bad lungs … a lot of poverty … and all the sadness that goes with it …
Donna and I lived in a new manse, with new furniture – when we moved to West Virginia right out of seminary, we used some inheritance money from my grandfather to purchase new furniture … so we lived well - up the holler – at the foot of the mountain, next door to the church.
One day, a little old lady came to visit – cookies and coffee … she belonged to the church and did the best she could … she was a widow living on a meager pension and some Social Security … she lived in a very tiny house that had seen better days a long time ago … the only way to her home was a pathway over a rickety few planks for a bridge and up a little hill – next to a slag dump from an abandoned coal mine …
Donna heard her say quietly as she looked around our home, “This would be so easy to keep clean.”
Ever feel on the outside of things?
Remember Ted Haggard … former pastor of the Colorado Springs New Life Church … head of the National Association of Evangelicals …
It’s been a rough road for him …
In a documentary set to air on HBO January 29, Haggard says:
The reason I kept my personal struggle a secret is because I feared that my friends would reject me, abandon me and kick me out, and the church would exile and excommunicate me. And that happened and more, he says.
(http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,470038,00.html)
He struggles with his sexuality … his wife stands by him … he’s selling insurance in a small town in Illinois … of his life right now he says, I am a loser.
Ever feel on the outside of things?
For me, one of the most horrible moments in grade school was gym – softball … the teacher would choose two goons who could hit the ball across Lake Michigan to be captains, to choose the rest of us for their teams …
I couldn’t hit the ball with a tennis racket …
So, there I am, standing like a sheep about to be slaughtered … as the goons handpick their team … Jimmy, Johnny, Chuck … even Susie and Carol, for crying out loud … but not me … no, I’m the last victim standing, and then the teacher would point and say, Tommy, you’re on their team … they’d groan, and I’d slouch on over like Quasimodo.
Ever feel on the outside of things?
Clint Eastwood’s latest, “Gran Torino” – set in Detroit – he’s a retired autoworker living in the same house he’s lived in for 40 years … he’s a widower, and the neighborhood has changed – Hmongs live next door, and he’s a stranger in his own land …
Several years ago in Northern Michigan, had some car work done, so after I dropped my car off, a courtesy ride home – the driver was a retired autoworker now living up north for ten years – he was telling me how he loved it up north, and that he rarely gets back to Detroit – then he said, When I get back there, I feel like a stranger – so many foreigners have moved in …
Mickey Rourke’s latest, “The Wrestler” – at the end of the road … poor health, a failed relationship with his adult daughter – living on the margins – living off the past … taking a job at the local grocery story deli counter; humiliated by the manager … in a painful conversation with his daughter, he says, I’m just a beat up piece of meat.
I suspect we’ve all had moments when we were on the outside looking in … feeling like strangers in our own world … no one picks us for the ball team; we sit home on prom night … left out, left behind, ignored, discriminated against … humiliated and embarrassed by circumstances …
Remember Rodney Dangerfield, his finger in a tight collar, pulling on his tie, I get no respect …
What a childhood I had, why, when I took my first step, my old man tripped me!
My psychiatrist told me I’m going crazy. I told him, “If you don’t mind, I’d like a second opinion.” He said, “All right. You’re ugly too!”
I was so ugly, my mother used to feed me with a slingshot!
I tell ya when I was a kid, all I knew was rejection. My yo-yo, it never came back!
When I was a kid I got no respect. The time I was kidnapped, and the kidnappers sent my parents a note they said, “We want five thousand dollars or you’ll see your kid again.”
We all laughed at Rodney Dangerfield … he touched a part of life – when we don’t belong, when we don’t fit in … that others think less of us … and we think less of ourselves …
I’m a loser,
I’m a flub,
I’m a failure …
On the outside looking in …
What’s the point?
God takes a special interest in “losers” …
Abraham and Sarah were too old for children, but God said, I’m going to give you a family.
Jacob was a cheat and a liar, but God made him the father of the 12 tribes of Israel …
Ruth was an outsider, a foreigner, but she became the great grandmother of King David …
God chooses the unlikely for the softball team … no one is used up as far as God is concerned … no one is unacceptable!
No one is ever left behind!
God never shuts the door on anyone!
The welcome mat is always out …
The light is always on …
In the middle of the night, heaven’s choir paid a late-night visit to shepherds in the hills …
Now that sounds sweet and lovely to us … and it is.
We sing songs about it … and we should.
Angeles singing to shepherds …
The stuff of Christmas cards and pageants …
It is sweet and lovely …
But there’s a message here …
A golden thread woven into the story …
God pays special attention to the down and out …
Shepherds, the lowest of the lowly …
They were tagged as unclean …
In spite of the fact that Israel had “sentiment” about shepherds …
Psalm 23: the LORD is my shepherd …
Ezekiel uses the image of the good shepherd to describe God’s love and care …
Israel’s greatest king, King David, was a shepherd boy …
Jesus himself uses shepherd imagery, I am the good shepherd, and I will find my lost sheep …
But sentiment and reality don’t always parallel …
When I was child, my Dad told how poor he was growing up … his mother used to mix pork fat and molasses together, and they’d spread it on bread … and he said, It was so good.
So Mom and Dad decided to make it … I remember it well – side pork was fried … the grease drained off, cooled … and then mixed with molasses … it looked pretty good – smooth and creamy … spread on bread …
And then the moment of tasting …
My Dad took one bite and grimaced – this is horrible … I never even tried it … the batch was thrown away, and that was the last we ever heard about pork fat and molasses.
Sentiment and reality don’t always parallel very well.
Though the shepherds raised the sheep for temple sacrifice, and the meat everyone ate, shepherds were on the bottom of the heap socially … considered scoundrels and petty thieves … and besides, they smelled!
Maybe we’re getting the picture now …
That night, God said to one of the Archangels … pay those shepherds a visit … and bring the choir …
What did you say?
Them?
Aren’t there a few other people we might better visit?
Palaces and princes?
The powerful and the beautiful?
Why shepherds?
What good are they?
God says, Trust me!
The Archangel says, Okay!
And off they go …
An angel of the LORD appeared … light and glory …
Don’t be afraid …
I bring you good news … today, a savior has been born … in David’s town … you’ll find a baby wrapped in simple blankets lying in a manger … in a simple place … a place that will welcome you … you’ll feel right at home in the Savior’s birth place …
And suddenly, a GREAT company of the heavenly host appeared …
Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace among those whom he favors!
God pulled out all the stops …
The best of the best … for the least of the least …
For shepherds in the hills …
No palaces …
No princes …
Not the beautiful and the powerful …
Because everyone counts …
Everyone’s important …
Everyone belongs …
So, what does this mean for us …?
The first is this: God pays special attention to us when WE’RE on the outside looking in …
We’re never alone in our sorrow …
We’re never alone when the road turns south …
And life turns mean …
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of the death, I will fear not evil, for thou art with me …
That night in the hills, the best and the brightest paid a visit to those on the far side of life …
As the rest of the story turns out … Jesus spends most of his time on the far side of life …
The woman caught in adultery …
Zacchaeus up a tree …
Blind Bartimaeus …
The woman at the well …
The leper …
The lonely …
The low-down and the lost …
And you and me …
Just to balance things out … the world’s favor goes to the rich and famous … God’s favor goes to the least …
To keep things steady …
To give special attention to the forgotten …
That’s how God does it …
The second piece of the story?
When we’re on top of the heap …
When things are good for us …
When our roof don’t leak and the car is clean …
Remember the shepherds in the hills …
Look at others with my eyes, says God …
The young waitress with an accent you don’t understand …
The man selling flowers and socks in the median …
The guy playing his guitar hoping a few coins might be tossed his way …
The tough looking gal on the street corner …
A thousand folks we see everyday …
REALLY see them, says God. Remember how much I love them … remember the night I paid a glorious, over-the-top, visit to the shepherds in the hills …
Share your best and brightest with the lowly and the least.
Jesus says it well:
For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me [Matthew 25:34-36].
To be the church of Jesus Christ …
To follow in his footsteps …
We have a commission:
To even things out …
Keep the world in balance …
Don’t let the lost go too far a-field …
Keep our eyes open …
Work together … work for a just and fair world …
Share our love …
Be generous and kind …
Build the kingdom of God …
Thy will be done ON EARTH as it is in heaven …
Amen and Amen!
Ever feel on the outside of things?
One of the strangest moments in my life – years ago – a conference in Madison, Wisconsin … weather delayed my flight … so I arrived a day late.
In the day I missed, several hundred folks had already made connections, decided where to sit, and pretty well worked things out …
I was the odd-guy out …
I remember the feeling … made a deep impression on me …
But the conference leader made an effort to welcome me … and it worked … it wasn’t long before I melded into the event …
I’ve not forgotten the feeling … of being the odd-guy out … nor have I forgotten the effort by the conference leader to welcome me.
Ever feel on the outside of things?
Years ago in West Virginia, the early 70s – Donna and I had our first church … actually two of them – Camp Creek and Ridgeview – one built beside the road, with the rear half on stilts hanging over the creek, and the other, nestled up a holler against the mountain.
Boone County, he poorest county in the poorest state in the nation … coal miners out of work … a lot of men with busted backs and bad lungs … a lot of poverty … and all the sadness that goes with it …
Donna and I lived in a new manse, with new furniture – when we moved to West Virginia right out of seminary, we used some inheritance money from my grandfather to purchase new furniture … so we lived well - up the holler – at the foot of the mountain, next door to the church.
One day, a little old lady came to visit – cookies and coffee … she belonged to the church and did the best she could … she was a widow living on a meager pension and some Social Security … she lived in a very tiny house that had seen better days a long time ago … the only way to her home was a pathway over a rickety few planks for a bridge and up a little hill – next to a slag dump from an abandoned coal mine …
Donna heard her say quietly as she looked around our home, “This would be so easy to keep clean.”
Ever feel on the outside of things?
Remember Ted Haggard … former pastor of the Colorado Springs New Life Church … head of the National Association of Evangelicals …
It’s been a rough road for him …
In a documentary set to air on HBO January 29, Haggard says:
The reason I kept my personal struggle a secret is because I feared that my friends would reject me, abandon me and kick me out, and the church would exile and excommunicate me. And that happened and more, he says.
(http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,470038,00.html)
He struggles with his sexuality … his wife stands by him … he’s selling insurance in a small town in Illinois … of his life right now he says, I am a loser.
Ever feel on the outside of things?
For me, one of the most horrible moments in grade school was gym – softball … the teacher would choose two goons who could hit the ball across Lake Michigan to be captains, to choose the rest of us for their teams …
I couldn’t hit the ball with a tennis racket …
So, there I am, standing like a sheep about to be slaughtered … as the goons handpick their team … Jimmy, Johnny, Chuck … even Susie and Carol, for crying out loud … but not me … no, I’m the last victim standing, and then the teacher would point and say, Tommy, you’re on their team … they’d groan, and I’d slouch on over like Quasimodo.
Ever feel on the outside of things?
Clint Eastwood’s latest, “Gran Torino” – set in Detroit – he’s a retired autoworker living in the same house he’s lived in for 40 years … he’s a widower, and the neighborhood has changed – Hmongs live next door, and he’s a stranger in his own land …
Several years ago in Northern Michigan, had some car work done, so after I dropped my car off, a courtesy ride home – the driver was a retired autoworker now living up north for ten years – he was telling me how he loved it up north, and that he rarely gets back to Detroit – then he said, When I get back there, I feel like a stranger – so many foreigners have moved in …
Mickey Rourke’s latest, “The Wrestler” – at the end of the road … poor health, a failed relationship with his adult daughter – living on the margins – living off the past … taking a job at the local grocery story deli counter; humiliated by the manager … in a painful conversation with his daughter, he says, I’m just a beat up piece of meat.
I suspect we’ve all had moments when we were on the outside looking in … feeling like strangers in our own world … no one picks us for the ball team; we sit home on prom night … left out, left behind, ignored, discriminated against … humiliated and embarrassed by circumstances …
Remember Rodney Dangerfield, his finger in a tight collar, pulling on his tie, I get no respect …
What a childhood I had, why, when I took my first step, my old man tripped me!
My psychiatrist told me I’m going crazy. I told him, “If you don’t mind, I’d like a second opinion.” He said, “All right. You’re ugly too!”
I was so ugly, my mother used to feed me with a slingshot!
I tell ya when I was a kid, all I knew was rejection. My yo-yo, it never came back!
When I was a kid I got no respect. The time I was kidnapped, and the kidnappers sent my parents a note they said, “We want five thousand dollars or you’ll see your kid again.”
We all laughed at Rodney Dangerfield … he touched a part of life – when we don’t belong, when we don’t fit in … that others think less of us … and we think less of ourselves …
I’m a loser,
I’m a flub,
I’m a failure …
On the outside looking in …
What’s the point?
God takes a special interest in “losers” …
Abraham and Sarah were too old for children, but God said, I’m going to give you a family.
Jacob was a cheat and a liar, but God made him the father of the 12 tribes of Israel …
Ruth was an outsider, a foreigner, but she became the great grandmother of King David …
God chooses the unlikely for the softball team … no one is used up as far as God is concerned … no one is unacceptable!
No one is ever left behind!
God never shuts the door on anyone!
The welcome mat is always out …
The light is always on …
In the middle of the night, heaven’s choir paid a late-night visit to shepherds in the hills …
Now that sounds sweet and lovely to us … and it is.
We sing songs about it … and we should.
Angeles singing to shepherds …
The stuff of Christmas cards and pageants …
It is sweet and lovely …
But there’s a message here …
A golden thread woven into the story …
God pays special attention to the down and out …
Shepherds, the lowest of the lowly …
They were tagged as unclean …
In spite of the fact that Israel had “sentiment” about shepherds …
Psalm 23: the LORD is my shepherd …
Ezekiel uses the image of the good shepherd to describe God’s love and care …
Israel’s greatest king, King David, was a shepherd boy …
Jesus himself uses shepherd imagery, I am the good shepherd, and I will find my lost sheep …
But sentiment and reality don’t always parallel …
When I was child, my Dad told how poor he was growing up … his mother used to mix pork fat and molasses together, and they’d spread it on bread … and he said, It was so good.
So Mom and Dad decided to make it … I remember it well – side pork was fried … the grease drained off, cooled … and then mixed with molasses … it looked pretty good – smooth and creamy … spread on bread …
And then the moment of tasting …
My Dad took one bite and grimaced – this is horrible … I never even tried it … the batch was thrown away, and that was the last we ever heard about pork fat and molasses.
Sentiment and reality don’t always parallel very well.
Though the shepherds raised the sheep for temple sacrifice, and the meat everyone ate, shepherds were on the bottom of the heap socially … considered scoundrels and petty thieves … and besides, they smelled!
Maybe we’re getting the picture now …
That night, God said to one of the Archangels … pay those shepherds a visit … and bring the choir …
What did you say?
Them?
Aren’t there a few other people we might better visit?
Palaces and princes?
The powerful and the beautiful?
Why shepherds?
What good are they?
God says, Trust me!
The Archangel says, Okay!
And off they go …
An angel of the LORD appeared … light and glory …
Don’t be afraid …
I bring you good news … today, a savior has been born … in David’s town … you’ll find a baby wrapped in simple blankets lying in a manger … in a simple place … a place that will welcome you … you’ll feel right at home in the Savior’s birth place …
And suddenly, a GREAT company of the heavenly host appeared …
Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace among those whom he favors!
God pulled out all the stops …
The best of the best … for the least of the least …
For shepherds in the hills …
No palaces …
No princes …
Not the beautiful and the powerful …
Because everyone counts …
Everyone’s important …
Everyone belongs …
So, what does this mean for us …?
The first is this: God pays special attention to us when WE’RE on the outside looking in …
We’re never alone in our sorrow …
We’re never alone when the road turns south …
And life turns mean …
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of the death, I will fear not evil, for thou art with me …
That night in the hills, the best and the brightest paid a visit to those on the far side of life …
As the rest of the story turns out … Jesus spends most of his time on the far side of life …
The woman caught in adultery …
Zacchaeus up a tree …
Blind Bartimaeus …
The woman at the well …
The leper …
The lonely …
The low-down and the lost …
And you and me …
Just to balance things out … the world’s favor goes to the rich and famous … God’s favor goes to the least …
To keep things steady …
To give special attention to the forgotten …
That’s how God does it …
The second piece of the story?
When we’re on top of the heap …
When things are good for us …
When our roof don’t leak and the car is clean …
Remember the shepherds in the hills …
Look at others with my eyes, says God …
The young waitress with an accent you don’t understand …
The man selling flowers and socks in the median …
The guy playing his guitar hoping a few coins might be tossed his way …
The tough looking gal on the street corner …
A thousand folks we see everyday …
REALLY see them, says God. Remember how much I love them … remember the night I paid a glorious, over-the-top, visit to the shepherds in the hills …
Share your best and brightest with the lowly and the least.
Jesus says it well:
For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me [Matthew 25:34-36].
To be the church of Jesus Christ …
To follow in his footsteps …
We have a commission:
To even things out …
Keep the world in balance …
Don’t let the lost go too far a-field …
Keep our eyes open …
Work together … work for a just and fair world …
Share our love …
Be generous and kind …
Build the kingdom of God …
Thy will be done ON EARTH as it is in heaven …
Amen and Amen!
Monday, December 15, 2008
The Inn Keeper: Is There Room? - December 14, 2008
Audio Version HERE.
Good morning, Covenant on the Corner … I’m glad to be here … thanks for inviting me.
Let me introduce myself … my name is … uh, well … that’s irrelevant, I guess …
I don’t have a name … as far as the story is concerned …
I’m just the Inn Keeper … in a little tiny town called Bethlehem … and not really an inn at all … just a spare room for folks … not much at all … but it brings in a few extra shekels now and then …
I remember the night … our “good friend” Quirinius was doing a census, so the Romans could tax us all the more – those dirty dogs … we didn’t like it one bit … but, we had to do what they said … “Everyone to their hometown … to register …”
So things got a little crowded … we were full – mostly family … my brother and his wife and three kids … two cousins and an uncle, and an old friend from childhood … plus my wife and my four boys, and two daughters …
We finished eating that night … sitting around the courtyard fire … a fine evening it was … cool and clear … bright stars … we were complaining about the Romans … they leave us alone most of the time, but, you know, they call the shots … they tell us when to jump, and we have to ask, “How high?”
But we try not to complain too much - life is mostly good for us … and it was good to see some of the family and my old friend … the dinner was good, and we were enjoying a last cup of wine …
And then a knock at the gate … “Now what?” I groaned … I got up and went to see who it was …
I opened the peephole … a young couple standing there … in the moonlight, I could see her leaning on him … she didn’t look so good …
“Do you have some room?” he wearily asked … “we’re here for the census … we don’t know where to stay … and my wife … she’s due any time.”
“Oh my,” I said … “there’s no room for you in the inn.”
Well, THAT was a fateful remark …
Down through the centuries, I’ve been the bad guy of Bethlehem … I’ve been scolded and scorned … thousands of sermons preached about me - what a crummy guy I was … “no room in the inn” – shame on me, shame on any of us who have no room for Christ … well, you know the story … you’ve probably heard a few of those sermons a time or two … even musicals and stories about me, what a louse I am.
But let me tell you the rest of the story.
“Come on in,” I said to that weary young couple.
I opened the gate and they made their way into the courtyard …
“We have a few more guests,” I said to everyone gathered around the fire …
And then turning to the young couple, “What are your names?”
“Joseph and Mary, from Nazareth … we’re here for the census.”
“Sit down,” I said, “you must be hungry.”
My wife came over with a couple bowls of stew and some wine … yes, they were hungry, and tired, too.
And from the looks of it, the young lady was close to her time … she looked a tad bit miserable … and what a shame to have to be on the road at a time like this …
“We have no room in our living quarters … but we can put you in the stable area … it’s not much, and the animals are in for the night … but I just put in clean bedding, and it’ll be safe and private for the two of you … we’re glad you’re here, and we’ll make room for you … it’s gonna be just fine.”
“And Joseph, was your daddy Heli? I knew him some years ago; fact is, we were shirttail relatives … they moved away and I never saw them again.”
Joseph nodded and said, “We moved to Nazareth – my dad thought they’re be a little more work up north. And there was, and I’m a carpenter, too, just my Daddy.”
Looking around the courtyard, he said, “Thanks for letting us in; it’s been a long time since I’ve been back in Bethlehem.”
Mary smiled and leaned her head on Joseph’s shoulder … she was tired.
We put up their donkey … and their few belongings … and took them to the stable … a quiet corner; safe and private … and the rest of us headed up to the living quarters … we were all tired and ready for sleep.
Well, wouldn’t ya’ know it …
My wife awakened me in the middle of the night … “It’s time,” she said.
“Time for what?” I asked, sleep clouding my mind.
The young lady is going to have her baby.”
My wife and my sister-in-law stepped down to the stable area … the rest of us, now wide awake … listening, waiting … goodness, this on top of everything else …
Our women helped the young lady … Joseph came up to sit with us … he was worried, I could tell … he sat on the floor, arms wrapped tightly around his knees … a quiet man, he was.
Well, it wasn’t long before we heard the first cry … my wife poked her head up to the living area and said, “It’s a boy!”
Thank God for the women … they had things well in hand … and when the child was cleaned and wrapped, they put him in one of the mangers … clean straw, comfortable … it’s the best we could do, and not too bad at that.
So ended the hope of any sleep for us … but who cared … new life was here … and that’s always a miracle … and who knows, he might be the Messiah.”
Every household wondered when a boy was born – Is he the One?
Will he set the people free?
Put the world right?
Get rid of the hated Romans?
Rebuild Israel?
So there we sat … too excited to sleep … too tired to do anything else …
Toward morning, there was some rapping at the gate … “Now what?” I fumed to myself …
I walked to the gate, and opened the peephole – a bunch of shepherds … what in the world are they doing here?
“Can I help you?” I asked warily …
“You won’t believe why we’re here. Sorry to disturb you so early, but we saw angels in the sky – no, we’re not drunk – we really did; we really saw angles … they sang to us, and told us that a Savior had been born in Bethlehem … that we would find him wrapped in simple blankets lying in a manger …”
“You’re the first house on the road … do you know of a newborn in town?”
Do I know of a newborn?
Yup, you came to the right place, all right. A boy, just born a few hours ago, right here … a young couple from Nazareth, here for the census.”
When I said “census,” the shepherds spit on the ground … how we despised our overlords …
I opened the gate, and in they came – “Good grief, what a smell.”
I took them to the stable, and what a chatter … they poured out their story … there they were, in the hills, watching the sheep late at night … nodding off … when suddenly, angels … a whole bunch of ‘em … singing … loud … and one angel in particular … a big thing, said … “Don’t be afraid … we’ve got good news for you …”
“And then, poof, they were gone … just like that … so, now what? We were pretty shook up, but we figured we’d better see what’s up, so here we are.”
“And it’s true what those angels said … a child wrapped in simple blankets, lying in a manger. This must be the One.”
We were all amazed by their story … you know - sometimes you hope for something, you hope for a long, long, time … and then it happens, and you don’t know what to do with it.
Those smelly shepherds took leave and headed back to the hills, and there we stood … mouths hangin’ down to the floor …
“What in the world was that all about?”
And that’s what I remember about the first night …
There was no room in the guest room, and our quarters were full, but we made room for them in the stable, and that’s all they needed. They were decent folk, and we did the best we could.
They stayed with us for a couple of weeks … on the 8th day, our rabbi came by and the boy was circumcised, and they named him Jesus – “God saves” – what a great name, in this crummy time of ours … faith, hope and love … it’s gonna work out for us … we people of the covenant don’t ever give up … we believe that God will save us when the time is right.
A few days later, off they went to Jerusalem for their purification and to present their firstborn to the LORD.
That was the last we saw of them.
After their visit to Jerusalem, they returned home to Nazareth.
And that’s the end of the story … at least for thirty years … until we began to hear strange reports … “a prophet has arisen in the land … a man of authority … who speaks clearly and forcefully about the kingdom of God … who heals the sick and casts out demons … his name is Jesus, Jesus of Nazareth …”
Was this the little boy born in our home that night so long ago?
Well, there’s always more to a story then meets the eye, but let me pause here for a few moments …
I want you be clear about one thing – I’m not a bad guy. What the centuries did to me wasn’t right. But everyone loves to have a bad guy, I guess, and it was easy for folks to single me out.
Glad to know that you’re finally getting the story straight … it took a long time, but that’s okay. I’m a patient man.
Your archeologists have been really helpful, digging around like they do … well, they’ve actually uncovered some ancient homes in Bethlehem … they have a better idea … we were a small town …
We didn’t have inns, so to speak … Holiday Inns or Ramada Inns with dozens of rooms … we were a small town, and my wife and I were blessed to have a little extra space – you see, our homes were built with a stable attached … we slept on the upper level, and the heat of the animals warmed us during the night … and attached to our quarters, a guest area … folks thought we were pretty well off …
We cooked our meals and ate in the courtyard most of the time … we have a wonderful climate, you see, sort of like you folks here in LA – we’re outside most of the time.
When Luke says, “There was no room in the inn,” the word for inn really means living quarters, and he’s right, there was no room – we full up with family and friends for that dadgum census.”
But we MADE room that night.
I guess there’s always room, and a little more food for weary travelers.
And if I may, let me remind you that our God is content with whatever space we have to give.
Sometimes you Christians forget just how humble God is … what with your big buildings and fancy schmancy programs … we Jews had our problems, too, with that big temple of ours, and the Pharisees and the Sadducees all decked out in their extravagant robes and prayer shawls with the long fringes … would you believe, they competed with one another for just how fancy it was, and how long the fringe?
So, we’ve had our problems, too.
But that night in Bethlehem, we learned again what we always knew … our God is a humble God … loving and kind, and doesn’t ask much of us … and doesn’t need much of us … just a little room will do, whatever we have to offer.
Sometimes you Christians put too much pressure on yourselves … as if God were so fancy, and you had to have your soul just right, your life in order … but God doesn’t work that way … God doesn’t need the best, whatever that means … God just needs a simple place in your heart, and maybe, just maybe, THAT is the best!
No one ever gets their life all straightened out … things are too hard for that.
So, don’t wait until you’ve got everything put together … that’ll never happen in this life … but that’s okay … it’s amazing what God can do with us when we’re willing to let God in …
Everyone has a little place somewhere, just right for God …
That night, I knew I had room, and so do you, dear friend.
Just open the door and let God in … Jesus will be born in your heart … I don’t know how it works, but it does.
Thanks for having me here this morning … God bless each of you … and the next time you’re in Bethlehem, stop on by … we’ll find room for ya’, even if it’s only in the stable.
Amen!
Good morning, Covenant on the Corner … I’m glad to be here … thanks for inviting me.
Let me introduce myself … my name is … uh, well … that’s irrelevant, I guess …
I don’t have a name … as far as the story is concerned …
I’m just the Inn Keeper … in a little tiny town called Bethlehem … and not really an inn at all … just a spare room for folks … not much at all … but it brings in a few extra shekels now and then …
I remember the night … our “good friend” Quirinius was doing a census, so the Romans could tax us all the more – those dirty dogs … we didn’t like it one bit … but, we had to do what they said … “Everyone to their hometown … to register …”
So things got a little crowded … we were full – mostly family … my brother and his wife and three kids … two cousins and an uncle, and an old friend from childhood … plus my wife and my four boys, and two daughters …
We finished eating that night … sitting around the courtyard fire … a fine evening it was … cool and clear … bright stars … we were complaining about the Romans … they leave us alone most of the time, but, you know, they call the shots … they tell us when to jump, and we have to ask, “How high?”
But we try not to complain too much - life is mostly good for us … and it was good to see some of the family and my old friend … the dinner was good, and we were enjoying a last cup of wine …
And then a knock at the gate … “Now what?” I groaned … I got up and went to see who it was …
I opened the peephole … a young couple standing there … in the moonlight, I could see her leaning on him … she didn’t look so good …
“Do you have some room?” he wearily asked … “we’re here for the census … we don’t know where to stay … and my wife … she’s due any time.”
“Oh my,” I said … “there’s no room for you in the inn.”
Well, THAT was a fateful remark …
Down through the centuries, I’ve been the bad guy of Bethlehem … I’ve been scolded and scorned … thousands of sermons preached about me - what a crummy guy I was … “no room in the inn” – shame on me, shame on any of us who have no room for Christ … well, you know the story … you’ve probably heard a few of those sermons a time or two … even musicals and stories about me, what a louse I am.
But let me tell you the rest of the story.
“Come on in,” I said to that weary young couple.
I opened the gate and they made their way into the courtyard …
“We have a few more guests,” I said to everyone gathered around the fire …
And then turning to the young couple, “What are your names?”
“Joseph and Mary, from Nazareth … we’re here for the census.”
“Sit down,” I said, “you must be hungry.”
My wife came over with a couple bowls of stew and some wine … yes, they were hungry, and tired, too.
And from the looks of it, the young lady was close to her time … she looked a tad bit miserable … and what a shame to have to be on the road at a time like this …
“We have no room in our living quarters … but we can put you in the stable area … it’s not much, and the animals are in for the night … but I just put in clean bedding, and it’ll be safe and private for the two of you … we’re glad you’re here, and we’ll make room for you … it’s gonna be just fine.”
“And Joseph, was your daddy Heli? I knew him some years ago; fact is, we were shirttail relatives … they moved away and I never saw them again.”
Joseph nodded and said, “We moved to Nazareth – my dad thought they’re be a little more work up north. And there was, and I’m a carpenter, too, just my Daddy.”
Looking around the courtyard, he said, “Thanks for letting us in; it’s been a long time since I’ve been back in Bethlehem.”
Mary smiled and leaned her head on Joseph’s shoulder … she was tired.
We put up their donkey … and their few belongings … and took them to the stable … a quiet corner; safe and private … and the rest of us headed up to the living quarters … we were all tired and ready for sleep.
Well, wouldn’t ya’ know it …
My wife awakened me in the middle of the night … “It’s time,” she said.
“Time for what?” I asked, sleep clouding my mind.
The young lady is going to have her baby.”
My wife and my sister-in-law stepped down to the stable area … the rest of us, now wide awake … listening, waiting … goodness, this on top of everything else …
Our women helped the young lady … Joseph came up to sit with us … he was worried, I could tell … he sat on the floor, arms wrapped tightly around his knees … a quiet man, he was.
Well, it wasn’t long before we heard the first cry … my wife poked her head up to the living area and said, “It’s a boy!”
Thank God for the women … they had things well in hand … and when the child was cleaned and wrapped, they put him in one of the mangers … clean straw, comfortable … it’s the best we could do, and not too bad at that.
So ended the hope of any sleep for us … but who cared … new life was here … and that’s always a miracle … and who knows, he might be the Messiah.”
Every household wondered when a boy was born – Is he the One?
Will he set the people free?
Put the world right?
Get rid of the hated Romans?
Rebuild Israel?
So there we sat … too excited to sleep … too tired to do anything else …
Toward morning, there was some rapping at the gate … “Now what?” I fumed to myself …
I walked to the gate, and opened the peephole – a bunch of shepherds … what in the world are they doing here?
“Can I help you?” I asked warily …
“You won’t believe why we’re here. Sorry to disturb you so early, but we saw angels in the sky – no, we’re not drunk – we really did; we really saw angles … they sang to us, and told us that a Savior had been born in Bethlehem … that we would find him wrapped in simple blankets lying in a manger …”
“You’re the first house on the road … do you know of a newborn in town?”
Do I know of a newborn?
Yup, you came to the right place, all right. A boy, just born a few hours ago, right here … a young couple from Nazareth, here for the census.”
When I said “census,” the shepherds spit on the ground … how we despised our overlords …
I opened the gate, and in they came – “Good grief, what a smell.”
I took them to the stable, and what a chatter … they poured out their story … there they were, in the hills, watching the sheep late at night … nodding off … when suddenly, angels … a whole bunch of ‘em … singing … loud … and one angel in particular … a big thing, said … “Don’t be afraid … we’ve got good news for you …”
“And then, poof, they were gone … just like that … so, now what? We were pretty shook up, but we figured we’d better see what’s up, so here we are.”
“And it’s true what those angels said … a child wrapped in simple blankets, lying in a manger. This must be the One.”
We were all amazed by their story … you know - sometimes you hope for something, you hope for a long, long, time … and then it happens, and you don’t know what to do with it.
Those smelly shepherds took leave and headed back to the hills, and there we stood … mouths hangin’ down to the floor …
“What in the world was that all about?”
And that’s what I remember about the first night …
There was no room in the guest room, and our quarters were full, but we made room for them in the stable, and that’s all they needed. They were decent folk, and we did the best we could.
They stayed with us for a couple of weeks … on the 8th day, our rabbi came by and the boy was circumcised, and they named him Jesus – “God saves” – what a great name, in this crummy time of ours … faith, hope and love … it’s gonna work out for us … we people of the covenant don’t ever give up … we believe that God will save us when the time is right.
A few days later, off they went to Jerusalem for their purification and to present their firstborn to the LORD.
That was the last we saw of them.
After their visit to Jerusalem, they returned home to Nazareth.
And that’s the end of the story … at least for thirty years … until we began to hear strange reports … “a prophet has arisen in the land … a man of authority … who speaks clearly and forcefully about the kingdom of God … who heals the sick and casts out demons … his name is Jesus, Jesus of Nazareth …”
Was this the little boy born in our home that night so long ago?
Well, there’s always more to a story then meets the eye, but let me pause here for a few moments …
I want you be clear about one thing – I’m not a bad guy. What the centuries did to me wasn’t right. But everyone loves to have a bad guy, I guess, and it was easy for folks to single me out.
Glad to know that you’re finally getting the story straight … it took a long time, but that’s okay. I’m a patient man.
Your archeologists have been really helpful, digging around like they do … well, they’ve actually uncovered some ancient homes in Bethlehem … they have a better idea … we were a small town …
We didn’t have inns, so to speak … Holiday Inns or Ramada Inns with dozens of rooms … we were a small town, and my wife and I were blessed to have a little extra space – you see, our homes were built with a stable attached … we slept on the upper level, and the heat of the animals warmed us during the night … and attached to our quarters, a guest area … folks thought we were pretty well off …
We cooked our meals and ate in the courtyard most of the time … we have a wonderful climate, you see, sort of like you folks here in LA – we’re outside most of the time.
When Luke says, “There was no room in the inn,” the word for inn really means living quarters, and he’s right, there was no room – we full up with family and friends for that dadgum census.”
But we MADE room that night.
I guess there’s always room, and a little more food for weary travelers.
And if I may, let me remind you that our God is content with whatever space we have to give.
Sometimes you Christians forget just how humble God is … what with your big buildings and fancy schmancy programs … we Jews had our problems, too, with that big temple of ours, and the Pharisees and the Sadducees all decked out in their extravagant robes and prayer shawls with the long fringes … would you believe, they competed with one another for just how fancy it was, and how long the fringe?
So, we’ve had our problems, too.
But that night in Bethlehem, we learned again what we always knew … our God is a humble God … loving and kind, and doesn’t ask much of us … and doesn’t need much of us … just a little room will do, whatever we have to offer.
Sometimes you Christians put too much pressure on yourselves … as if God were so fancy, and you had to have your soul just right, your life in order … but God doesn’t work that way … God doesn’t need the best, whatever that means … God just needs a simple place in your heart, and maybe, just maybe, THAT is the best!
No one ever gets their life all straightened out … things are too hard for that.
So, don’t wait until you’ve got everything put together … that’ll never happen in this life … but that’s okay … it’s amazing what God can do with us when we’re willing to let God in …
Everyone has a little place somewhere, just right for God …
That night, I knew I had room, and so do you, dear friend.
Just open the door and let God in … Jesus will be born in your heart … I don’t know how it works, but it does.
Thanks for having me here this morning … God bless each of you … and the next time you’re in Bethlehem, stop on by … we’ll find room for ya’, even if it’s only in the stable.
Amen!
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Joseph: What Now? - December 7, 2008
Audio Version HERE.
Matthew 1:18-25
Welcome to Advent, week 2 …
Last week, it was Mary …
This week, Joseph … next week, the Inn Keeper, and Advent 4 – the Shepherds …
Let me ask a question:
Is there anyone here who ever had to change plans unexpectedly?
Of course … live long enough, and unexpected changes are required … that’s living 101 …
A friend cancels lunch …
The boss wants us in Tupelo instead of Paris …
The car breaks down …
A thousand little things that require unexpected changes.
And sometimes big things … serious things …
Job loss …
Illness …
The death of a loved one …
What I call, A hard twist in the road …
What now?
Such was Joseph’s situation …
Engaged to Mary …
Wedding plans in hand …
Customs honored …
Things as they should be …
But, then, one of those “oh, oh” moments …
Joseph, I’m pregnant.
Let’s take a look at the story … please, open your Bibles to Matthew Chapter 1, verse 18 – p. 1 in the New Testament … ….
As I speak, “oh, oh” moments all over the place …
The auto industry reeling …
Wall Street stumbling …
Jobs lost …
Tens of thousands in foreclosure …
Consumer confidence - way down …
Retail sales – way down …
Vacations on hold …
College delayed …
Fewer gifts under the tree …
Less entertainment …
More meals at home …
Hot dogs instead of steak …
Even for the comfortable, the pinch is real … investments have taken a huge hit …
All kinds of “oh, oh” moments …
A friend of mine enrolled in seminary … a second-career guy with a calling – he had to make a lot of adjustments just get into seminary.
But then it wasn’t long after getting into the swing of things, that he developed heart problems … the road ahead suddenly filled with obstacles … what looked simple now became uncertain …
A tough transition …
Anger, frustration, fear …
Why did God call me? Only to put me through this?
But my friend made it …
He believed in God …
Trusted God …
Put his life into God’s hands …
He swore and cursed about it …
He cried about it …
Didn’t like it one bit …
But he made it …
Faith didn’t make the road easy; faith got him over the bumps and through the woods …
There’s always a way …
Always a way through, around, under or over …
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me …
Basic spiritual principle … God at work in ALL things for good …
But I don’t want God to always be at work in all things for God … I want to grumble and groan, mope and moan … feel sorry for myself … and get others to feel sorry for me … it’s fun to host my own pity party!
If God is really at work in all things for good, then I have to think again about my attitude …
I have to put on my spiritual eyeglasses – to look for God; look for the good … because God is there … and so is the good.
And another spiritual principle: God will keep us in the hard place until we learn to find the good … until we learn the lessons of gratitude and humility …
Like an old gold mine – we think it’s played out; there’s nothing here … but God says, Dig a little longer, dig a little deeper … there’s still gold in this mine.
The truth is this: If I’m not grateful for the grace of God in hard times, what makes me think I’ll be grateful for the blessing of God in the good times?
If I don’t practice kindness right now, when will I do it?
If I’m not a person of faith, hope and love right now, when?
Next month, next year, next job, next marriage, next relationship, next whatever …?
No, it has to be now.
It can be now!
As I was preparing this message, I thought of one of my favorite stories from the Book of Acts …
Paul the Apostle had his plans …
Paul wanted to go East …
Listen to the Tex- Acts 16:
When they had come opposite Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them; so … they went down to Troas … (Acts 16:6ff).
Who hasn’t planned on going to Bithynia?
Who hasn’t been stymied?
But there’s always Troas …
There’s always a way through, around, over or under.
When life hands you a lemon,
Add a little sugar and make lemonade.
A friend of mine reaching back 40 years …
A fellow-pastor …
Lost his wife 15 years ago to a brain aneurysm … a bitter loss that turned his world upside down … the church he was serving at the time couldn’t cope with his grief and asked him to leave … he stumbled and struggled …
But I’ve watched him add sugar …
The sugar of faith …
None of it easy … his lemonade is made with tears and trembling …
Along the way …
Another women came into his life …
She, too, a widow … having lost her husband tragically …
Love blossomed … and both have helped each other grieve the loss of a first love …
They add the sugar of faith to a bitter chapter in life …
It’s still bitter-sweet for them …
But they rejoice in love anew …
There is always a way through, around, over or under …
Poor Joseph … a righteous man …
Not self-righteous … but really righteousness … a God-lover, serious about the things of God … a man of faith …
In other words, Joseph wanted to do it right!
Joseph decides to call it off quietly … “give the ring back” so to speak … no fanfare, no public announcement … just end it quietly … she must love someone else.
Here’s where the story reveals a lot about Joseph:
He could have put Mary on trial …
The law allowed for an adulterous woman to be stoned to death … (Deuteronomy 22:20-21) …
Remember the story of the woman “caught in adultery”?
The mob brought her to Jesus … they were ready to stone her.
But Jesus writes in the dust … wish I knew what he wrote … and then said to the mob, The one without sin can cast the first stone … and with that, the mob melted away …
Jesus had a fatherly example in mind …
Not just a heavenly Father …
His fatherly father, Joseph …
Joseph refused to humiliate Mary and bring her to trial …
The law would have been on his side …
But are some things in this life more important than just being “right” …
Joseph chose the better way …
Only then did God break in …
An angel dream …
Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.
Why did God wait so long to clear things up …?
Was God waiting to see what Joseph would do?
Was God waiting to see what kind of man Joseph really was?
What kind of father he would make for Jesus?
What kind of an example he would be for God’s own son?
Paul the Apostle would write thirty years later to Christians in Corinth … about a way of life … a still more excellent way …
Not law, but love …
Not about being “right” but being righteous …
If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gone or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.
Joseph was more than right, he was righteous …
He chose the better way …
And that’s when God stepped in …
God stepped in to finish the deal … God enabled Joseph to take the next step.
To take Mary for his wife, and be the earthly father to the Son of heaven.
A partnership between a man of faith and a faithful God … Joseph had to choose, and choose he did, the better part … and God helped Joseph finish it …
When things fall a part …
When the unexpected happens …
When there’s a hard twist in the road and we end up in the ditch …
There is always a way through, around, over or under …
But we have a role to play …
A choice to make …
A faith to live …
I can’t think of a better example than Joseph …
Faced with a lousy “oh, oh” moment …
Joseph chose love …
And God’s love finished the deal!
Amen and Amen!
Matthew 1:18-25
Welcome to Advent, week 2 …
Last week, it was Mary …
This week, Joseph … next week, the Inn Keeper, and Advent 4 – the Shepherds …
Let me ask a question:
Is there anyone here who ever had to change plans unexpectedly?
Of course … live long enough, and unexpected changes are required … that’s living 101 …
A friend cancels lunch …
The boss wants us in Tupelo instead of Paris …
The car breaks down …
A thousand little things that require unexpected changes.
And sometimes big things … serious things …
Job loss …
Illness …
The death of a loved one …
What I call, A hard twist in the road …
What now?
Such was Joseph’s situation …
Engaged to Mary …
Wedding plans in hand …
Customs honored …
Things as they should be …
But, then, one of those “oh, oh” moments …
Joseph, I’m pregnant.
Let’s take a look at the story … please, open your Bibles to Matthew Chapter 1, verse 18 – p. 1 in the New Testament … ….
As I speak, “oh, oh” moments all over the place …
The auto industry reeling …
Wall Street stumbling …
Jobs lost …
Tens of thousands in foreclosure …
Consumer confidence - way down …
Retail sales – way down …
Vacations on hold …
College delayed …
Fewer gifts under the tree …
Less entertainment …
More meals at home …
Hot dogs instead of steak …
Even for the comfortable, the pinch is real … investments have taken a huge hit …
All kinds of “oh, oh” moments …
A friend of mine enrolled in seminary … a second-career guy with a calling – he had to make a lot of adjustments just get into seminary.
But then it wasn’t long after getting into the swing of things, that he developed heart problems … the road ahead suddenly filled with obstacles … what looked simple now became uncertain …
A tough transition …
Anger, frustration, fear …
Why did God call me? Only to put me through this?
But my friend made it …
He believed in God …
Trusted God …
Put his life into God’s hands …
He swore and cursed about it …
He cried about it …
Didn’t like it one bit …
But he made it …
Faith didn’t make the road easy; faith got him over the bumps and through the woods …
There’s always a way …
Always a way through, around, under or over …
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me …
Basic spiritual principle … God at work in ALL things for good …
But I don’t want God to always be at work in all things for God … I want to grumble and groan, mope and moan … feel sorry for myself … and get others to feel sorry for me … it’s fun to host my own pity party!
If God is really at work in all things for good, then I have to think again about my attitude …
I have to put on my spiritual eyeglasses – to look for God; look for the good … because God is there … and so is the good.
And another spiritual principle: God will keep us in the hard place until we learn to find the good … until we learn the lessons of gratitude and humility …
Like an old gold mine – we think it’s played out; there’s nothing here … but God says, Dig a little longer, dig a little deeper … there’s still gold in this mine.
The truth is this: If I’m not grateful for the grace of God in hard times, what makes me think I’ll be grateful for the blessing of God in the good times?
If I don’t practice kindness right now, when will I do it?
If I’m not a person of faith, hope and love right now, when?
Next month, next year, next job, next marriage, next relationship, next whatever …?
No, it has to be now.
It can be now!
As I was preparing this message, I thought of one of my favorite stories from the Book of Acts …
Paul the Apostle had his plans …
Paul wanted to go East …
Listen to the Tex- Acts 16:
When they had come opposite Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them; so … they went down to Troas … (Acts 16:6ff).
Who hasn’t planned on going to Bithynia?
Who hasn’t been stymied?
But there’s always Troas …
There’s always a way through, around, over or under.
When life hands you a lemon,
Add a little sugar and make lemonade.
A friend of mine reaching back 40 years …
A fellow-pastor …
Lost his wife 15 years ago to a brain aneurysm … a bitter loss that turned his world upside down … the church he was serving at the time couldn’t cope with his grief and asked him to leave … he stumbled and struggled …
But I’ve watched him add sugar …
The sugar of faith …
None of it easy … his lemonade is made with tears and trembling …
Along the way …
Another women came into his life …
She, too, a widow … having lost her husband tragically …
Love blossomed … and both have helped each other grieve the loss of a first love …
They add the sugar of faith to a bitter chapter in life …
It’s still bitter-sweet for them …
But they rejoice in love anew …
There is always a way through, around, over or under …
Poor Joseph … a righteous man …
Not self-righteous … but really righteousness … a God-lover, serious about the things of God … a man of faith …
In other words, Joseph wanted to do it right!
Joseph decides to call it off quietly … “give the ring back” so to speak … no fanfare, no public announcement … just end it quietly … she must love someone else.
Here’s where the story reveals a lot about Joseph:
He could have put Mary on trial …
The law allowed for an adulterous woman to be stoned to death … (Deuteronomy 22:20-21) …
Remember the story of the woman “caught in adultery”?
The mob brought her to Jesus … they were ready to stone her.
But Jesus writes in the dust … wish I knew what he wrote … and then said to the mob, The one without sin can cast the first stone … and with that, the mob melted away …
Jesus had a fatherly example in mind …
Not just a heavenly Father …
His fatherly father, Joseph …
Joseph refused to humiliate Mary and bring her to trial …
The law would have been on his side …
But are some things in this life more important than just being “right” …
Joseph chose the better way …
Only then did God break in …
An angel dream …
Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.
Why did God wait so long to clear things up …?
Was God waiting to see what Joseph would do?
Was God waiting to see what kind of man Joseph really was?
What kind of father he would make for Jesus?
What kind of an example he would be for God’s own son?
Paul the Apostle would write thirty years later to Christians in Corinth … about a way of life … a still more excellent way …
Not law, but love …
Not about being “right” but being righteous …
If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gone or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.
Joseph was more than right, he was righteous …
He chose the better way …
And that’s when God stepped in …
God stepped in to finish the deal … God enabled Joseph to take the next step.
To take Mary for his wife, and be the earthly father to the Son of heaven.
A partnership between a man of faith and a faithful God … Joseph had to choose, and choose he did, the better part … and God helped Joseph finish it …
When things fall a part …
When the unexpected happens …
When there’s a hard twist in the road and we end up in the ditch …
There is always a way through, around, over or under …
But we have a role to play …
A choice to make …
A faith to live …
I can’t think of a better example than Joseph …
Faced with a lousy “oh, oh” moment …
Joseph chose love …
And God’s love finished the deal!
Amen and Amen!
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