“The Birth of Jesus” Luke 2: 1-20

How many of you know the story of your birth? I don’t mean just the date and time and place, but the details. Or for those of you who are parents, how many of you could tell the account of each of your children’s births? 

Keeping those stories in mind, how many of them start out this way. The year was _____ and _____________ was president? His policies were as follows…..

My guess none of us would start out a birth story in this fashion, but ironically the story of the birth of our Savior found in Luke, Chapter 2 starts out exactly in that day. In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. The story of Jesus begins with a raw power play made by the reigning emperor at the time. Never before had the whole world been registered, but now is the moment. But it has to be done in an orderly fashion, so each must return to their home town for this momentous occasion. 

So Joseph, who was engaged to Mary as she carried Jesus in her womb, they traveled the harrowing distance from Nazareth to Bethlehem. They went because they were ordered to do so and while they were there, Jesus was born. There wasn’t actually room for him to be born in a house, like he would have been back in Nazareth, so he was birthed in a stable. 

The first seven verses of this narrative are the quiet birth story of Jesus. Mary didn’t go out into the streets and declare, in the face of all of the Emperor’s power, “see my son. He is the true king.” There wasn’t a parade. Or a big celebration. No, Jesus, the price of peace, was born humbly in a stable, while the backdrop of his entering the world was an Emperor who was trying to make peace through power. 

If Jesus’s actual birth was in quiet circumstances, what happens next is a declaration throughout the heavens. While poor shepherds, men with no power by the standards of society, were out watching their flocks, all of a sudden angels came and told of the birth of Jesus. Light shone. Choruses of angels sang. And the shepherds were stunned. 

But they were also compelled to go - to act quickly upon what the angels had proclaimed and go to see this baby in Bethlehem, this Messiah. When they arrived they told Mary and Joseph of the news of what they had heard and experienced and they were amazed. 

Every Christmas Eve we gather together and proclaim that the brith of Jesus, at a unique time in history, is Good News. But Good News for whom? It certainly wasn’t Good News for the Roman Empire, who were trying to assert their dominion. It wasn’t Good News for people who thought that power rested in themselves. No, but it was Good News for the shepherds - the power, the forgotten, the shunned. When the angel appeared to the Shepherds they were told that today in the city of David a Savior has been born to you. For you. A gift for you and for the world. A gift of salvation come in the most unexpected way as a baby wrapped in strips of cloth and lying in a manger. Sometimes the Christmas story becomes so familiar to us that we forget the message at its core, that God came for us in an unexpected way.

The Shepherds receiving the good news of Jesus Christ in their lives for the first time. If anyone would have felt that they were not good enough to be the bearers of the good news, it would have been the shepherds. They were looked down upon as one of the lowest occupations in ancient times. Not good enough to have a well paying job, or even a job that took place during the safety of daylight. Instead, they had to protect their flocks every moment of every day. Against other people who wished to steal them and against wild animals that sought the devour them. They were out in the elements - blazing sun or pouring down rain. They were considered undesirable people to be around and other people told them that they were not good enough. In fact, according to Pastor Jacob Armstrong, “we miss some of the Christmas story’s power if we neglect to see that the shepherds were unsuspecting, unqualified, and undeserving to be included. And God picked them anyway.”

Yet, it was exactly the shepherds, those those that others deemed to be not good enough and who were looked down upon who heard the good news first that fateful evening. Angels came to them and the glory of God shone around them. And they were the first to hear the good news for all people. Including them. Especially them. The shepherds were simply doing that evening what they did every evening - protecting their flocks when their “normal” was interrupted by God.

And because it was Good News to these whom society who had forgotten, it became Good News to many.  It was Good News for a world that was broken and that the peace of the Empire could not fix. It good news for the workers on the third shift, who like the shepherds are all too often overlooked and not thanked. Its good news for the single moms and dads. For the people carrying around the weight of the world. For the widowers. For those who have been Christian as long as they can remember and those who are new to the faith. Its good news for the youngest among us and the oldest. Its good news because Jesus Christ reconciles us - restores us and reconsecrates us - every moment of every day for the sake of the Kingdom of God - if only we take time to notice and respond. It was Good News for you and me, and people throughout the ages who have come to experience peace through the Christ Child.

Why? Because Jesus’s story is ultimately about the love of God being revealed to us in the flesh. Jesus has not taught a single thing by this point, but his very birth has changed the world. 

When the angels showed up in the darkness to proclaim the good news, notice what they say to the shepherds. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. This was good news for the shepherds that could not be contained. It was both personal for them and universal for the world. And if the good news of this Jesus was good news for them, good news for all, it is good news today for each of us, including you. And this good news cannot be contained just to us. We are sent by God into the lives of the world so that others may come to know the good news of Jesus Christ. It is good news for you, but not just for you.

We, like the shepherds are sent out to faithfully proclaim that the world as we see it, that isn’t the source of Good News. No, the Good News rests in a cradle as the Price of Peace, Healer of our Brokenness and Savior of the world. Are you willing to go forth and tell the story of Jesus? Amen. 

“The Spirit of the Lord is Upon Me” Is 61:1-11

I took my first mission trip when I was in college. I was so excited because many of my friends were missionary kids and I had heard amazing stories about what their families were doing for the name of the Lord. Right before going to college, I had joined a new youth group, where many of them had been on trips around the world as well. So over Spring Break of 2006, a small group of us headed to Russia. 

And nothing went as planned. 

We had some issues with some of the places we were supposed to serve, so the first few days we spent sight seeing around Vladmir, and I was so disappointed. This is not what I had in mind when I signed up for mission work! Where’s the action! Surely this isn’t what God wants us to be doing with our time.

By day 3 our plans were back on track. And almost the first questions out of everyone’s mouths were: “what do you know of our history and what did you see that represents it?” For the Russians we were trying to build relationships with, their history was vitally important. If we hadn’t “accidentally” had all that time to see sights, no one would have listened to a word that we would have said. 

That experience fundamentally changed my approach to mission and ministry. 

Missions, or rather the ultimate mission of the Lord, is what the prophet Isaiah is trying to proclaim to the people in this section of scripture, along with salvation. Which raises some pretty important questions. First, what are we saved from? If I asked you that question, most of us would probably answer something along the lines of sin. We are saved from the punishment that we deserve for the sin in our lives. Which is absolutely true. But notice what the Good News that Isaiah is proclaiming is for - liberty to the captives, healing to the brokenhearted, release to the prisoners, and comfort for those who mourn. For Isaiah, the Good News both offers salvation to come and salvation here and now in ways that transform our lives. 

The second question is what are we saved for? Many folks would probably say to spend eternity in heaven, which once again is true. But noticed that Isaiah is talking about being saved to transform the world here and now as well. Our salvation is lived out in a way that matters deeply here and now, my friends, for we embody, as the hands and feet of Jesus, the healing, liberty, comfort, release the prophet is lifting up. 

In fact, we don’t just embody them, but they are part of our mission as Christians which defines us. How many of you have ever done something for someone else, only to have them ask why in the world you were doing so? I have had that happen several times, and it becomes an opportunity to share the faith. Our missional efforts transform lives and give us an opportunity to talk about the “why” of salvation, over and over and over again. 

Because our salvation, it isn’t just for us. It is meant to be shared. Isaiah here is talking about the Year of the Lord’s favor, which is also known as the Year of Jubilee. It was to take place every fifty years and was to be the ultimate Sabbath. Debts were to be forgiven. Salves set free. Land returned to its original owners. Land lay at rest, so it can naturally replenish itself. This year would be a witness for the grace and mercy of the Lord, a mark of salvation.

Only the Year of Jubilee never actually took place, even if scripture said it should. Which made it so radical when Jesus stood up in his hometown in Luke 4 and read this passage from the prophet Isaiah, and said “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

The people were not happy for a lot of reasons. First, we like this passage when it is about God showing us mercy, but when it is call for us to show mercy to others - that starts to make us feel uncomfortable. We like being about the mission of God when it is within our comfort zones, but when we are called to go place and meet people that make us feel a little leery, we shy away. Maybe even something in this scripture passage made you ask “did God really mean those people?” The specifics about how wide God’s mercy goes can be challenging for us. 

Second, to actually be about the mission in Isaiah 61 requires us to change as well. It speaks to the condition of our hearts that prevents us from sharing the Good News with those listed in this passage. For us here and now today, it is a reminder that it isn’t just about coming to church and being nice, its about being the church and witnessing to the work of God in the world. 

Flannery O’Conner is an American novelist and short story writer who was known for saying rich and profound things that can take a while to wrap your mind around. One such statement is this, “All human nature vigorously resists grace because grace changes us and the change is painful.”

We like grace when it is just about being forgiven. But when grace changes us, when grace makes us people with a mission, well that can be painful at times. 

Friends, we are deep in the season of Advent at this point, where we are preparing our hearts for Christ coming. It’s a time when we soak in the joy, hope, and anticipation of the season. But it also is a word of challenge. We aren’t just preparing to see the Christ child on Christmas Eve, we are preparing to be transformed by Christ the Lord, here and now. And then to go out and share the Good News of that transformation with the world. 

So I wonder, where do you see God’s transformation revealed today? How do you see God restoring our broken world today? And how has God transformed and restored you? Because the questions are so deeply connected for the prophet Isaiah and for us as believers in the living Christ here and now today. 

Because mission isn’t just about going places or sending money. It’s not just about how we bless people this particular season. It is how we live into our salvation year round. It is about being a people of hope and joy and peace, even when it is hard. It is about how we bear witness to what our Lord is doing. 

Let us pray…

“Joel: God’s Promised Spirit” Joel 2:12-13, 28-29

Looking at the prophets seem like an odd place to be during Advent doesn’t it? We are used to the stories of Zechariah and Elizabeth. John the Baptist and Mary. Joseph. We don’t have Christmas plays about the prophets, per say, and yet their words are so important. They tell us of what has been hoped for from generation to generation - the coming of the Messiah. The Messiah we are preparing our hearts anew for this season - Jesus Christ. 

The prophet Joel is writing at a time when a Messiah was desperately needed. The world seemed to be falling apart. There was a plague of locust moving throughout the land that destroyed everything in their wake. When we studied this passage in a parish Bible Study earlier this year, I remember how stark the picture being drawn was. Nothing was left. In front of you, you may still be able to see the crops. But when you looked behind you there was just devastation. Devastation you knew was going to come and sweep over what you could see in front of you as well. 

With the land being destroyed so was the economy. People didn’t have enough to eat. They didn’t have crops to sell. People were living in desolation. 

The prophet Joel speaks into the lives of the Israelites during this time and tells them the story of the prophets that came before him. He built upon their teachings and claimed the importance of the moment that the people were experiencing. This is a hard moment. But depending on where you are with God, more hard days are going to be upon you, for the day of the Lord is at hand. 

Right before we jump into today’s scripture passage that is exactly what Joel is talking about. “Truly the day of the Lord is great; terrible indeed - who can endure it?”

While these don’t seem like words of hope at first, they certainly are. For the Day of the Lord is going to be a day of vindication for those who have sought righteousness and a day of grave punishment for those who have fled from the Lord. Joel is calling on the ancient Israelites to examine their hearts to see if their true purpose was in the Lord. 

And that does take examination. Because there would have been many folks who would have said, yes, Lord! Of course I am in a place of being aligned with your will and purpose. Don’t you see! I come to the temple every chance I get. I present my offering to you. 

To which the Lord would reply, but you don’t know my purposes. For you are just observing religious rituals that aren’t sufficient. You aren’t taking care of the widow and the poor. You come to temple and give because of how it makes you look to others. You don’t know my heart at all. 

But as hard as that would be to hear, God continues to call people back to himself. He still gives them a chance to return their heart to its right place. To confess when they made worship something it was never intended to be. To weep for the times they have not treated others as children of God. 

The punishment that people are experiencing with the locust - that’s nothing like what is to come on the Day of the Lord. So people need to repent and return to the Lord who will relent from punishment.

This time when people are crying out “how much longer, Lord?” Its just a taste of what is to come. For those who have forgotten that Yahweh is God. For those whose hearts and desires are not aligned with the purposes of the Lord. This time can build your faith, however, if you see it as a call to repentance. 

In many ways, it feels like we have been living into our own plague of locusts in the year 2020. We have faced COVID-19 around the world. The economy has been all over the place. We have seen injustice. And I have heard more than once that folks feel that God is trying to get our attention. Which may very well be true. 

What do you think that God is trying to tell us? I think God is inviting us like ancient Israelites to examine our hearts. To confess that our way of going about doing things in this world isn’t always pleasing to God. To admit that sometimes we turn to ritual more for comfort than to magnify God’s name. To cry out that we have not loved the widow and the orphan and those who have had the world turn its back on them as children of God. That we may say we love God with our lips, but our actions do not always show purposes that are aligned with God.

We have made Advent into a season of joy - which in many ways it is. But it is also a time to prepare our very selves for when Christ will come again. Not as a babe in Bethlehem, but as the King, triumphant. The Day of the Lord is at hand. 

Advent is a time of reflection, but is also an invitation to transformation. We don’t just reflect so we remember the stories of old, as important as they are. We reflect and ask God to come into our hearts and change us. And that is an ongoing process. A continual, daily call to submission to Christ. And that starts in our hearts.

The heart is the source of who we are. Our moral strength. They place from which our actions and words flow forth. So if a transformation is going to take place it has to start there. Especially the type of transformation that re-orients one’s whole life.

The second part of today’s scripture lesson comes on the tail end of tasing about the blessed future that is to come. A time when the people of Israel will know that God is right there with them, in their midst. What a glorious day, when they will no longer be put to shame. And after that time there will be a pouring out of the Spirit of God. People will prophsey. There will be dreams and visions. 

Do you recognize those words? They are the same ones that Peter lifted up to the crowds on the day of Pentecost. The day when the Holy Spirit came as a mighty wind and fire and the church was born. And three thousand people were converted that day. 

Hearts were changed that Pentecost day. Just as hearts continue to be changed today. We however, are in danger when we think that we are fine. That we stop calling on the Lord to examine our hearts and point us in the direction God’s plans and purposes. When we stop preparing ourselves by submitting to God. 

Let us take time this Advent season to hand our hearts over to God. Let us seek to be led by the power of the Spirit. Let us be Advent people who make the name of the Lord known! Amen and amen.