1
The Message for Dec 20, 2015
Luke 1:39-45
Voices from the Past - Joseph/Mary/Shepherd
Rob Miller, Pastor
Hymn #264 Verse 1
Joseph
They say – it’s darkest before the dawn. Well, that’s been my experience. It was a dark night that’s for sure. I remember it – like it was last night. I couldn’t sleep. There was too much to think about. It was too much to take in. I was sitting there looking east, waiting for the sun to rise, looking for the bright morning star, and ready to face the world.
Things weren’t exactly easy. I wasn’t sure what to do at first. Then I came up with a solution to my problem. I loved Mary. I wanted to marry her. I still loved her -- but at the time it just seemed best to let her go quietly. Of course, there were alternatives. We all have alternatives. But it would not go well for her. People can get very nasty when this sort of thing comes out.
I was angry – not doubt about it. I thought about making apublic spectacle of her until I realized it would not go well for me either. Besides, deep down somehow I knew - I wasn’t perfect.
Did I really want to start throwing stones? No… So I planned to do what I thought was best -- a quiet settlement. She would go her way. I would go mine. And life would go on somehow.
But then a dream – I had a dream like nothing I had ever experienced before. Not confusing and bizarre but crystal clear and full of authority. I am tempted to say it was irresistible. I guess… I could have denied the whole thing...
Maybe I had been waiting for something for so long, hoping against hope, waiting for a word, waiting for someone to come. Maybe it was the name ‘Jesus’, which means, ‘He will save people from their sins.’
There was just too much to take in, too much to ignore, too much… And yet… I find myself hopeful for the first time in a long time. I don’t completely understand all of it. What do I know about saving people from their sin? I am a simple carpenter - all I know is wood and nails.
What can I say? I hope… I believe… I know… that Jesus is the son of God who came to save the world.
Hymn #264 Verse 2
Mary
I don’t know what you’ve heard about me. Everyone has heard something it seems. When I got pregnant, before I was married to Joseph, there was a lot of talk about me. I would not repeat any of it with small children present -- if you know what I mean.
But then, later, much later, after Jesus was born and grown, after he died and rose again, many of his followers began saying different kinds of things about me -- about me being special in some way -- Saint Mary or something.
I just want to be clear. I was an ordinary girl -- an ordinary small town girl with all the dreams and fears and desires like anybody else. I slept and ate and worked and lived, like you do -- everyday, just living life.
But then… extraordinary things started happening to me. An angel came and made a promise to me, saying that the child in my womb is God’s child. And that I would give birth one night in a stall in Bethlehem. And the child, my child would be the hope for whole world.
Through it all I kept wondering, why me? I’m nothing special. Why would God choose me?
That night, after the baby was born, I was holding Jesus in my arms and I was feeding him from my breast. He was hungry. He was thirsty.
I suddenly realized -- this is what God is like. This is how hungry God is. As impossible as it sounds, God is that hungry for us -- that hungry to be close to us -- that thirsty for us.
Our ordinary human lives are like sweet mother’s milk to God. It came to me that night. It came to me – that what God really wants is to be with us – to eat and drink with us. To simply enjoy life with us and us enjoy life with God.
God stepped out of heaven to be born on earth as a tiny baby just to be closer to us.That night in Bethlehem, God came to get close to us, as close as a mother and her newborn baby.
Now each moment of our lives is extraordinary. God came down that first Christmasto show us how precious and how loved by God we humans really are.
So...when you speak of me, when you say what you’ve heard about the mother of Jesus, say, “Mary was just an ordinary girl who experienced God’s extraordinary love for her.”Oh and by the way. That love is not just for me, it’s for you too. God’s extraordinary love is for you too. Jesus was born for you.
Hymn # 264 Verse 3
Shepherd
Little Bo Peep…has lost her sheep AND doesn’t know where to find them. Leave them alone…and they will come home. Wagging their tales behind them (Laughing)
Yeah right! As if that’s true…
In my experience - there is no such thing as a homing sheep. When sheep go astray, they stay astray unless we go and find them.
And that’s what we do up here on the hillside, forgotten by most people. It’s cold and dark and cut off from the rest of the world. But one night long ago –that all changed. Not so much in our circumstances - we are still out here in the night with the sheep - out of sight and out of mind.
And yet, I don’t feel alone anymore. I have been noticed – we’ve been noticed. One night the darkness ripped open and the sky - the sky - was full of light. I think God wanted to grab our attention. Well we were certainly grabbed… in fact we were terrified.
It was awesome, and bright, and different, and strange. It was glorious. I guess God is like that. It unsettled us for good and in a good way. “Don’t be afraid!” That’s what the angel said. God is always saying that. “Don’t be afraid.”
I guess it bears repeating because most of us feel scared a lot of the time. That’s why I never get frustrated with sheep… because in some ways I think we are a lot like them. We need a helping hand -- someone to watch over us.
Don’t be afraid but come and see.
And so we went - who wouldn’t? And what we found was very ordinary and yet very wonderful -- a baby just as we had been told -- a baby in a manger with grateful parents, tired, and smiling, and content.
The joy for us was that we had something to say, something to add, something to which that ordinary moment held extraordinary potential.
“This baby is not just any baby,” we said. “Let us tell you what we have been told.” And that’s what we did.
Now we are back here on hillside - where we were before. Watching… Waiting…
Most people don’t think of us… most people take us for granted or ignore us. But God has seen us. God has let us in on his greatest surprise. We are loved, it seems. And that makes all the difference in the world. We are part of God’s love story for the world. And so too are you…
Hymn # 264 Verse 4