Christmas 2007

Is. 9:2-4,6-7; Ps. 98:1-6; Titus 2:11-14; Luke 2:1-20

Advent took a really long time…but we finally made it to Bethlehem.

Here we are with everyone else who made the trip.

Trying to figure out what’s going on.

All these people, this stable, this young couple here with their tiny, new baby.

What did the angels say to the shepherds?

Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!

Wait…is that the way you remember hearing it?

Peace to those whom God favors?

Are we favored?

Are all these people here…dressed up in their Christmas finest…are we included?

What are supposed to see here.

And what are we supposed to listen for?

The story of Mary and Joseph and the baby Jesus and the shepherds and angels sounded the same this year.

What did you hear?

Mary and Joseph were being obedient to this Emperor Augustus who turns out later to be a not very nice guy.

They came to be counted, a political head count.

And then they had to make do even though Mary is having their baby now.

No room at the inn.

No solid walls to protect them.

No soft mattress.

Just this stable and this manger.

I don’t care how thorough the innkeeper was at cleaning the stable…

If you’ve ever mucked out a barn you know what it’s going to be like 2 minutes later.

And this manger…it’s the thing the animals eat out of.

They’re making do though.

And then these shepherds.

They seems like nice lamby kind of people doing a nice lamby job, right?

But back then, shepherds were looked down on.

People assumed that shepherds were going to sneak around and try to let their sheep eat off of other people’s property.

And they were always out there sleeping in the dirt and rocks.

Why did God pick them to be the ones to tell us about the baby Jesus coming?

Why not someone clean and honest, someone nicer?

God picked shepherds…God favored them.

And the angel from heaven talked to them.

And then the shepherds heard a heavenly chorus of angels.

Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors.

And the shepherds ran away from that field, from their flocks.

And they went to find this baby wrapped in bands of cloth, lying in a manger.

Is that what you came to see?

Do you believe what the shepherds are telling us?

Good news of great joy…to you is born this day a Savior, the Messiah, the Lord.

Is that what you came to hear?

Do you believe it?

How can it be true?

Can we believe that these shepherds were visited by real angels?

They’re shepherds not prophets.

Can we believe that our Savior would be laying in a manger in a stable?

He’s a king, not a beggar.

Why are we here?

What does all this mean?

It means that a child has been born for us and he is named…

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

These shepherds and these two young and obedient Jews making do.

This baby.

Look into his eyes and we can see what it means.

It means that we are favored.

That people all over this planet are favored.

Even the people that might seem the most unlikely.

It means that we can have real hope.

That God’s promises are being fulfilled.

It means that we are loved and forgiven.

That God accepts us unconditionally.

Not so we can just stay the same.

God accepts us unconditionally so that we can start over again.

If we kneel down here by the manger and look into the eyes of the baby Jesus…

We can see that God is making a way for us to be made new.

God is making a way for us to be born again.

No matter how far away you might think God seems to be.

Or even if you may think that you’ve neglected God too much.

No matter where your life is at.

You may think that you’ve been too big a jerk, too angry or spiteful or unforgiving of others.

You may think that you have been too bad a person…a rotten attitude, a cynical attitude, doing things that you know are wrong.

Or you may realize that you’ve been thinking that you were just fine, a basically good person…that you don’t need God.

Kneel here at the manger and look into those eyes.

God is calling you into a new life, a deeper life.

God is calling you to see yourself for who you are.

And then God is calling us to be born again with this baby.

To give our hearts over to this Jesus in the manger.

Whether you are here in church for the first time this year.

Or whether you come every time the doors are open.

This baby is born for you.

A child has been born for us…a Savior.

Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!

We are favored.

And God is calling us to look into these eyes and to follow this baby, our Lord, our Savior.