Now What?
Main text of sermon from Dec. 30, 2007. Stories used have been left out.
Look at this cute little baby. Isn’t he just darling? I wish you could see the Mary and Joseph that go with this nativity set. They are looking so lovingly at him. In awe of him, you know the drill—admiring the fingers and toes, watching him sleep, amazed at the miracle of a new life. We all do it when we see babies. And we do it with our baby Jesus in the manger, too. We focus on this little guy, this baby. We sing to him, some of us bake a birthday cake for him each year. We anticipate His birth, plan for Him to come into the world each year.
But, the wonderful thing about this Jesus in my nativity set is that he comes out of the manger. He doesn’t stay there. In reality, baby Jesus isn’t this tiny little thing. He is more like the size of this doll. This is a bit harder to hold than that little thing. This doll is cute, too. Dressed so cute, looking all angelic and sweet. No dirty diapers, no urp on the shirt, none of that real stuff here. Don’t we do this to our baby Jesus, too? We don’t always think of the real life stuff that goes with a baby. Hard enough to take him out of the little manger and then to give him a real life size body.
How about going a bit further with this? Today’s scripture takes our cute little baby Jesus whose birth we celebrated earlier this week and does what the addition of any baby to a family does—turns life upside down. Some of you know firsthand what a new baby does to what you thought was your life—lack of sleep, change of focus, change in how long it takes to go somewhere, you can probably think of many other aspects of life that changes. Jesus’ birth changes life drastically for Mary and Joseph.
Today’s scripture isn’t pretty stuff. We hear about murder, fear, exile, upheaval, and relocation. That isn’t cute baby in the manger stuff. . We hear again Rachel’s lament from the Old Testament: Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be consoled, because they are no more. That is real, that is scary, hard to think about while we are still basking in the Christmas light glow.
There’s a big focus on Joseph in this text. God counts on Joseph to follow the directions in his dreams. God counts on that love Joseph has for that little baby and knows he will take him out of the manger (not literally as much time has already passed from that night), but will take him out of the manger and let life, as they know it be changed drastically. And they head into exile in Egypt. Then after a time, return but go to a new home again.
And you know what, I know that God wants us to take Jesus out of the manger, too, and let our lives be changed drastically. Yes, the Christmas season is special. I love Advent, that time of waiting, of growing, of realizing once again what gift God is giving us, the new life that God is offering to us once again. But, we are now on the road to Lent and Easter. And we need to take Jesus out of the manger and think about what that means for us. I have a few questions that came to my mind as I thought about this topic. Hopefully others will come to you as well. Let me share these with you.
What does this coming of the messiah mean to us today? If we think of him as Messiah, Savior, then we can face each day knowing God is there. We aren’t alone. What else does it mean for us personally, for the world?
If we acknowledge that the Christ child has been born, what does that mean for us in the days to come? Once we get beyond celebrating Him, we can look to Him for examples of how to live, to love, to share, to give. Jesus’ big lesson to us was to give to the poor, care for those in prisons, and He gave us the Holy Spirit with which we can do way more miraculous things than He ever did.
Are there exile stories we should hear? Are there people, communities, countries that have been sent away from what they knew life to be into a place foreign to them? Jesus was born to show us how to live through exile and beyond. Jesus knew that life-knew what it meant to be forced to leave home and then start over. Do you have life experiences that have shaped you and now could help others? God calls us to use those experiences to bring Christ to the world in ways that go beyond sharing the Good News with just our words.
Are there dreams we should be remembering and following? It is so easy to shut out those dreams or visions, say, “God, you can’t be talking to me.” And then, bury it in the recesses of our minds. God puts dreams in our hearts hoping we will be like Joseph and follow, not knowing what the journey will look like, or what the outcome will be.
Is there a new place we should be going ourselves? Maybe God has a new place for us to go. A return from exile maybe, a new ministry for us to lead, attend, support. Jesus left the manger to be our example-our guide in this journey. We have maps, travel guides, personal navigation systems to take us to this new place. As we ponder this in our hearts, what is this new place where God is calling to go?
With the birth of Jesus comes a reality check, this baby is coming out of the manger and is growing up and changing the world. We then can focus on the Jesus who brings justice, brings hope, and teaches us how to pray and how to act, and how to show grace and love to others. And because He was born, lived, died and rose again we have been given a new life as well. We, too, have been reborn and are being asked to leave the safe place God has kept us in as we have grown and now we need to listen to what God is calling us to next.
Here in Brainerd/Baxter there are new places we could be going—Do we acknowledge there are homeless people within our area? Do we recognize those who are hungry, sick, needing help? No matter what our position is on the education issues we have right now, we know we have many hurting families because of the fallout of the election.
New Pathways, formerly known as Interfaith Hospitality Network, is in its infancy here in Brainerd, serving multiple counties as a family shelter. There are families much like Joseph, Mary and Jesus-families in exile, without a home, without money, without the ability to be in their own home. They are waiting for the chance to go back home and they need our help.
I am sure you can think of many other areas where people are in need of our touch. Take this to a more global level. There are people all over the world waiting for people like us to understand that God is calling us to a new place, to see and hear the dream, to let that baby Jesus grow up and be the Savior of the world. We are going to sing another Christmas hymn in a little bit, Go Tell it on the Mountain. The last line in the third verse says, God sent us salvation that blessed Christmas morn—Go tell it on the mountain, over the hills, and everywhere. We are to share this story of the baby, that baby that didn’t stay in the manger, to share it everywhere. To give a message of light, of hope, of a future. We know that there are many people who celebrate Christmas, who hear the Christmas story and celebrate the birth of Jesus. But, do they know the rest of the story? We have the responsibility, not just the privilege of bringing that grown-up Jesus to the world. If Jesus stays in that manger, the message is not the same.
Main text of sermon from Dec. 30, 2007. Stories used have been left out.
Look at this cute little baby. Isn’t he just darling? I wish you could see the Mary and Joseph that go with this nativity set. They are looking so lovingly at him. In awe of him, you know the drill—admiring the fingers and toes, watching him sleep, amazed at the miracle of a new life. We all do it when we see babies. And we do it with our baby Jesus in the manger, too. We focus on this little guy, this baby. We sing to him, some of us bake a birthday cake for him each year. We anticipate His birth, plan for Him to come into the world each year.
But, the wonderful thing about this Jesus in my nativity set is that he comes out of the manger. He doesn’t stay there. In reality, baby Jesus isn’t this tiny little thing. He is more like the size of this doll. This is a bit harder to hold than that little thing. This doll is cute, too. Dressed so cute, looking all angelic and sweet. No dirty diapers, no urp on the shirt, none of that real stuff here. Don’t we do this to our baby Jesus, too? We don’t always think of the real life stuff that goes with a baby. Hard enough to take him out of the little manger and then to give him a real life size body.
How about going a bit further with this? Today’s scripture takes our cute little baby Jesus whose birth we celebrated earlier this week and does what the addition of any baby to a family does—turns life upside down. Some of you know firsthand what a new baby does to what you thought was your life—lack of sleep, change of focus, change in how long it takes to go somewhere, you can probably think of many other aspects of life that changes. Jesus’ birth changes life drastically for Mary and Joseph.
Today’s scripture isn’t pretty stuff. We hear about murder, fear, exile, upheaval, and relocation. That isn’t cute baby in the manger stuff. . We hear again Rachel’s lament from the Old Testament: Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be consoled, because they are no more. That is real, that is scary, hard to think about while we are still basking in the Christmas light glow.
There’s a big focus on Joseph in this text. God counts on Joseph to follow the directions in his dreams. God counts on that love Joseph has for that little baby and knows he will take him out of the manger (not literally as much time has already passed from that night), but will take him out of the manger and let life, as they know it be changed drastically. And they head into exile in Egypt. Then after a time, return but go to a new home again.
And you know what, I know that God wants us to take Jesus out of the manger, too, and let our lives be changed drastically. Yes, the Christmas season is special. I love Advent, that time of waiting, of growing, of realizing once again what gift God is giving us, the new life that God is offering to us once again. But, we are now on the road to Lent and Easter. And we need to take Jesus out of the manger and think about what that means for us. I have a few questions that came to my mind as I thought about this topic. Hopefully others will come to you as well. Let me share these with you.
What does this coming of the messiah mean to us today? If we think of him as Messiah, Savior, then we can face each day knowing God is there. We aren’t alone. What else does it mean for us personally, for the world?
If we acknowledge that the Christ child has been born, what does that mean for us in the days to come? Once we get beyond celebrating Him, we can look to Him for examples of how to live, to love, to share, to give. Jesus’ big lesson to us was to give to the poor, care for those in prisons, and He gave us the Holy Spirit with which we can do way more miraculous things than He ever did.
Are there exile stories we should hear? Are there people, communities, countries that have been sent away from what they knew life to be into a place foreign to them? Jesus was born to show us how to live through exile and beyond. Jesus knew that life-knew what it meant to be forced to leave home and then start over. Do you have life experiences that have shaped you and now could help others? God calls us to use those experiences to bring Christ to the world in ways that go beyond sharing the Good News with just our words.
Are there dreams we should be remembering and following? It is so easy to shut out those dreams or visions, say, “God, you can’t be talking to me.” And then, bury it in the recesses of our minds. God puts dreams in our hearts hoping we will be like Joseph and follow, not knowing what the journey will look like, or what the outcome will be.
Is there a new place we should be going ourselves? Maybe God has a new place for us to go. A return from exile maybe, a new ministry for us to lead, attend, support. Jesus left the manger to be our example-our guide in this journey. We have maps, travel guides, personal navigation systems to take us to this new place. As we ponder this in our hearts, what is this new place where God is calling to go?
With the birth of Jesus comes a reality check, this baby is coming out of the manger and is growing up and changing the world. We then can focus on the Jesus who brings justice, brings hope, and teaches us how to pray and how to act, and how to show grace and love to others. And because He was born, lived, died and rose again we have been given a new life as well. We, too, have been reborn and are being asked to leave the safe place God has kept us in as we have grown and now we need to listen to what God is calling us to next.
Here in Brainerd/Baxter there are new places we could be going—Do we acknowledge there are homeless people within our area? Do we recognize those who are hungry, sick, needing help? No matter what our position is on the education issues we have right now, we know we have many hurting families because of the fallout of the election.
New Pathways, formerly known as Interfaith Hospitality Network, is in its infancy here in Brainerd, serving multiple counties as a family shelter. There are families much like Joseph, Mary and Jesus-families in exile, without a home, without money, without the ability to be in their own home. They are waiting for the chance to go back home and they need our help.
I am sure you can think of many other areas where people are in need of our touch. Take this to a more global level. There are people all over the world waiting for people like us to understand that God is calling us to a new place, to see and hear the dream, to let that baby Jesus grow up and be the Savior of the world. We are going to sing another Christmas hymn in a little bit, Go Tell it on the Mountain. The last line in the third verse says, God sent us salvation that blessed Christmas morn—Go tell it on the mountain, over the hills, and everywhere. We are to share this story of the baby, that baby that didn’t stay in the manger, to share it everywhere. To give a message of light, of hope, of a future. We know that there are many people who celebrate Christmas, who hear the Christmas story and celebrate the birth of Jesus. But, do they know the rest of the story? We have the responsibility, not just the privilege of bringing that grown-up Jesus to the world. If Jesus stays in that manger, the message is not the same.
posted by Leslie | 10:06 AM
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