The Manger Sermon
by Reverend Kevin
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This was written by a very special cyber friend. You rest in peace, Reverend Kevin. Your memory lives in our hearts...
Just Another Christmas Card It’s just another Christmas card. You’ve seen hundreds like it before; it’s the manger scene with all of them clustered together in the front. Take the card in your hand. Look closely. You have to look closely, because we hardly look at them anymore. You see them so often that you don’t even recognize them anymore. You see the superficial images – your eyes glance through them. Mary in her blue, and Joseph leaning on his staff. Some shepherds in rags, and the wise men in robes. And an angel! Did you ever wonder who they are? And what makes them so special? In the middle is Mary, always in the middle. Who is she? What’s she all about? She was a young woman that gave a small town lots to gossip about. Whispers, “Did you hear that she’s pregnant?” “They’re not even married yet?” “Do you think it’s Joseph’s child?” “I would never have thought that about her.” But she was also a young woman whom God chose in a very special way, as terrifying as it may have been for her. She was a young woman of tremendous faith and magnificent courage, who risked social disgrace and allowed herself to be touched by God. She looks at us from the Christmas card, asking if we have the faith to let God touch us. Just off to her side is Joseph – ever-faithful Joseph who stands by protecting her. Who is he? What’s he all about? “Oh, he’s just an old fool,” they scoffed at him. You can hear the whispers: “Can you believe it? He’s still going to marry her. I wonder what sort of story she told him” He was a man who allowed himself to trust in God. He was a man who allowed himself to believe that God could do the impossible. Despite his doubts and fears he allowed his imagination to grow into accepting the unimaginable. He looks out at you from the Christmas card, asking if we have the vision to imagine God involved in our lives. In the background are the shepherds, looking on at it all. Who are they? What are they all about? The shepherds were the nobodies of the ancient world. No one wanted to be a shepherd, especially one that worked the night shift like these ones did. And yet God chose these ordinary folk, working the graveyard shift, to be the first to hear the news about Jesus born in Bethlehem. The shepherds were simple people, and, yet they had hearts that allowed them to receive the good news. They look at us from the Christmas card, asking if we can receive the idea that God is interested in our ordinary lives. In the foreground of the card are the Magi with their gifts. Who are they? What are they all about? Why should these people come from the East to bring presents to a child born in a stable? They were astrologers, learned ones who had the humility to recognize someone greater than themselves. They were wise and mighty ones who had money and power and nice clothes and a nice home, and yet had an empty ache in their hearts. They knew that there must be something more, and they had the wisdom to trust God to guide them to that something more. They look at us from the Christmas card, asking if we have questions that we are seeking answers to, and if we are willing to make the journey of faith that they made. The angel hovers over the whole scene. Who’s the angel? What’s it all about? Angels are a hot commodity nowadays. Angels are trendy. Angels are in and we make good money off them. People love the image of a protecting and comforting angel. But the angel here is different, giving a message that God is among us and that God wants to be with us, if only we will let God do that. This angel does what angels do so often. They slip from the spirit realm into our day-to-day world and they disturb us with the message that God wants to encounter us, if only we will be open. The angel looks at us from the Christmas card asking if we just might accept God’s invitation. And so, the Christmas card rests in your hand. You have two options: you can put it back on the stack of cards to be tossed in the recycling bin at the end of the season. Or, you can look at it closely, perhaps for the first time. The card can become what it is supposed to be – a message of something wonderful, a message of good news. If you take the second option, then the card ceases to be a card, and instead becomes a way for Christ to be born into your life, and to transform your heart. If you take the first option, it will remain just another Christmas card and be forgotten…at least until next Christmas, when the cards arrive again, and when Mary and Joseph, and the shepherds and the Magi and the angels will look out at you again and ask the same questions once more.
Merry Christmas
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