Reflections on "You Have to Go" Micah 5: 2-5; Luke 2: 1-4

At the Chapel service, the sermon felt very disjointed.  Between services, I cleaned up the transitions and made them much simpler.  Basically, instead of a long phrase, I worked with the "Go to..."  phrase to begin each move.  That made things go smoother, and I think helped me stay focused on the "go" part of the sermon, instead of getting bogged down in a bunch of words.  End result was a much better Sanctuary service.  

I have enjoyed this sermon series because people have seemed to like permission to reflect on their "signs of Christmas" in their own lives, but at times it has felt a little too contrived to make the "sign" fit the sermon (or vice versa) each week.  

“You Have to Go” 4th Advent; 12/20/15; Micah 5: 2-5; Luke 2:1-4

Introduction: As we continue reflecting on signs that Christmas is coming, I am thinking about traveling for the holidays.  

Growing up, we never went anywhere for Christmas; as an adult, my family has often traveled for Christmas.  Many Christmas Eves ended on the road.

 In fact, that sense of peace on the empty highways between here and TX (or FL on occasion) as Christmas morning arrives still feels like a great way to experience Christmas for me.  This year we are staying at home for Christmas. I sorta miss the thought of being on the road when the dawn of Christmas will arrive.

Many people travel for the holidays.  For some, it adds to the stress (I remember the stress of rushing home from the Christmas Eve service to start on the road trip, only to discover that we still had lots of packing to do before leaving).

for others, traveling is part of the joy of Christmas. Going home, or gathering somewhere with family and friends.

Making travel plans, packing the car or van, Christmas is just around the corner.

Traveling was a critical part of the Christmas story as told by the Gospels of Luke and Matthew.

 In Luke, as we were reminded last week, Mary travels to see Elizabeth when she becomes pregnant.

Today we read of how Joseph and a very pregnant Mary travel to Bethlehem to register for the census.

Christmas Eve we will hear the story of shepherds traveling from the fields to Bethlehem and then back again

Although we are not told when in the Gospel of Luke, presumably Mary and Joseph return to Nazareth from Bethlehem at some point.  

In Matthew, Mary and Joseph somehow arrive in Bethlehem (no reason is given for their presence there);

Wise men from the East travel to Bethlehem to find the one who was born king of the Jews (we remember they travel home a different way after being warned in a dream to avoid King Herod, who was the actual King of the Jews at that time)

Joseph, Mary, and baby Jesus flee in the night to Egypt after Joseph is warned in a dream about King Herod. (an particularly interesting part of the Christmas story this year as our nation and world debate what to do with refugees).

Reflect on traveling and Christmas; think about going to Bethlehem to meet Christ as an invitation to go.

Move 1: Go to a different place.

a. For many of us, we travel at Christmas to be with family, often in the homes in which we grew up, with the people whom we have known all our lives, and engage in rituals that are familiar and comforting.

b. That was not Mary and Joseph’s experience.

1. they have traveled from Nazareth to Bethlehem, which as I've mentioned before are about 100 miles apart.

2. Google maps says you could walk it in 34 hours. That seems a bit ambitious to me. Maybe if you just counted walking time, and not the time spent on breaks or eating.

2. If you were Mary and Joseph, you might have taken a week or more make that journey.

3. maybe they had been there before to visit distant relatives. Presumably they were not very connected to Bethlehem, or they would have had a place to stay.

4. Bethlehem was out of their norm.
5. The Christmas story as we discover it in the biblical texts is about being someplace new.
6. experiencing something different.

100. Wherever you may spend Christmas day this year, reflect on Christmas as an invitation to go to a new place.

1. Maybe not traveling to a different geographic location, but see that new place to which God is calling you.
2. Christmas is for those who are unsettled and looking for something more.
3. Those who have a yearning to find the one who will give you new opportunities and options for their lives..
1. GK Chesterton, poem “the House at Christmas” describes “homeless Mary in a stable,” but also men who are “homesick in their homes.”

Journey with Jesus: A Weekly Webzine for the Global Church, Since 2004, Daniel Clendenin

http://journeywithjesus.net/lectionary-essays/current-essay?id=761

5. Homesick in their homes. People stuck in their lives who want and need something new.

6. The child who arrives in Bethlehem invites us to envision ourselves in a new place.

Move 2: Go to an unexpected place

a. Family in KY – flew a plane; early Christmas morning scooped their young daughter out of bed, while she was still sleeping; drove out to the local airport; took off in the dark; a few hours later they landed in Orlando; their daughter awakened not at home, but in the Magic Kingdom.

b. Mary and Joseph do not have quite as magical a trip, although the arrival of shepherds and wise men surely add to the excitement of their experience.

1. Mary and Joseph spend Christmas in Bethlehem.
2. Bethlehem might be a on ok town.'
3. it certainly had some history.
4. But frankly, if you were planning the arrival of the Son of God, Jerusalem, just up the road would have been a much better place.

6. Jerusalem hosts the Temple; Jerusalem is the center of the Jewish tradition;Jerusalem is the Holy City that prophets have spoken of for generations; the prophets have noted that when everything is finally taken care of on earth, Jerusalem will be involved

7. but the script of Christ’s birth is not written by those who know how to market or who do the expected, it is written by prophets like Micah who tell of the long-awaited Messiah, who will arrive in little ole' Bethlehem.

100. That's the thing about the Christ child – he brings with him unexpected possibilities.
     1. Imagine the possibilities of following the one who defies expectations.
     2. Instead of your having to live into the expectations of the world, or your family, or even yourself, you can imagine the possibilities of following the God who chooses to come in flesh and arrives in Bethlehem.
     3. About the only expectations Christ brings are the expectation that you know God loves you, that's why we refer to Christ as love incarnate, love in the flesh, and the expectation that we share that love with others.
     4. The God who surprises us with the birth of Christ invites you to explore the surprising possibilities that God has in store for your life.

Move 3: You have to go.

a. Sometime forced by others.

1. Mary and Joseph had to go to Bethlehem for the census.

2. later, they flee to Egypt to escape the death threats of King Herod.

b. But I am talking about being compelled to go by your desire to be part of what God is doing.

1. Shepherds left their fields in the middle of the night.

2. Wise men wanting so desperately to find the Christ child they follow a star in the sky

3. The desire to connect with God, to be a part of something beyond ourselves, to openly accept the invitation of the God who desires to be a part of our lives.

conclusion: Chesterton's poem “The House at Christmas: finishes with these words:

To an open house in the evening
Home shall men come,
To an older place than Eden
And a taller town than Rome.
To the end of the way of the wandering star,
To the things that cannot be and that are,
To the place where God was homeless
And all men are at home.

(for a full copy of the poem, go to http://www.cse.dmu.ac.uk/~mward/gkc/books/house.html)

As Christmas approaches, God invites you to that new place, that unexpected place, where you are at home with God.

Luke 2: 1-4 In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria.  All went to their own towns to be registered. Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David.