Reflections on “Surprising Paths” Luke 2: 8-16

A beautiful, crisp evening made it feel like Christmas and the gathered congregation brought excitement to the evening.  Preaching Christmas Eve is always a challenge because everyone already knows the story.  it also feels like a collision of moods - for some Christmas is exciting and an escape from the world, but for others it is a moment of melancholy or depression as they remember their brokenness or who is not sitting in worship with them.  I tried to bring to Bethlehem, so to speak, to meet the Christ-child and the truth of God's desire to be with us.

 “Surprising Paths”  Christmas Eve, 2022; St. Andrew Presbyterian Church, Denton; Luke 2: 8-16; Richard B. Culp

⁸In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. ⁹Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: ¹¹to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. ¹²This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.” ¹³And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, ¹⁴“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!” ¹⁵When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.” ¹⁶So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger.

Introduction:  My cousin has two young children. 

her daughter is about 6 yrs old and her son is about 3.

Recently, they were playing together.  My cousin did not know what they were playing, but it was great that they were talking to each other and getting along.

She finally realized that the journey to Christmas must have made an impression on her two children when she heard her daughter exclaim to her brother: 

"Quick! I am having a baby and the plane to Bethlehem is leaving soon!"

Lots of different paths to Bethlehem! 

people are following lots of different paths to get to Bethlehem, some of them surprising paths:   Mary and Joseph travel from their home in Nazareth; the shepherds travel from their fields; the wise men travel from some unknown place car away.  

All their different paths lead to the Christ-child.

What path have you traveled to get here tonight?

Move 1:  For a few minutes this evening, Let’s reflect on some of the paths people travel, some of the paths we travel to find the Christ-child.

a.  Mary and Joseph traveled the path of obligation to Bethlehem.

1.  they had to go and be counted for the census, which means Mary and Joseph were obligated to travel to Bethlehem because of Joseph’s family.

2. I won’t ask how many of you are here this evening because you have to be here out of family obligation.

your parent 

or your spouse 

or kids demanded you come to Christmas Eve worship tonight.

or you had to see your grandchild participate in the worship service.

2.  in a life full of obligations, maybe that’s just what you always do, 

so here you are, traveling the path of obligation to get to Bethlehem.

b.  Mary and Joseph’s also traveled their path carrying a burden.

1.  Mary shows her burden in the very late stages of her pregnancy.

2. Joseph probably feels the burden of trying to meet the needs of his very pregnant wife

And find a place for his pregnant wife to rest in Bethlehem.

3.  I suspect some of us have traveled the path to tonight carrying our own heavy burdens.

4.  the burden of medical journeys;

5. Burdened by our concerns for the world.

6. Burdened by the challenges we face in our own lives.

c.  Now the shepherds,

the shepherds travel a path full of excitement and energy as they race from the fields after hearing the angels announce the news of Christ’s birth.

1. they cannot even wait until the morning, so they leave in the middle of the night (leaving behind their sheep in the fields).

2.  Overwhelmed by what they will find, and how their lives will be changed, their path is full of excitement.

3. Maybe your path to tonight has been an exciting one 

4.   someone told me the other day that last year at this time Christmas was a downer.  they’d had a very difficult 2021, and Christmas last year was just a reminder of all their difficulties.

But this year, this has been a great year so Christmas seems wonderful this year. 

4.  Maybe you are moving through an exciting time in your life with new opportunities waiting before you.

5. Tonight is one more exciting stop along your path.

d.  The wise men go on a long journey full of unknowns 

1. They do not know exactly what path to take to get to the place, and they don’t even know where it is (they have to stop and ask for directions).

2.  And they are going to an unknown place to see the baby born, the baby whom they do not exactly know who he is (they have to ask about that, too).

3. But they travel anyway.

4. Maybe you have been traveling the path of uncertainty.

5. Uncertainty imposed on you by a forced change in jobs or some change caused by circumstances beyond your control.

6.  Maybe your uncertainty arises because you are not sure what you are looking for in life at this moment, but you know you want something more.

e. Most of us have traveled paths that had a part of all those journeys - paths with some obligation, with some burdens, with some excitement, with some uncertainty.

1.  The path we have traveled to get here has been surprising.

2. I bet a year ago on this night if you had mapped out your year, planned the path you would take in detail, 

3. life is like that - full of surprises, challenges, opportunities

Move 2:  So hear the good news:

no matter the path you traveled, no matter what surprises you have discovered along the way, your path has led you to this place.

a.  To hear the story again;

to be reminded;

to lay claim;

to announce to the world 

that God has arrived in flesh 

b.  God has come to redeem the world

to save us

to give us hope in the face of the challenges we discover 

to call us to new life.

c.  How does God do this?

1.  By choosing to be with us.

2.  The Gospel of Matthew tells us that the child born in Bethlehem will be called  Emmanuel, “God with us.”

d. The christ-child arrives with no promises of wealth

or material possessions

or an easy life

or the winning lottery ticket

or no more medical issues

or no more war and violence in the world.

3. But he arrives to be with us.

To join with us in every challenge, in every joy.

4. WE cannot know with any certainty what surprising paths we will go down in the future, 

but we know with absolute certainty who will be with us.

The God who comes in Christ.

Move 3:  I love the story told by two Americans who were invited by the Russian Department of Education to teach morals and ethics (based on biblical principles) in the public schools. 

They were invited to teach at prisons, businesses,  the fire and police departments, and a large orphanage, where about 100 boys and girls were under care. 

As Christmas approached, they read the Christmas story in their classes and taught how it had become the foundation for the Christian ethics that had developed. 

With the kids at the orphanage, they didn’t teach ethics, but instead had an art project.

They read the story, and then they gave the kids small pieces of cardboard to make a manger; strips of yellow napkins to make the hay for the manger;  small pieces of old flannel shirts to be cut up for blankets, and then tan felt to cut out a little baby Jesus.  

As the kids were assembling the mangers the two teachers were walking among them looking at the emerging manger sets.

They discovered one of the manger scenes had two babies in the manger, so they called the translator over and asked her to ask the child to tell them about his manger scene. manger. Crossing his arms in front of him and looking at this completed manger scene, the child began to repeat the story very seriously. For such a young boy, who had only heard the Christmas story once, he related the happenings accurately,  until he came to the part where Mary put the baby Jesus in he started telling the story.  he told it just like he heard it until, until the part where Jesus was born and laid in a manger.  

Then, the little boy began ad-libbing his own ending.

he said, "And when Maria laid the baby in the manger, Jesus looked at me and asked me if I had a place to stay. I told him I have no mamma and I have no papa, so  I don't have any place to stay. Then Jesus told me I could stay with him. But I told him I couldn't because I didn't have a gift to give him like everybody else did.   But I wanted to stay with Jesus so much, so I thought about what I had that maybe I could use for a gift. I thought maybe if I kept him warm, that would be a good gift. So I asked Jesus,  "If I keep you warm, will that be a good enough gift" And Jesus  told me, "If you keep me warm, that will be the best gift anybody  ever gave me." "So I got into the manger, and then Jesus looked  at me and he told me I could stay with him and he would stay with me — for always."    (https://www.epm.org/resources/1999/Dec/1/russian-christmas-story-always/)

Conclusion: you have traveled your path and found the Christ-child, 

the one who has come to be with us,

to be with you.  Always. 

“Surprising People” Matthew 1: 18-25

Fourth Sunday of Advent already!  The sermon worked ok.  I did delve a bit into the righteousness of Joseph.  I had not focused on that in a sermon previously, but Joseph must dismiss Mary because he is a righteous man and should not abide by what would have been considered adultery.  In fact, Joseph is already going a bit against what he should do by not making Mary's "adultery" public.  t seems to me that the angel calling on Joseph not only tells Joseph that Mary has not committed "adultery," but is telling Joseph that righteousness is no longer tied to the law, but now is about listening to God and standing with Mary. 

 “Surprising People” December 18, 2022; St. Andrew Presbyterian Church, Denton; Matthew 1: 18-25; Richard B. Culp

18 Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. ¹⁹Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. ²⁰But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. ²¹She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.’ ²²All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet:
²³ ‘Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
   and they shall name him Emmanuel’,
which means, ‘God is with us.’ ²⁴When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, ²⁵but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus. 

Introduction:  We continue looking for surprises in the stories surrounding Christ’s birth. 

this week we reflect on surprising people in two different ways - the surprising people we find in the story and the way God keeps surprising people.

Move 1:  Surprising people

a.  the two main characters in the stories leading up to Christ’s birth are Mary and Joseph

1. The Gospel of Luke tells the story of Jesus’ birth through the perspective of Mary

2. the Gospel of Matthew tells the story of Jesus’ birth through the perspective of Joseph.

4.  Mary and Joseph - we have come to revere and admire them.

5. We have seen so Christmas pageants with Mary in her blue and Joseph standing quietly by her side that they may not seem like surprising people.

6. But, stop and put them in their original context when God chose them.  I suspect we will see them as surprising people.

b.  Do you remember Midge?

1. Barbie’s best friend doll was introduced in the 1960s.  

Through the years there was a Hawaii Midge; a California Beach girl Midge, a wedding day Midge, an African-American Midge

an early 2000 iteration of Midge was pregnant Midge.  Part of the Happy Family series that included husband Alan, son Ryan, a talking house, swimming pool, neighborhood marker, and playground.

But this Midge ran into a few problems.  Midge did not wear a wedding ring; she had a magnetic womb with a baby inside; and she was not sold in tandem with her husband.

Some customers revolted against a pregnant Barbie doll with no wedding ring and her husband not included in the same package.

The customer revolt led to Wal-Mart pulling all the Midge dolls off its shelves.

Mattel, the maker of Barbie dolls eventually pulled Midge and repackaged her for sale with a wedding ring on and sold with a husband, and no longer pregnant, but with her three kids available for purchase as well. 

(http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/industries/retail/2002-12-24-pregnant-doll_x.htm Rev. Lauren Winner, an Episcopal priest, author, and blogger led me to these two illustrations/articles in her blog "Do You Remember Midge?" http://thq.wearesparkhouse.org/featured/advent4cgospel/; also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midge_(Barbie))

Surprise - the God who comes in Christ comes by way of Mary, who as a young, unmarried, pregnant girl would not have been able to sell her doll on store shelves.

     c. Joseph

1.  Ordinary.  nothing special.  Good guy.

2.  You would not pick him out of the crowd. 

3. no history of his exceptional behavior or family pedigree.

4.  Surprise - God chooses him to walk this journey to Christ’s birth with Mary.

d. Consider all the characters we encounter in the birth story of Christ.

1. shepherds - nothing special about them, but surprise, they are part of Christ’s birth story.

2. Wise men - maybe they had some unique gifts that made them special, but they were non-believers.  Surprise - they are part of Christ’s birth story.  wise men

2.  A pattern the Christ-child will continue when he grows up and engages in ministry.

3.  How many times do we read about Christ healing someone, or teaching someone, or calling someone to follow and say to ourselves, “Now that’s a surprise.   I wouldn’t have expected that person!”

e.  .  Paul’s letter to the Romans.

1. Long theological treatise that ends with Paul mentioning names of the people in the church.

2. 23 names.  Ten of whom are women (a surprise for those of us who think Paul does not support the work of women in the church).

3.  have you ever heard of any of those people?

4.  Susan, our liturgist, did a terrific job of reading the passage from Romans.  she emailed me yesterday and asked where she could find a resource that would tell her how to pronounce all the names correctly.  

"I don't know," was my reply.

            5. Do you recognize any of the names?  Maybe Prisca and Aquilla from Acts.   

            6. the early church grows through people we have never heard of.

5. Jesus' birth and then Jesus' ministry are marked by surprising people being involved.

e.  When you look at all those people, what do you see?

1.  Perhaps in the hearing and telling of the story we see ourselves.

2.  We look in the mirror - surprise, looking right back at you is someone God is calling.

Move 2: We also see in the birth stories God surprising people.

a.  how do we know the people involved are surprised?

1.  Because the first thing the people are told is “Do not be afraid!”

2.  They cannot believe God has included them or called them or asked them to join in, so they are afraid.

3.  Afraid of God saving the world?  no.  they were hoping for a Messiah.

2. Afraid because God is going to use them.

4. Afraid because God is calling them to step out in action.  maybe even change.

b. We read how God surprises Joseph.

1. We are told Joseph is a righteous man.

2. We hear that and think, “oh Joseph was a nice guy.”

3. But we should be thinking about righteousness in the context of Jewish law.

4. what we are being told is that Joseph follows the rules.

Joseph is right before God.

Joseph does the right thing according to the law.

Being righteous means one day maybe he could be a leader in the synagogue or even a Pharisee.

5. Being righteous means doing the right thing according to the law when Mary gets pregnant.  

he’s not the father, so he must leave her behind.

he will do it kindly, quietly, but firmly.  

6. He must maintain his righteousness.  He must make a statement about what is the right way to do things.

c.  Surprise - God has other plans for Joseph.

1.  Stay with Mary.

2. Give up his righteousness before the law to stand with Mary in the world.

c. Are you ready and willing for God to surprise you?

move 3:  Why does God use surprising people and surprise people?

a.  Clue - the name Joseph is told for the coming baby.

1.  Emmanuel 

2.  “God with us.”

b.  Emmanuel comes to reveal God’s greatest desire - God’s desire to be with us.

1. To be in the world.

2. To be in relationship with us.

3.  God with us means God working with people and through people.

Conclusion:  Surprise - God with us means God working with you and through you.  Amen.