Christmas - 2022

 Today we celebrate the birth of our Savior. As we listen today, let's notice, reflect, pray, & act on all the Spirit shows us. Do you see tension between Lv 20:10 & Isa 42:3? In Lv 20:10? notice the law's strict, harsh righteousness. It calls for Mary to be stoned. 10 " 'If a man commits adultery with another man's wife-with the wife of his neighbor-both the adulterer & the adulteress must be put to death. How different that is from Isa 42:3's righteousness, which the Messiah will bring! 3A bruised reed he won't break, & a smoldering wick he won't snuff out. In faithfulness he'll bring forth justice. This is a new word about what righteousness really is. Isaiah spoke for Israel's future exile in Babylon. He offers a new version of righteousness that is in tension with & will supersede the rigid law of Leviticus & the Torah. Let's now see that tension Mt 1:18-19. 18This is how Jesus Christ's birth came about. His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph. But before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. 19Joseph her husband was a righteous man, so he didn't want to expose her to public disgrace. He had in mind to divorce her quietly. Mary was betrothed, promised to Joseph. Exclusive. Married, & within a year of being able to live with her husband. During her betrothal year, Mary was chaste. And still she became pregnant. Who could believe her story? 'The Holy Spirit did it' Right! Poor Joseph, Mary's husband, is a righteous man. Not in a rigid, harsh way. But he's done. The only question? How can he end the betrothal? He doesn't want Mary stoned, humiliated, or shunned. Over & over & over in his mind, he's writing a certificate of divorce. Sleep eludes him. What's he waiting for? Appearances can be deceiving. The choice seems obvious. Death or life? Shame or despair? Mary's good name or his own? None of these were really choices for Joseph. He lives by a Reformed law, according to a Reforming Spirit. Leviticus? So cold, so hard, so clear. Flint striking granite. Isaiah? Gentle righteousness borne of a nation's brokenness. The ambiguity of a breeze. Joseph chose new righteousness, becoming Protector of Bruised Reeds, Patron saint of Smoldering Wicks, model for manliness for those who have ears to hear. Fresh mercy every morning not only for me & mine, but for every tribe, every clan, every tongue, even those from countries not our own. Living into this new righteousness cost Joseph dearly. He was so misunderstood among those for whom God's choice appears to be cold, hard, & clear. Appearances can be deceiving. Let's pray: Lord, make us protectors of bruised reeds: Where there is cold calculation, let us bring warm embrace; where there is hardness of heart, let us bring gentleness of spirit; where flint strikes granite, let us point toward mercy's dew; where others cast out, let us draw in; where others shame & blame, let us name with a divine claim; where there is a too easy clarity, let us bring questions, oh, so many, many questions. O Divine Master, may we not so much seek to snuff out the smoldering wick as to reignite the flames of justice; to fear brokenness as to be transformed by it; to shout, "Crucify!" as to pray at the foot of the Cross. For it is in being embraced by your mercy that we share it with others; it is in welcoming Mary into our home that God-possibilities flourish; it is in singing a new song that the birth of Messiah Jesus comes about. In Mt 1:20. 20After Joseph considered divorce, sleep finally came & with it a dream. an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. "Joseph, Son of God's Promise, Son of David, don't be afraid to take Mary home as your wife. What's conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. God's love overshadowed Mary, just as it will overshadow all your fear, anger, & doubt. People say fear limits the heart; much more does it enslave the mind. Hearts break &, sooner or later, later or sooner, heal. But a mind? Broken minds last & last & last... Joseph, tempted & expected to fear, is saved by dreaming. Not thinking, scheming, or even believing, but dreaming. Imagination, the spiral of growing, developing, multiplying Faith. Hope. Love. God's Promise, God's Peace-Hidden awake, revealed asleep, Have we forgotten this ancient dance? Neglected the God-dreams given to us as children? Deserted all God-possibilities of our youth? Allowed them to be choked out of us like the Sower's thorny soil? Might God-dreams live again? Can they? Should they? Will they? And with them, Holy Spirit? Oh, Father Joseph, pray for us sinners in the hours of our life! Let's pray: Lord, fill us with dreams: Let us see possibilities instead of limits. Travel over mountains instead of seeing roadblocks. Let us be deaf to naysayers. Let us see your abundance instead of scarcity. let us be known, for certain, instead of being unknown & uncertain. Let us dream instead of fear. O Divine dream-giver, may we embrace your will more than our own. May we dream bigger dreams more than seek to avoid great challenge. May we seek to hear the whispers of the Holy Spirit more than listen to the siren call of our fear. For in hearing the Holy Spirit sons & daughters prophesy. In sacred whisper the young see visions & the old dream dreams. In sleep God brings life among us. We call him Jesus. In Hebrew, Yeshua. "He Who Saves." Let's read Mt 1:21. Gabriel, the Lord's messenger, told Joseph, 21a"You're to name the boy Jesus. Yeshua. From their own brokenness will God heal his people; their darkened souls will become prisms of light. 21bHe'll save his people from their sins." Who imagines the mirror as a spiritual tool? Ever? Comfort comes more from peeking out a window. Our neighbors' folly is our sacred scorn. More intense still is the window of oppression. Our enemies' cruelty becomes our holy lament. "How long, O Lord, 'til you smite my enemies?" An angel comes with disturbing news. "The mirror is the only way." Not Rome, nor Caesar. Not Herod, nor the Pharisees. Neither Trump nor Biden. Not our moms or dads or exes or bosses. Us. We are the Ones who need healing & wholeness, cleansing & renewal, forgiveness. Don't look out the window at other's sins. Yeshua comes to save us from our own. Let's pray. Lord, make us saints who see ourselves in your mirror. When tempted to peek out a window, put the mirror before us. When tempted to look about for other's sins, let us confront our own. When tempted to name other's problems, let us confess our own. When confronted with the mirror, let our eyes remain open. When the mirror is friend or family, let us receive rebuke as a gift. When the mirror is enemy or "other," let us see instead your Hand of Grace. O Divine Master, let us inward more than outward. Claim grace for all more than blame sin on others. Affirm, "I have met the enemy... & the enemy is me" more than worry about our enemies. Lord, deliver us from ourselves. For in honest humility & humble accountability we are freed through & for forgiveness. It is in, with & by grace, your grace, the one & only grace that saves, that forgiveness flows through us to others, making enemy & stranger, friend & neighbor. An ancient theological debate centered on how to describe Mary. Was she christotokos? "Christ-bearer?" Or was she theotokos? "God-bearer?" The ancient church took a definitive stand at the Councils of Chalcedon & Nicea. Where did they find their answer? Mt 1:22-23. 22All this took place to fulfill what the Lord said through the prophet Isaiah. 23 "The virgin, Mary, will be with child & will give birth to a son. They will call him Immanuel." "God with us." The ancient church's answer was that Mary would be the theotokos. God-bearer, because of the child's name. Immanuel. God With Us. Just as God's truth-teller, Isaiah, spoke long ago. With. Not just existence together. Side by side, arm-in-arm, strolling through life. Not parallel travels, then going separate ways. Not the quiet desperation of so many a marriage. Not the slow death of too many churches just going through the motions. With. God-life in-breaking, destroying assumptions. God-hope shattering despair, planting seeds. God-love breaking down walls of hostility between self & "Other." God-whimsy in the Jesus who likes to party. With. Who'd have guessed? Who'd guess such sacred silliness? Immanuel. God with us. Jesus. Let's pray: Immanuel, make us instruments of with-ness. When others keep their distance, let us connect. When relationships rupture, let us repair. When the Church rejects, let us embrace. O Divine Master, may we not so much seek to be known as one who claims you as one who is with you. Not so much to claim your allegiance as to welcome your presence. Not so much to boast of our closeness to you as to rejoice in your presence with us. For it's in being with you that we bring grace. It's in Immanuel we learn you aren't against us & we aren't alone. According to 1st-C. Jewish culture, Joseph adopted Jesus by naming Him & in so doing asserted a union & intimacy forged in the bonds both of law & love. Let's read Mt 1:24-25. 24aJoseph woke up, from his dream - was it only a dream? Yes, but dreams have power, & so this dream's power transformed Joseph. 24bHe did what the angel of the Lord commanded him. He took Mary home & embraced her in the covenant of love as his wife. 25 Yet he remained chaste & had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. He adopted the boy by asserting his right to name him Jesus. There is power in a choice. "I choose family," said the dad who could never be father. Nothing forced, coerced, required, or obligated. Chosen. Like saying yes to a cool breeze on a summer's day. Joy for the low, low price of naming a boy not technically his own. Yet in the naming the boy became something new: shared, deeper union, consummation of love's covenant. For in the naming the boy became a son. Let's pray. Lord, make us instruments of naming: Where anonymity cripples, let us seek to know another; where namelessness means forsaken, let us see, hear, & call to them; where society forgets, let us remember; where society ignores, let us notice; where encountered by those who are faceless, let us speak them into dignity. O God of Joseph, may we not so much seek to claim parental rights as to embrace all children in love; not so much to do what's expedient as to live according to what's just. For it's in communion & union that community is formed; it's in naming Jesus as one's own that Jesus finds a home. Now go into the world. Notice the stranger. Notice the alone. Speak to them. Encounter them. What is their name? What is their story? Open yourself to the common themes in each other's narratives. Be a place of welcome. Notice. Pray. Act. Christmas - Matthew 1:18-25 Page 1 of 1