12-16-2018
The scripture for this morning comes from the second chapter of Luke verses 1 through 7. In those days Caesar Augustus declared that everyone throughout the Empire should be enrolled in the tax list. This first enrollment occurred when queerness Governor Syria. Everyone went to their own cities to be enrolled since Joseph belong to David's house and family line. He went up from the city of Nazareth to Galilee to David City called Bethlehem in Judea. He went to be enrolled together with Mary who was promised to him in marriage and who was pregnant. While they were there the time came for Mary to have her baby. She gave birth to her firstborn son wrapped him snuggly and laid him in a Manger because there was no room for them in the guest room.
The word of God to the people of God. Let us pray. Ord May the meditations of our hearts and the words of my lips be pleasing in your sight. our Rock and Our Redeemer amen
Many of you in the very front of your house have a doormat on the outside not all of you is so as blessed. It's a Cardinals doormat. Some of you have Cubs stuff or whatever and so some of you also have door mats that have this word on it called welcome. Welcome.
Maybe you've never really thought about welcome in what it means. It's just something you say right like a welcome. We're glad you're here.
It's actually. German and English and they both kind of have the same definition.
It's a will. desire and arrival
of a much-anticipated guest it's the desired arrival of a much-anticipated guest. I had this professor in seminary.
He was very Hughes do a Grecian and so he taught Greek and the new seven languages ancient and five agents of 12 total. You knock on his door, and he always said the same thing. Knock on his office door need save. come that was all you got you do interpreted call. I guess I'm going to open the door like. So the that word means for a desired purpose to move or journey to a Define vicinity with a specific purpose. So when he said come you meant State your desired specific purpose.
Say what you're here for. So the idea that that we are to welcome the stranger. That we are to treat them as a much-desired and anticipated guest. Says something about who God is and about who God calls us to be. I don't want to.
this image Which we are blessed with various. Depictions throughout the church, right? I don't want to to destroy this image. Okay. But I do want to build a little bit more in between the lines. Okay, so there's there's some things in the lines that we just need to to call out. Okay. So first off many of the depictions that we see of Jesus and Mary and Joseph. Is there anybody else like other than the Wiseman and the shepherd's is there any are there any ladies there? Right to Whatsapp knowledge the fact that no one's going to let a little girl have a baby alone. Right? So like there's other women that are going to be on the scene. Okay, and while this image here, I don't want to take away from we need to move the cow outside. and the sheep and the Donkey And then the other sheet we need to move them outside these guys here they're going to show up like when Joseph and Mary already have a house. Okay, they move from the end. Right and they're there at the house now. Okay, so they show up to the house. Jesus is around to it took a long time to get there there weren't very many wise women with them. And so then you have the shepherd's right in the Shepherds. Do they like they show up like right away. But they're not necessarily who you would invite home to family dinner right there Shepherds. They probably don't necessarily have families. They're out in the middle of the night like it. It could be someone who who is status wise much lower even than Joseph and Mary and and Joseph. Is an average Joe. Like God doesn't send his son the king to to where the world expected him to come from. it was from an average Drew and an average Mary who had total Faith In following where God was leading them. So in that way they were above average but by worldly standards they were average. And so also in this welcome while I don't want to take away this when I read this common English Bible version of where they were in English historically, it's like there was no room at the Inn right but there was no room in the hotel, okay. This one says guest room. Do you guys all catch that? So in houses back in that day, you would have kind of a family living quarters and you would have what would be like the Mother-in-law Suite? Okay and the others mother-in-law Suite over here, which is like for your guests that needs some privacy, right? Okay, but but Joseph wasn't going to somewhere where he didn't know anybody right? Like there was family connection there, right? And so
This disconnection there wasn't room in the guest room cuz that was full. But instead there's room in the living room. Is that change the story a little bit? In the living room is now it's it's not the really nice man cave living room. Okay. It's not in the basement with a big screen TV. It's it's more like half stable half living space. It's like that there would be a level and you could not like the donkeys couldn't come in the house, but they could like feel the warmth. Does that make sense? See that kind of an open space where they could feel some of that cuz you wouldn't want the water to de-freeze up all the time and you wouldn't you know that so they could get a little bit of the warms. Okay, so it's not like he was born at the Hilton right? Like there was a lot of things going on here with the idea that like Joseph and Mary were completely isolated and went off to have a birth that had no risk for her or for Jesus and and they didn't worry about any of those things just
It's a little bit glossed over the realities of our faith. Right? And the reality is that that it's a little bit Messier when we when we read in between the lines of what has happened. And so what we were talking about what it means to welcome when God welcomes Jesus into this world. There's no State dinner. There's there's no kings that have come to to honor him of. There's Wiseman which we sing We Three Kings, right? We three kings of Orient Are. They're wise men. We don't know that they were Kings me for a really good song though. And so and there's maybe three of them maybe more they brought three gifts. But the idea here is that Jesus came into the most vulnerable of vulnerable positions the world had to offer. Jesus came where there were no certainties work where Joseph was forced to travel to register for higher taxes. No matter what they promised on the campaign Trail they were going to raise taxes and he had to go and they had to register. And and he and his his wife. Will they left town kind of during the situation they were having? Where she was pregnant with God's baby you send some of the vulnerabilities here like the idea that that they were not expected of a welcome. They had went on a really long journey. That was probably uncomfortable and they were greeted. I who God has chosen. To welcome his son. Who God has chosen to welcome his son?
Three Shepherds who can't get a day job cuz they're not reliable who work at night guarding sheep.
Mary and Joseph and all of the people that were actually with them. Helping and guiding and praying them through. She went when the world expects God to work through kings and queens. He redefines for us. What a king and queen is.
So when we welcome others this Christmas. And maybe you were going to take a long trip where your kids will start asking when you pass Effingham if you're there yet. Or maybe you're going to travel with Airlines and you're going to have baggage claim and you're going to be uncomfortable and sweaty and you don't even know where you were that stupid pants anyway, cuz that belt barely holds your pants up. So you got to be like this little move as you're taking your belt off to go through that too much. Sorry. But the idea there is that we're going to be really really really tired when we get somewhere.
And we're going to be welcomed. Like God welcomes us. See, that's the other part of this simply welcome is the gods simply welcomes us that we are Christ's long expectant gas. and God loves us and welcomes us to the table no matter where our journey has taken us or how long it is taking us to get their God wants to Simply welcome you this Christmas so may our life of Faith share for others and make others feel as though they are are welcome guests as well. Cuz that's what welcome is about. That's what our faith is about the acceptance when the world says you're not accepted the love where the world shares nothing, but hate. Delete later on we're going to talk about these three wise men, right and so there's not three of them, but we'll just say three wise men. But they start looking for the King of Kings 490 years before Jesus is born. They're looking at the stars for 490 years. Before they see it appear. Is Daniel prophesize it in in Daniel when he was with the Babylonians, right? And so we know that the the Magi came from the East? insulator waited for their long expecting savior And so we've waited for our long expected savior as well. and may God richly bless your life in understanding the richness of God's welcome that you have been long expected in waiting for and that as people loved by God. We're also called. To accept and welcome those who are weary from their Journey. So this Christmas? Before you knock on the door or ring the doorbell looked at and think about what welcome really means. and then