So imagine you’re walking along, doing your thing and then BAM! It’s an angel right in your face! What are you thinking?
You’re thinking “Holy crap, I’m gonna die!”
The angel says, “Don’t be afraid.” Riiiiight.
And then a multitude of the heavenly host show up?! COME ON! You know somebody had an “accident.”
Wow. What a sight. What a sight to behold. And who gets to see it? Who receives this sight but the 1st century equivalent to a McDonalds drive-thru attendant repeating the phrase “would you like fries with that?” Over and over. You know, those people. The folks whom so many of us often look at with a sense of awkward pity as if to say, “I realize that you’re not qualified for much, just get my order right.” This is who God wants to know what just happened. This glorious sight, this majestic vision comes to a bunch of filthy, dumb, sheep haulin'' shmucks. Not only their work routine, but their whole world has been shaken up because God has shown up in an incredibly new way and God wants THEM to know about it.
And so they go all the way to Bethlehem and what do they find? They find a renaissance masterpiece of Michaelangelic proportions. You know the paintings! Everything’s so pretty. All the animals are lined up, the shepherds standing in a row. There’s the boy with the lamb draped over his shoulders. There’s usually an angel floating above, and don’t forget the star! And the holy family, man, do they look good. Right in the center is a 6lb 8oz Baby Jesus in his golden diaper and his full head of oddly blond hair. Mary’s all dressed in blue, kneeling, captivated by the sight of her son, while Joseph stands tall, looking on proudly. And all is right with the world. All is calm.
I don’t know if you’ve witnessed childbirth or seen any of those lifetime specials, but childbirth isn’t usually a calm scene, least of all in the first century when it was common for women not to survive. So let’s reexamine the glorious scene to which these shepherd hillbillies are called, paint brushes aside.
Let’s start with the location: An inn, but not like a Holiday Inn. This was probably somebody’s house likely a relative of Joseph’s since they went back to his hometown, anyway. The house is jam packed with people causing Mary and Joseph to make their bed among the animals in the stable-like room below. Ever been to a petting zoo? Ah yes, an ideal sterile location in which to give birth.
Speaking of giving birth, you have to remember that Mary and Joseph are not married yet. So the fact that Mary is about to give birth is a big “awkward turtle.” Anyone who knew them would have assumed that Mary was unfaithful and Joseph is a fool for not stoning her. But they’re not heartless so some of the women probably would have stepped in as midwives.
With no wealth to afford a birthing stool Mary probably gave birth on her feet leaning against someone while Joseph nervously waited outside listening to screams of agony. Blood, sweat, placenta.
Enter the fore mentioned hillbillies who have just been blinded by the light of angelic heralds rejoicing in the birth of the king only to find the “afterglow” of childbirth and the newborn Son of the Most High asleep in a feed trough.
Imagine that Sunday school Christmas pageant!
But what does this mean? What does it mean that God not only took on human flesh, but that Jesus entered the world the same way he left it- covered in blood, an outcast among the outcasts?
Three years ago I was diagnosed with clinical depression. Seventeen years ago is when it really showed up. I would go through these peaks and valleys of emotion that usually ended with massive self-loathing and loneliness. Every girl I dated broke up with me because I was miserable to be around. I often alienated my friends because I would lash out without warning. Teenagers being teenagers, it was often hard to be accepted, welcomed, included which only fueled my depression.
Finally one day I snapped. I don’t really remember what happened, I wasn’t really present in the moment. As a result my mom, not knowing what to do, felt I needed to spend some time away. Fortunately for me, by the grace of God, my best friend intervened and invited me to camp. It was that or a week with Grandpa in heaven’s waiting room down in Naples, Florida. I went to camp.
This is usually the part where people say things like, “I found Jesus” or “I came to Christ.” Well that is not the case. First off, I had long since been baptized and claimed by God. J-Dawg was already my homeboy. No. That first week of camp was for me what happened to the Shepherds. You see, I DID NOTHING. It was God who broke into my world and yanked me the hell out of my miserably monotonous cycle-of-suck to show me how much God literally loves me – and all of us for that matter- to death. At that camp I was introduced to so many people who would play enormous roles in helping me discern and shape my faith. One of these saints in my life would eventually become my wife.
But it doesn’t end with this interruption or with a conversion. Remember, there was singing. “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to all whom he favors!” Whom he favors? Who does God favor? Better yet, whom does God NOT favor? Who ought to receive this peace? And who ought not? Is this heavenly peace for good people? Is it for Christians, Jews, Muslims, Athiests, Americans, politicians, dictators? Is it for the rich or poor? The unemployed? The healthy or the sick? Survey says?! Yes. Yes it is for all of these because God’s desire for peace has nothing to do with what race, religion or status you claim, or health you feel or locale you find yourself and everything to do with God’s love for God’s creation.
In my story, God broke into my wayward path through an invitation from a friend. Leaning into that invitation was the beginning of my peace- which I’m still leaning into. And God can work with that. But little did I know what God was doing. Little did I know that the Spirit would guide me into the Lutheran Church when I had been staunchly Roman Catholic my whole life, to youth ministry in Baltimore, Maryland when I lived in New York City my whole life, and then to Lincoln, Nebraska to this moment here with you. This invitation wasn’t just to go to camp all those years ago, but an invitation to take part in the in-breaking of the kingdom of God; to become a vessel through which God will break into someone else’s life. Everyone of us shares in that invitation. We call it discipleship.
This world is a mess. We have reeked havoc on all of God’s creation. But God is still breaking in. This is what Advent is all about. Our world is a chaotic-pooh-ridden-stable ready to receive the peace and joy that can only come at the sight of one newborn child because he lives and breaths; he dies and he rises so that in the mess we may find a peace that surpasses all understanding. So this Advent, this season of hopeful waiting, may God break into our world again, so that we may see Jesus. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment