Comments for Susan      Other sermons

Let us pray!

Loving God, disquiet our comfort with how it has always been thinking long enough for us to know the fullness of what you offer us this Christmas. Be with this your servant in the pulpit.  Move me out of your way so that the words of my mouth and the meditation of each of heart is acceptable to your sight, Holy One, our strength and our redeemer. Amen.

Moments of great joy often compel us to speak about something we have found or experienced as wonderful and amazing.  Sometimes, it is difficult at best, if not impossible, to contain good news, even when it is old news or in some cases, worn out news.  There are simply some things which are so good, it is impossible not talk about them. Joy, deep abiding joy, comes to us and grants us an opportunity to talk out loud about God’s presence at work, in our lives and in the world.

It is true, an experience of joy sometimes makes it impossible to keep certain events to one’s self, even when they have been told before. Just ask me about my faith or about my children and you will see what I mean. These stories have the capacity to flow out of me like water cascading over the falls. Joy moves through us and when it does, there are times when we just have to talk about it.

If you were to ask my husband Ken and I to tell the stories about the joy of our children’s birth, you would hear similar themes running throughout, however, the details between each version would differ somewhat, sometimes radically. We were both in the same place, at the same time and witnessed the same things, and yet, we experienced those days--that common experience from different perspectives and through different lenses shaped by our own agendas.

In my version, I would tell about a drive that included every pot hole between our home and the hospital.  He would tell about a confidence in his ability to get us where we needed to be and just in time.  I would tell you about hours of laborious waiting, not allowed to eat, hungering for specific food which had previously brought me nine months of comfort, while in the eleventh hour, he ate my most favorite food in front of me.  He would tell you about the importance of keeping up his strength so he could offer his best support in the days ahead.

I would tell you about the amazing joy of holding each child for the first time.  He would tell you about the breathlessness that only comes with miracles.

Ken and I give our own individual accounts about these joy-filled events, but, in essence, we tell the same story. It is a story steeped in wordless awe and laced with worrisome anticipation of what lay ahead.  Without using specific theological words, together and separately, we tell a story that centers on God’s undeniable presence in the midst of new life. And…Every rendering of that same old story brings good tiding of great joy!

The story of Jesus’ birth is told in two of the four gospels, that of Matthew and Luke. Each account is presented through a particular cultural lens, with a particular focus and a specific message in mind. Both are canonized by the church that all who read and hear the story of Jesus coming to us might be drawn to a fuller understanding of Jesus’ presence in and amongst us. Today, each Gospel presents a story grounded in deep joy, a joy that comes from knowing that God’s purpose is at work in the world even when it first comes in a dream not yet realized. This joy is the joy we celebrate at Christmas, one that brings peace and good will to all people.  It is a story which must be told!

When gazing at modern nativity scenes which include everything from soup to nuts, -- sheep and camels; shepherds, wise men and wiser women; drummer boys and maidens with flutes; When we gaze at this scene, it is hard to remember there are two distinct accounts of Jesus’ birth—two stories that, for the most part, do not agree on details, yet, each one brings the same, the very same, brand of joyful hope to the world. 

Mutually, the two stories speak of a virgin woman named Mary, who is engaged to a man named Joseph, while divinely pregnant with a child before marriage. This is the only similarity in the two stories, the rest of the details differ significantly.  In Matthew, Joseph and his dream seems to be the prominent focus of the birth narrative, while in Luke the focus is on Mary as the favored one.  In each gospel an angel appears instructing Mary and Joseph to not be afraid for the child in Mary’s womb had been conceived by the Holy Spirit. In Luke’s gospel, however, the angel appears to Mary who desperately seeks to understand how “this could be” a child conceived by God’s Spirit, while in Matthews gospel, the angel appears to Joseph who thinks seriously about leaving Mary quietly.  Both accounts show the tension between what it means to follow the laws of one’s tradition and trusting the laws of God’s love.

Both Matthew and Luke’s gospels trace Jesus’ genealogy through Joseph, but the end points of that search differ significantly.  Matthew traces Jesus roots back to Abraham, the elder of Israel, while Luke traces Jesus linage back to Adam, the elder of human kind.  In this instance, it is not hard to distinguish that the historical roots and theology perspective of each writer. For Matthew speaks through the lens of the Jewish tradition, while Luke speaks through the lens of a Gentile. The views are not in competition, each simply tell a particular story from a particular perspective.

In Luke, Mary and Joseph live in Nazareth and travel to Bethlehem to be registered for the payment of taxes, there Jesus is born in a stable. In Matthew, Mary and Joseph actually live in Bethlehem where Jesus’ birth occurs in a house and not a stable. In Matthew’s account, it is “wise men from the East” highly educated astrologers, who follow the star to where the infant lay—while in Luke, it is joyful angels singing in the night that cause working class shepherds to follow the star to the stable and pay homage to the one who lay swaddled in a manger.

One divine heavenly story told from two perspectives radically different….  And to some degree, told exactly the same.  They tell us that Jesus comes into the world that we might know God’s deepest love for us all!  And this friends is good news of Great Joy!  It is a story that must be told!

Marcus Borg, Professor of Religion at Oregon State University, cautions us against seeing either Gospel account as “history remembered.” –an account or description of events documented by facts. Instead, he suggests what is presented in Matthew and Luke are “history metaphorized” –accounts told through allegory and metaphors.   It is not that Matthew or Luke have made up a story which contains little or no fact at all. Rather the use of metaphor illustrates the fact that a large part of each story contains a significant use of symbols and analogies. Each story is true! They tell us God comes to us that the world might be saved. The use of metaphor simply magnifies the essence of what Matthew and Luke want us see and to know from their perspective. It is important to remember the specific history being expressed through metaphor in these accounts is not only about “the birth of Jesus” itself.  Together and separately these two accounts tell “the Jesus story” as a whole.  Jesus is not just born.  Jesus is born to bring good news to the captives, sight to the blind and hope, healing and restoration to the nations.  In other words, at the feet of each gospel rests an early Christian confession of faith, an affirmation of Matthew and Luke’s commitment to the whole of who Jesus is and what Jesus will always be.

Today on this fourth Sunday in Advent 2007, the two accounts of the birth narrative continue to speak to us about how God’s Spirit stirred and stirs, caused and causes, something utterly new to be birthed into the world. (Brueggemann) This very day, God is with us, through Jesus, saving us when we can not save ourselves.  As we listen to and ponder each story, we are drawn to see and embrace, or to embrace then see, how, through the birth of Jesus, God’s glory shines all around us.  Joy!  Joy to the world. It is not an insensitive joy that remains unaware of the suffering we know is around us, rather a deep joy that compels us to tell the story of God’s presence in all circumstances not only in words, but in our living as well.  God with us calls us to be with God!

Matthew and Luke’s gospels, they are not stories of the past, rather each tells a story of today that pulls us towards what Borg calls the “internal birth in us in the present.”  Here, deep abiding joy is born! It is a joy that knows God is constantly doing something new in us so that the world might be a better place for all of creation.

So, joy. Joy comes to us and nests itself in the pit of our soul that we might be led to God.  Joy comes in the birth of a child named Jesus, born into a marginalized peasant class yet a dazzling light for the world.  Joy comes to us as enduring hope for tomorrow. Joy calls us to service, to ministry.  In Advent, God calls us to such joy!  Joy comes to shape our faith and transform our living that we might know true love and deep peace. Now, let us go tell the story!

Return to CCC Home Page