READ LUKE 2:1-7 (The Birth)
MEDITATION:
A popular song asks the question, “What if God was one of us?” Isn’t that what we celebrate in this sacred and holy season? God did come as one of us, but it was in a form that we didn’t expect, and we have spent the past 2,000 years trying to figure out what it means.
What does it mean that God comes to us as a baby—not a conquering hero, but as a vulnerable, helpless, crying, nursing baby? What does it mean that God was born like we all are born, with pain and tears and sweat and blood? What it means is that God, in the form of Jesus, knows what it means to be a human being. When God is born among us anything is possible.
The birth of a baby often gives us a sense of hope and wonder. As a child enters the world we know that anything is possible. When I hold a newborn baby and looked into its tiny little face, I have asked the tiny human, “Who are you? Who will you become?” The possibilities are endless. They are a clean slate with the future yet to be written.
Jesus was born into a world mired in death and destruction: a world where the rich got richer at the expense of the poor; a world where might make right and the people chose to worship the idols of power and wealth. Jesus was born into a world not unlike our own. Is it any wonder that into such a world God chose to come among us in a new way, an unexpected way, a way that powerfully symbolizes hope and life—in the form of a newborn baby?
Through the birth of this child of hope the course of human history has been reversed by the only One who has the power to reverse it. It is God who enters human life, with the promise that the new world is coming: a world where sadness will be transformed into joy; a world where sin will be conquered by righteousness; a world where death will be overcome by resurrection.
When God chose to become human, the ordinary became holy and the holy became ordinary.
Through the birth of that baby in a stable in Bethlehem, God forged a link with us that will never be broken. Try as we may, through our sin and failures, our evil and wickedness, hope prevails because God loved us enough to become one of us.
What if God were one of us? There would be hope imaginable. Thank God, there is.
Written by Christy J. Waldersdorff, printed in Messenger, Dec. 2003, pp.14-15.
READ LUKE 2:8-20
READING:
The Christmas story from a sheep's point of view Shalom. I'm one of the elite sheep of Judea. Not just any sheep can belong to this sheepfold. We're selected as young lambs as perfect sheep, without any blemishes, wounds or defects. And there's more about sheep than any other animal in the Scriptures.
But there's a rumor about what happens to us, the elite sheep. Talk around the sheepfold, here, is that we're the sacrificial sheep for the temple. We can see the temple from this hill. Herod, a Roman, had it rebuilt--only bigger and more beautiful--to keep the Jews, who resented Roman occupation, pacified. It was strictly a political payoff, but at least the Jews had their temple re-built. It took ten years to build this twenty-six-acre temple made white marble and gold plated on the eastern side.
But rumor has it that on the inside it's more like a slaughter house than a sanctuary. In fact I've heard that on the south west corner is a drainage ditch that runs red with blood into the Kidron Valley. From what I overhear from the shepherds, every time one of you humans sins, one of us lambs have to die. So, there's a lot of sacrificing going on. There's the sin offering. Once a year it's offered for the whole congregation for sins against God such as taking His name in vain, or not tithing their first fruits and animals. If you're a high priest, you have to sacrifice a bull; if you're a local leader a goat; and if you're a common person--a sheep. Since there's more common people than priests and leaders, what animal do you suppose loses the most relatives? There's also the guilt offering which is for sins against others. And humans are always sinning against other humans--lying, stealing, and wanting what somebody else has. So you see why we sheep have very small family reunions.
On our hills, we are close enough to the temple to hear the bleating of all the sacrifices. It's enough to make the wool on the back of your neck stand up. So, it's not much of a life out here--for us or the shepherds.
We just eat, sleep, and listen to the shepherds tell their same old stories over and over again. If I hear that story about "three shepherds walk into an inn" one more time . . .
But one silent night all that changed. We were all safe in the sheep fold, when suddenly "An angel of the Lord appeared to us, and the glory of the Lord shone around us, and we were terrified. But the angel said to us, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in strips of cloth and lying in a manger."
Suddenly a great company of the heavenly hosts appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."
And then the angels were gone as suddenly as they came. And so were the shepherds as they hurried off to see this thing that had happened, which the Lord had told them about.
When they finally came back, they weren't telling their usual jokes about "the traveling merchant and the farmers' daughter." It was like a whole different group of shepherds. Instead, they were talking about some kind of Messiah that the prophet Isaiah had foretold when he wrote: "He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.
"Surely he took our infirmities and carried our sorrow, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all."
They were talking about the "Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world." That someday the whole sacrificial system will be done away with, because this Savior would be sacrificed for their sins. There's even talk that someday after that, we sheep won't even have worry about wild animals. Something about a "lion lying down with the lamb."
Maybe we sheep and these shepherds have been out in the night air too long. Or maybe, just maybe, we'll live to see the day of "peace on earth, when the lion will lay down with the lamb."
All because of this Savior, this "Lamb of God." Now, that is SOME offering!!
© 1994 James Watkins
THIRD READING:
Consider the real role of gifts in the Christmas story.
Those gifts were wrapped in miracles
which is probably why
we can’t find them at the mall
or in the mail order catalogues.
The first gift was of Spirit - unconditional love.
The next gift came from a Jewish teenager named Miriam
who was known to her family and friends as Mary.
Her Christmas present was availability and waiting.
the complete surrender of ego and will
needed to bring heaven
down to earth.
The gift of her fiancé, Joseph, was trust.
He trusted that Mary wasn’t pregnant
with another man’s child.
He really believed
there was a plan in the heart of God
to get them through this mess.
The Child brought forgiveness,
healing,
second chances.
The Angels’ gifts were comfort, joy and peace.
the reassurance that there was nothing to fear,
so rejoice. He has come,
as He promised.
The Shepherd Boy's gift was generosity.
He gave up what he loved the most -
his favorite lamb was the baby's birthday present.
The innkeeper’s Wife gave a gift too. Hers was
selflessness and compassion.
She worked, in her own way, to find a warm, dry, safe place
for the homeless child to stay.
Her best blanket, which belonged to her grandmother,
was given to wrap the new mother and the little boy.
The father, too, felt the love and caring
of the innkeeper’s wife.
Even the donkey had fresh hay.
Ah yes, Christmas is all about gifts,
nothing but gifts.
Gifts tied with heartstrings.
Gifts that surprise and delight.
Gifts that transform.
Gifts that nurture the souls
of the giver
and the given.
Unconditional love
trust
availability
waiting
surrender
faith
forgiveness
healing
second chances
(Adapted from Simple Abundance by S. Ban Breathnach)
CLOSING PRAYER:
Almighty God, who by the birth of your holy child Jesus has given us a great light with which to erase our darkness: we pray that in this light we might see light. Give us, we beg you, that most excellent Christmas gift of charity to all, so that the likeness of your Son may be formed in us and so we may have the ever brightening hope of everlasting lift, through Jesus Christ, the Baby, our Lord, our King. Amen.
BENEDICTION:
I’d like to plant the following story in your hearts this season and forever:
An African boy listened carefully as his teacher explained why Christians give presents to each other on Christmas day. "The gift is an expression of our joy over the birth of Jesus and our friendship for each other," she said.
When Christmas day came, the boy brought the teacher a seashell of lustrous beauty. "Where did you ever find such a beautiful shell?" the teacher asked.
The youth told her that there was only one spot where such extraordinary shells could be found. When he named the place, a certain bay several miles away, the teacher was left speechless. "Why ... why, it’s gorgeous ... wonderful, but you shouldn’t have gone all that way to get the gift for me."
His eyes brightening, the boy answered, "Long walk part of gift."
God came from heaven to a manger, from a manger to a cross, from a cross to the grave and from a grave back to heaven. And we ask, "Why all this trouble, God?"
And God would say to us, "Long walk part of gift."
(Source: from Sharon Jaynes’ book, Celebrating a Christ-centered Christmas.)
