LUKE 2:1-7: Last week, Nancy showed that in the Gospel of Mark, the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus was the message of John the Baptist calling for people to prepare the way, to make their hearts right to receive the presence of Jesus the Messiah. But today, we see that Luke moves the beginning of the story, the beginning of the good news, back to the birth of Jesus in the town of Bethlehem. The angels, themselves, cry out, “We are bringing you good news of great joy, to you is born this day in the city of David, which is Bethlehem, a Savior who is Christ the Lord.” In this birth, our faith says that God entered the world in a real and concrete way, all for the purpose of bringing salvation, bringing the world back to a right relationship with God. It is why we join the first travelers, and all of those throughout the ages this day, in the journey to Bethlehem. We come to see, to experience the presence of God as we give birth to the Christ in our lives. Let’s hear about the journey taken by the Holy Family to Bethlehem.

Read Luke.

Ephesians 2:8-10: The good news is a Savior is here, has come into the world. How do we receive the salvation he brings? Let us hear the words of Paul in his letter to the Ephesians.

Read Ephesians.

“For God so loved the world” the author of the Gospel of John tells us is the reason for the coming of Jesus into our midst. John continues, “Indeed God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but so the world might be saved through him.” God sent Jesus, not to belittle and chastise, but to show the world that God still loves us, and wants to share God’s love with us. It’s what it means to be saved. That in love God will make our lives whole, and we can know beyond doubt that no matter what we face we will never be alone, we will never be abandoned, for God will always be with us. The words tell us, God does not come to condemn, but so we might be saved. That word might really jumps out at you, for it places the statement in the subjunctive tense, meaning that salvation is possible for us all, but it is not a guarantee and it has not yet been realized. So what can prevent us from receiving it? What can prevent it from happening

I believe with my whole being that the largest obstacle for many of us  to receiving the gift of salvation is our own feelings of believing we are not worthy, or we are not loveable enough for God to want to be in relationship with us.  I believe the reason Jesus did not come to condemn and belittle is that people feel too much of that already in their lives. That most of us already know where we are inadequate, and question how precious and special we really are. For Jesus, or anyone to condemn, adds the proverbial fuel to the fire. What we need to know and what we need to hear is that for God so loved us, God came to save us, to make our relationship whole.

I remember an incident in one of my early appointments. I had been pastoring the church for about 6 months. After a Sunday worship service I was in the back greeting everyone much like we pastors do here. As I was greeting people, I could see there was a woman hanging back obviously wanting to talk to me. Sure enough after everyone left, she lit into me. “You have been here six months and you have yet to give us a good sermon on sin. You need to jerk us up. You need to let us know how bad we are and how we need to repent.” Obviously a little stunned I said, “I give you a sermon every week on sin. Sin literally means those places we are separated from God and God’s love. Every week I try to see where we might need to repent, to change so we might receive more fully God’s healing love in our lives.” :No that is not what we need,” she replied. “You need to let us have it. You need to tell us how bad we are.”

As I had the chance to know this woman over the years, I realized how bruised and wounded she truly was. She had been condemned her whole life, and she was sure that she was not loveable. But the catch was, she wanted to know that everyone else was no more loveable than her. In some ways it was a reverse theology that truly was based on loving others as you love yourself. Since she thought so lowly of herself, she could not think highly of others either. Consequently, to raise people into their image of Christ was foreign to her. I wanted so much for her to know she was indeed special and precious and loveable. She deserved to know that this was why Jesus came, to lift her out of the condemnations she was so aware of in her life. But the wounds ran deep, and I do not believe I was very successful in helping her see her own Christ-like nature.

So how can it happen? How do we realize this gift of unconditional love from God? If there are no conditions, it truly is a gift freely given. Let us listen to Paul again. “We are saved by grace through faith.” Grace is God’s unconditional love. Unconditional means no strings attached, no proving you are worthy, but simply stated you are loved because you are. You are a child of God created in the image of God. There is no separation in the relationship from God’s side of the equation. But, and this is where the might comes into play. But, we must have faith that it is true. Faith means having a deep belief and trust. We have to trust. The hope is there. The desire to know beyond doubt is there. We have to deeply believe it is true, for if we do not it is a gift freely given still waiting to be received.

John Wesley, the founder of our denomination says that there is what he calls Prevenient Grace. It means that which comes before grace, before we receive the unconditional love. Wesley  says that God has placed a spark of the divine in each and everyone of us that will not rest, that will not let us be satisfied until we say “Yes” to God’s love for us. Until we receive the gift. I’ll bet, if United Methodists were allowed to bet, that each and every one of you knows exactly what I am saying. I believe that you have experienced that deep, deep desire, maybe even need to know the love of God in your life. To know beyond doubt of any kind that God loves you. Jesus is God’s “Yes” to the world.

Salvation is our “Yes” back to God. Even though the love came in a real and concrete way in the birth of Jesus, even though that love surrounds each and everyone of us even now, it is still up to us to say “Yes.”

As I look at the lives of the “Holy Family” the lives of Mary and Joseph, it was their “Yes” to God that led them to Bethlehem. It was their trust in all that God laid before them that guided them to this special place and time. When we look at their journey, we can see the kind of radical trust it took from them to journey to Bethlehem. Mary sang her song, the Magnificat, that showed her joy in being the specially chosen one of God and knew that there would be a day that people would call her blessed. Mary could have been stoned to death legally for being pregnant out of wedlock. Yet, in her trust of God, she sings.  We are told that her betrothed, Joseph, was a good man. In his kindness he was simply going to divorce her, or call off the wedding quietly rather than call for his legal right. But when the angel told him what was happening, he trusted God and took Mary as his wife, and accepted the responsibility of raising Jesus. I believe that this kind of deep trust and faith can only come when you know in your heart of hearts that God is love and that God only acts in love toward those God calls.

The Holy Family shows us that being the specially chosen does not necessarily mean a life of ease and success. A life with no bumps in the road of our life’s journey. There will betimes of hurt and pain as we face and live through our times of crisis. There will be times we are asked to make hard decisions that may put us in conflict with those around us, and cause us to challenge to status quo. Remember last week when Nancy shared that the beginning of the Gospel, as spoken by the prophets, was a call to change. A call that can cause us to be at odds with those not wanting change, even though it is the path to salvation, the path to bringing the kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.

But when we trust, when we have a deep belief and faith in our loveability, in God’s love that never leaves us, but is always there to care for us and encourage us, the road to Bethlehem, the journey we are asked to take becomes more doable. Our biggest fear as human beings is being abandoned. To have love, to have those who are precious to us, withdraw their love from us. When we say “Yes” to God, we have come to the manger where God’s “Yes” awaits us. A yes that saves us, for it says to us you will never be separated from me, from my love for you.

Our journey with the Holy Family is one that leads us to radical trust in God’s love for us all. Today, we say “Yes” to God, and the child, the presence of God takes birth in our lives.

Sermon delived by Rev. George Cushman on December 10, 2006.