December 18, 2016
4th Sunday in Advent Year A

“Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.’ All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet:
‘Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall name him Emmanuel’,
which means, ‘God is with us.’ When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son, and he named him Jesus.” Matthew 1:18-25

“Matthew paints a picture of the utter normalcy of the holy family. Which means, of course, he tells us about the complexity, the confusion, and the frailty that attended this family, just like every other family. Indeed, there is nothing exceptional about this couple or birth … except that God works through it to save to draw near to us in love, grace, and salvation. This (is an) extraordinary story and promise: God comes through ordinary, mixed-up people in order to save ordinary, mixed-up people, and that God comes through a birth like all the millions of other births in the world to promise us freedom from sin, fear, and death and rebirth as the children of God. It’s an odd story, for sure, but one that deserves telling.” (David Lose, dear working preacher website, December 17, 2013, Matthew’s Version of the Incarnation)

What are the problems encountered by Joseph when faced with a fiancé who is pregnant? Well, first, he automatically deduces that Mary must have been with another man, otherwise she would not be pregnant. I mean, there are no supernatural conceptions, right? He now must face the very real idea that maybe Mary doesn’t love him, but instead loves someone else. Second, maybe this other man loves the idea of having a baby, loves this baby, thus clouding the picture even more. The issues facing Joseph, this seemingly more and more complex puzzle, almost sounds like a Morey Povich show. But instead of going on a crazy TV show hoping for advice from a pop-culture quack, Joseph, this righteous man, with a lifetime of faithfulness, needs to hear from G-d if his decision is the right one.

After wrestling with this very difficult and delicate issue – after finally coming to a conclusion that he loved Mary too much to publicly disgrace her – Joseph determines to divorce her quietly. Then, finally, the Lord speaks, through an angel, who interrupts his sleep. And now, a new picture begins to emerge. As I said before, G-d is taking the puzzle pieces and mixing them up. G-d’s silence doesn’t always mean that G-d is not paying attention. Sometimes, in the silence of our relationship with G-d, God is beginning to work something new, and wonderful. We just need to be open to G-d working in new and different ways in our lives – and sometimes that means the pieces coming together in ways we never would have expected.

Pastor Dave

December 17, 2016 – 7 Days Until My Head Explodes, Or Devotions to Prepare Us For Christ’s Coming

“Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the same town as Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the One Moses wrote about in the Law, the One whom the prophets foretold — Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” Nathanael asked. “Come and see,” said Philip.…” John 1:44-46

Do you see the shoes on this ornament? Those are extraordinary shoes, right? Perhaps the shoes are a counter-balance to the hat – or the fact that this poor fellow (or lady) has the body shape of a star – standing on flamingo legs. Because of the star shape, you would think this guy would be on the top of the tree – but he must have done something wrong to end up buried somewhere on the bottom.

We have the calling of the disciples in this part of John, Jesus selecting people who are at the bottom of society. Here we have the conversation between Philip and Nathanael. Philip, after being called by Jesus, first goes to tell Nathanael about his experience with Jesus. We do not know any of the conversation between them except for Nathanael’s comment about what good can come out of Nazareth. It seems like a negative comment, but Philip’s response is very ordinary and matter-of-fact: “Come and See.” We can learn a lot from this short exchange. First and foremost, Philip becomes the first evangelist, going forward to share what has happened to him in his encounter with Jesus. And, even in the face of severe rejection, Philip persists with compelling words – come and find out for yourself. It doesn’t take a lot of fancy words to invite people to come and experience the good news of Jesus Christ. Simple words of invitation will do – and may speak volumes to those who just need a simple invitation.

But the invitation is just the beginning. Once we have invited people to come to church with us to come and see Jesus, we have to allow them to take the next step – actually becoming involved in the ministries of the church. Following Jesus is one thing – becoming a disciple takes courage on their part – and courage on our part too. It is important for the health of the congregation that people not only feel welcome to visit, but welcome to stay and become involved in the life of the church.

Pastor Dave