A Christmas Boost

 Luke 2:1-14

In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. All went to their own towns to be registered. Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!”

Since you’re here tonight, I suspect you all know this story… at least the basics… the ground floor version… right?  Mary and Joseph head to Bethlehem.  An angel, then a heavenly host!  Shepherds.  The Messiah born, wrapped up in a Biblical style onesie and lying in the sheep’s supper.  It’s a great story just like that.  But… if you’re willing… I’d like to offer you a tiny little boost tonight.  A boost, to see this same story from a slightly different perspective because with a boost, this story also gives us a peek at how God chooses to work in our world.  So, up you go and take a new look! 

The first thing you’ll see from this angle is God’s overwhelming preference for working through people the world routinely labels as the least, the lost, and the last.  God chooses to work through Mary.  She’s not a royal, not rich, not well connected, not married, and in that time and culture that meant she wasn’t even a legal person.  It’s not that God didn’t have movers and shakers to choose from that night in Bethlehem.  Bethlehem was jam packed with people like that.  It was like Great Barrington on the fourth of July weekend!  Every suite, room, and Air BnB… had been snatched up.  Every restaurant table, for every time, from five to nine thirty, was completely booked and the line at the Bistro Box stretched way down almost to the senior center!  So, God COULD have chosen to work though literally anybody.  But God didn’t.  God chose to work though Mary… for a reason.

God, it turns out, doesn’t work from the top down.  Wealth and fame are NOT signs of Divine favor in spite of what the jet setting televangelists would like you to believe.  God doesn’t believe in trickle down.  God works from the very, very bottom and then on up from there.  God works through the people the world yells at, and bullies, and legislates, scams and threatens… all to send the message that there’s no room here for the likes of YOU in the inn or anywhere else for that matter.  God chooses to work through the people who the rich and powerful tell both literally and figuratively to move to the back of the inn.  No, to the VERY back of the inn.  No, to out back BEHIND the back of the inn… OUT there with the other… animals.  

God chooses, on purpose, to work through the least, the lost, and the last to heal the world… the whole world… from the bottom up.  That’s how God works and for those who choose to follow in God’s Divine footsteps, we too are called to work in this world in that very same way… to change the world into the vision God had for it from the beginning… a world where everyone has neither too much nor too little but everyone has enough… enough food and shelter, enough love and dignity, enough hope and equity, enough purpose and joy.     

The other thing I want to show you with this Christmas boost... the thing I REALLY want you to see, is that on Christmas it’s not JUST that a Savior was born…  But I want to you see that it’s very, very specific here, that this Savior has been born TO YOU!  I want you to see that the baby in the manger... that sign that God’s unconditional, unlimited, unbreakable love... has been given tonight and every night… specifically TO YOU!  Yeah.  You.  TO YOU this child has been born.  TO YOU this child is given.  This child… the physical flesh and blood embodiment of God’s immeasurable, unconditional, unlimited love… has been sent specifically TO YOU.  All of it.  Why?  Well, it turns out that unconditional, unlimited, unbridled LOVE is the way God chooses to work in this world in spite of anything you might hear to the contrary from the loud, hateful, and angry people of our world.  LOVE is how God works!  And for those who choose to walk in God’s Divine footsteps as a way of life, we are called… you and me… we’re called to do absolutely everything we do in this world… with LOVE as well.

That’s Christmas!  YOU have been given the entirety of God’s love as an unconditional Christmas gift from God tonight.  It’s yours!  God does love... not take-backsies!  It’s all wrapped up and ready to go with you when you leave tonight.  So take it with you!  Unwrap it, put it on and wear it throughout the year to come.  And when you're ready… go ahead and share it with the world... there is more than enough of God's love to go around... so share it beginning with the least and the lost and the last and join with God in changing the world... with love. Amen.