December 23, 2007

Our text for today is not largely about a major biblical character, even not about Mary or Jesus. It is about Mary's fiance, Joseph, and his getting ready for Christmas.

Could God have a message for us about Joseph's preparation for Christmas? The text comes up only once in 3 years, so it does not often address us. And it could be an entirely new message, at least a new angle. Let us see, but first let us open our hearts in prayer.

Prayer: Lord, our culture has been preparing us for the upcoming so-called 'holiday' for weeks, just which holiday they have not told us. Maybe you can.
But the message is if we have spent enough money at the right place, for the right stuff and for the right people. Then we are ready. Is that true? What the holiday is all about is still a deep, dark secret.
Lord, please let us in on what this mysterious holiday is all about and how and why we should get ready for it. Amen.

TEXT: Matthew 1: 18 -25

I. It is my guess that you children are the ones most likely to be ready for the big event that we call Christmas. Joseph after all was totally unprepared, wanted to get rid of it. But we've watched you children when a new baby is brought into the room. The baby gets all the attention (and so also at our baptismal services). And Christmas is about a new baby named Jesus, 2000 years ago.

So, children, are you ready for Christmas? What have you already done? Have you made some presents? Or bought some? Do you have all your gifts ready and under the tree? What day of the month is this? -Dec. 23. How many days until Christmas? -Two! Do you have some things left to do? Is your tree up and decorated? If not, better see David or Mark Hansen.

If it's up, did you help decorate your tree? Oh my! Tomorrow is Christmas Eve already. You have less time than we thought. Tomorrow afternoon and evening we have our many Christmas Eve services.

But don't worry. You have gotten ready more than you know. Last Sunday afternoon you had your Christmas Program didn't you?

What was the program about? Sorry, we could not be here. But years ago some of you remember, there was a new baby in the manger. He was supposed to be Jesus, but his name was Jonathan Skovholt, and now he is grown up. So you probably told again about a new baby and this year, as every year, the one who is the center of everything is Jesus.

Are you in a children's choir? What did you sing, or will you sing about on Christmas Eve? Probably you had a lesson in Sunday School. about Christmas too. What did the lesson teach you? What did your teacher say? Well, I'd say you are prepared for Christmas and you can keep this message in your heart and take it home with you.

That is what Joseph did to really get ready for Christmas. So, take Mary and Jesus home with you today and you are ready for Christmas.

II. But we adults have a bigger problem. We are in some ways plagued with Joseph's predicament. We may have maxed out our credit cards; have piled up gifts under the tree, baked innumerable goodies; invited guests to our house; sent greeting cards around the world; put up lights around the roof of the house and on the shrubs; and worn ourselves out pacing up and down the aisles at the mall.

But this is our worry: Are we ready for Christmas?

Joseph wasn't. Mary was showing signs of pregnancy. And he didn't know who the father was, except he knew it was not he. He was engaged to marry her and what had she done?

Better send her home to her family; that was the kind thing to do. Clearly Joseph was a good man, just one deeply hurt and embarrassed, not knowing what else to do. Had he just been an angry man, he could have turned her over to the authorities. They knew just what to do with women like Mary. She and Jesus could have ended up dead under a pile of stones. Several places in the world today, this could happen to girls in Mary's predicament.

What led Joseph to do the right thing? God took care of that. He sent Joseph an angel in a dream. He told Joseph that Mary was not a bad girl. Yes, she is going to have a baby, but not the child of some evil man. It is God's child, just as we confess every Sunday in the creed. Result? Joseph invited Mary to his house and there Jesus grew up.

He probably learned to be a carpenter. Mary taught him to pray at the table and at bedtime. The local rabbi taught him to read and let him read the scrolls at the synagogue. And Mary survived to weep under Jesus' cross, thanks to Joseph.

Yes, Joseph took Mary home to live at his house. And that is what the people of this parish do too. Lutherans may be a bit skittish about giving Mary too much credit, but you can't have Jesus without Mary, not two days before Jesus was born.

And so we take her home with us and then we are ready for Christmas.

So what if an unexpected card comes late? We have the 12 days of Christmas to send one back. So what if our decorations don't look like much compared to those next door?

We are waiting for Mary to have her child so we can celebrate Jesus' birth. That is what this mysterious, unnamed 'holiday' is really about. We don't worry about those who want to discredit Mary and Jesus today. We know we have done the right thing.

III But are all of us ready for Christmas?

To any who have doubts there is hope too, just as in Joseph's case. God may send you a dream or a vision to change your mind about taking Mary and Jesus into your home. I have lost a newspaper clipping about something that happened some years ago, about 1972.

Worshippers in the churches in St. Cloud one Sunday morning were asked about visions, dreams and, I think, angel visitations. At least 1 in 5, perhaps 1 in 3, said Yes, I've had an experience like that.

No, these did not just happen in Biblical times. It happens today too. Only today one must be careful whom you tell about it, or someone in the family may send you to a psychiatrist.

I usually give worshippers some homework after the service. Today maybe it should be: Find someone who will listen to the dream or vision you have had; or, if you've not had one, just tell someone how you are inviting Mary and Jesus to your house today.

We need to know each other's faith stories. That should be part of membership in the same congregation.

I recall the year we asked Prof. Paul Holmer, then retired, to tell us his story at the Men's Advent Breakfast. He confessed it was the first time in his life he had been asked for that. Was it ever an inspiring story!

Yours too may be as powerful as Joseph's account - and as life-changing, though too late to get into the Bible. Indeed Joseph's was; the opening verses of Matthew's gospel trace Jesus' lineage back to Abraham and to David - through Mary? No! through Joseph. But Joseph was not Jesus' father, and only a dream made that family tree possible.

Are you ready for Christmas?

If you've not invited Mary and Jesus to your house yet I guess not. God send you a dream to get you to do it.

And may the Lord bless you with a wonderful Christmas - not just a 'holiday.'

Amen