The Shepherd’s Voice
Archive for December, 2009
Readings for Thursday, December 24th
Isa 9:2-7
Ps 96:1-13
Tit 2:11-14
Lk 2:1-20
Do Not Be Afraid – The Shepherd’s Voice from Good Shepherd Lutheran Church on Vimeo.
Do not be afraid. Simple words, sometimes difficult for us to apprehend or understand.
Merry Christmas, I am so glad each Christmas Eve, O come all ye faithful, these are words I want to hear at Christmas; I don’t want to hear about, talk about or think about fear. And yet, fear is a part of each of our lives as it was for Mary and Joseph, the shepherds, Elizabeth and Zachariah, the wise men, and even King Herod.
Do not be afraid. This story started out in Luke chapter one with a barren Elizabeth, with a husband (Luke 1:12) Zachariah who upon being visited by an angel was terrified and ended up speechless. However, Elizabeth’s pregnancy with John the Baptist was an answer to prayer.
Have you experienced an answer to prayer that made you fearful, maybe expectant, and yet fearful?
Do not be afraid. The angel Gabriel visits Mary and tells her she will conceive of a son and he will become the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. (Luke 1:30-33) Mary is afraid. Mary says how can this be? The angle tells her “for nothing will be impossible with God.”
Do not be afraid. Joseph finds out Mary is with child and he is afraid, he wants to dismiss her as his potential wife, but God intervenes. God has a way of working in each of our lives for the good, if we allow it.
Do not be afraid. Mary and Joseph are on there way to Bethlehem through hills and the cold and over hard paths, they were afraid. When they arrive they look for accommodations in an inn, but there is none to be found, they were afraid.
Do not be afraid. Mary gives birth, not in a hospital, not in a free clinic, not in a doctor’s office, not even in a midwife’s birthing center, but in a stable. How could they not be afraid?
I remember when our twins were born, Sharon was at Hoag Hospital, one of the best in Orange County, but we both were afraid. They were small, actually 7 weeks premature, they needed to be in incubators, lots of support, we were afraid that they may not survive.
Jesus, born in a stable, how could they not be afraid.
Do not be afraid. The shepherds who were out in their fields watching their flocks, perhaps taking turns on watch, all of a sudden an angel appears to them. How could they not be afraid?
Do not be afraid. King Herod, a masterful planner, builder of cities and seaports, such as Caesarea, heard from wise men that a star appeared in the East and they said a new king was about to be born. King Herod was afraid he would lose his kingdom. He was afraid this new born infant would interfere with his master plan for his grand life.
Do not be afraid. Jesus is only a baby, an infant, someone who needs constant attention and care, how can Jesus be a threat to anyone?
Sam Levenson talks about the birth of his first child. The first night home the baby would not stop crying. His wife frantically flipped through the pages of Dr. Spock to find out why babies cry and what to do about it. Since Spock’s book is rather long, the baby cried a long time. Grandma was in the house, but since she had not read the books on child rearing, she was not consulted. The baby continued to cry. Finally, Grandma could be silent no longer. “Put down the book,” she told her children, “and pick up the baby.”
Do not be afraid, put down the book and pick up the baby! Put down the intellectualizing, the sanctimony of knowing it all, the attitude of superiority and pick up the baby. Put down the fear and pick up the baby.
Many of us in life go through life just like these folks in the earlier part of the gospel text. We pray only to have our prayers answered and we become afraid. Do not be afraid tonight and pick up the baby!
Many of us, success oriented people we achieve something in life only to find out what we have achieved is hollow or success wasn’t what we expected and we still are afraid. We self medicate, we over indulge in maybe in alcohol or food, or sex or chasing after money or fame, but we find out we are still afraid of a baby Jesus, just like King Herod.
Do not be afraid. Put down the junk of life, the substitutes, the things that cannot give true fulfillment and pick up the baby.
I could stop here. For some that is enough. This sentimental dribble about embracing a baby, we all love babies, especially at Christmas. One thing we learn as parents is that picking up the baby is when the real work begins in life.
So what happens, how do you and I pick up the baby and then what? How do we understand the mystery of the incarnation, after all a little, infant baby is powerless, right?
First, we must acknowledge, recognize, and accept that we are not the center of the universe.
Second, we must accept that there is only one God and we are not it!
Third, remember our earlier story about John the Baptist, he said repent and believe the good news. Repent, it means turn around; it means accepting life as it is, not as we imagined or thought or hoped it to be.
Yes, I could have left it at ‘pick up the baby,’ a sappy, romantic, albeit warm thought, nice for Christmas perhaps, but then I would have been dishonest in conveying God’s message. When God calls us, God does not leave us where we are. Yes, God certainly accepts us there, but God also changes us in every way once we pick up the baby.
In August 1995, the Northwestern University football team assembled for their opening day of preseason camp in Kenosha, Wisconsin. The players expected the usual pep talks about having a positive mental attitude. Instead, they got someone who looked like Moses or John the Baptist – someone in a white beard, sackcloth, and sandals.
While a boom box cranked out Frank Sinatra’s “High Hopes,” Moses raised his hands to the heavens and commanded the team to stand up and sing. “You’ve been lost in the desert for 40 years,” he bellowed. “It’s time to go out and find the promised land!” Coach Gary Barnett was making a statement to the team. For 23 consecutive years Northwestern’s football had a losing record. But in 1995, Barnett was determined to prove his team could play football. He ordered a Tournament of Roses flag for the football building and kept a silk rose on his desk to remind everyone that this team was headed for the Rose Bowl. The team was 10-1 that year and they went to the Rose Bowl.“At the first meeting,” said kicker Sam Valenzisi, “he told us we needed belief without evidence. He asked, ‘Do you know what that is? That’s faith.’ “
Do not be afraid. Just like grandma said, ‘Put down the book’ or put down the clutter of life, the failures of the past, the lost hope, the intellectual snobbery, the deceit and pick up the baby, the visible incarnation of faith.
God promises when we pick up the baby we will become a new creation. (2 Cor 5:17) It won’t be easy, life is never easy, but just as God surprised C.S Lewis by joy, God also wants to surprise us. God wants to fill us with hope, with anticipation about life.
If we pick up the baby God promises that all things will work together for good (Rom 8:28) because at that moment God’s grace through faith has made us whole. This baby can fill us with hope. We see this duplicated in scripture over and over again.
Hopefully, that’s why you’re here tonight. This baby, this incarnation of God we call Jesus, calls each of us to a new life – Don’t be afraid – put down the clutter – pick up the baby.
Amen
