Luke
tells of the birth of Jesus to a young woman,
a
baby laid in a bed of straw, because they couldn’t find anywhere else to stay
a
baby visited by shepherds, who lived with their flocks.
This
is a story about the God who comes beside us,
The
God who appears first to the outsiders and the unimportant.
The
God who comes to live with humanity.
The
Old Testament is a series of stories that tell us about how God reached out to
people, and people said yes,
Then…
They
forgot,
or
turned away to other gods and idols,
And
then God sends messengers to remind the people,
These
messengers speak of judgement,
and
of hope.
God
continued to reach out to people, even when they rebelled, or walked away.
And
I wonder why.
Why
come at all.
And
why as a baby
The
video we will see know is made by a church in New Zealand, so you may have to listen
carefully.
Video: Unexpected
Christmas
When
we wonder if we are enough
When
we wonder who we are
When
we wonder about life
When
we are scared or angry or just plain tired
We
hear the message of love
We
hear the message of the God who came to earth as Jesus, born as a baby, in dubious
circumstances
We
hear the message that “God
thought we were worth coming to earth for.”[i]
Isn’t that
totally awesome?!! God thought we were worth coming to earth for.
God chose to
communicate with us, talking to us, cajoling and encouraging us, and finally
becoming human just like us.
God could have
demanded we be obedient, but that isn’t love;
God could have forced
his way into our lives, but that isn’t grace;
God could have left
us in our despair, but that isn’t compassion.
God
chose to become human to show us what love looks like,
to
remind us that we are loved,
even
when we aren’t expecting that.
