Christmas Story Remix - Take a Closer Look!

Based on Luke 2:1-20

Christmas Remix – Christmas has become so sterile that its symbol has become the perfectly wrapped gift, topped with the perfect bow in its center.  Christmas like the beautifully written and often sung song, has become thought of as a Silent Night.  Now, I know Jesus is the Messiah but he was fully human, so until he gets acclimated to his surroundings, could Christmas in the first century have been a truly silent night? Anyone with children knows until a routine is established silence and peacefulness aren't the first experiences with babies.

We all have seen nativity scenes sitting neatly near the Christmas tree.  Again providing this serene and perfect image of Christmas. Yet, I don’t think we can envision Jesus’ first Christmas through such a squeaky clean view. After all, there were animals all around him – have you ever been near farm animals? The air isn't filled with fragrant aromas nor is quiet a feature; someone will always be hemming and hawing or squawking right? That’s what farm animals do.

It seems to me we haven’t fully thought of the reality of Christmas. It can’t be perfect, because the Perfect One has yet to take the stage.  The truth of the matter Christmas is lacking something…Millions upon millions of people know the dramas of life but haven’t experienced the unfolding drama in the Christmas story.  In commercializing Christmas the stage has been narrowed, excluding the poor, the oppressed, and the marginalized from full participation in this amazing event.  People are denied access to privilege, prestige and power. Instead of the doors of opportunity; of access; and/or of equality swinging wide open for all; they are closing leaving many suffering in the silence of the night. Only to dream of perfectly wrapped gifts with perfect bows in their center.

People all over the world are singing Christmas songs and celebrating the day of Jesus birth without taking a closer look; perhaps we need to reread it. In fact, the story of Jesus’ birth by present day standards would never have been told because our society and culture doesn't value the underclass and the poor. The main characters in the Christmas story aren't perfectly wrapped people with perfect bows in their center:

•             Mary a poor lowly know nothing teenage girl

•             Joseph an insignificant blue collar carpenter

•             The neighborhood of Jesus’ birth – Bethlehem a small rural village, 

               pop.  less than a 1,000 - home of poor folks

•             Shepherds were uneducated, considered unclean, dishonest, 

               lower-class persons

•             Joseph and Mary’s first apt was a room where the animals were kept

•             The Manger – Jesus’ first bed was a feeding trough used by the animals

What is God doing? Doesn't God realize that such a watershed moment; in the history of the world, deserves an A-list cast? After all if Jesus is the King shouldn't his birth have all the accoutrements of royalty?

Why does Mary a poor, an unknown teenager get the starring role? Why does Joseph, a man without wealth or political clout become a King’s surrogate father? Why Bethlehem, a remote village meaning House of Bread”? Why are unclean men chosen to announce the birth of the Messiah, meaning Anointed One? Why is a King’s first bed, an animal salivated trough? There’s no perfection in this scene, there’s no hope, there’s no salvation in this story.

Or is there? Luke's gospel is conveying an overlooked message of Jesus’ birth. Luke emphasizes the poor in this text, what does “poor” mean? Professor Miguel de La Torre explains – “it does not just refer to lack of financial resources but encompasses the inequality and injustice that accompany the lack of access to opportunities that the dominant culture takes for granted as a privileged right”.

Could it be in 2013 we still haven’t grasped the crux of the Christmas story. Listen to the message the angel gives the shepherds vss. 10-11, “but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said, “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior – yes, the Messiah, the Lord has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David”.

The angels pronounces the Good News of the Christmas story, the promised hope; the Messiah’s birth brings salvation and great joy to all people. In other words, the doors are wide open for all people especially those whom the Church; the Privileged; the Powerful and those with Prestige wish to keep out. God welcomes the poor, the uneducated, people from small villages, all sexual orientations, the marginalized, the oppressed, all racial and ethnic groups, women and men, the insignificant, all who the dominant culture dismisses.  The Christmas story is one of inclusion. The love of Jesus is open to all and will not be defined or contained by a perfectly wrapped box. Jesus enters the scene reversing wrongs making them right, restoring dignity to the hurting and helpless; pronouncing justice and redefining love.

Love is not limited to the privilege. Love isn't limited to the ones perceived as perfect and worthy. But the love offered by Christ and his disciples will bring great joy to all people. If we are striving for perfect, let it be perfect love, because perfect love casts out fear and enables us to love like God loves – “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”

The Christmas story isn't about a day or a season, but it is about 365 day living; valuing the human worth of every person that God created; it’s not about things – “Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal”Matthew 6:19-21.

The birth of Jesus is about seeing the world through God’s heart and sight; it’s about love, it’s about community and the sacred worth of every human being. It’s about a world of Ubuntu which Kenyan Theologian John Mbiti coined meaning “We are, therefore I am” – living in the spirit of Ubuntu is to focus on community rather than individual rights.  That’s what the Christmas story is – swinging every door open and pronouncing and extending the love of Christ to every human being! Remember none of the characters in the Christmas story are perfect, none of the conditions in the story are perfect but through the birth of “the Savior – yes, the Messiah – perfect love, will bring great joy to all people”.

Merry Christmas!

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Inspired By Love,

Marcus J. Singleton

Lead Pastor

Living Faith Community

Hoover, AL

Our Vision: “A diverse community of faith; inspired by the love of Jesus, committed to becoming and making disciples”.

The Greatest Gift Is An Introduction

Today December 6^th, I fondly remember my mother who would have been eighty-two. There are so many memories that I could recall; but as a disciple, parent and pastor I choose to focus on my mother’s commitment to sharing and teaching me her faith because I realize the import of her decision.  Scripture instructs parents to: “Teach your children to choose the right path, and when they are older, they will remain upon it.”

While I might not have fully agreed with her methods; I am grateful for her unwavering resolve to ensure my awareness of the One whom she called Savior. In our post-modern world where nothing is sacred; where truth has many names; where frivolity is valued over substance, my mother’s introduction to her Savior has proven her greatest contribution to my life.  

Whether; through days of joy or years of pain, my anchor continues to be my mom’s Savior, Jesus; whom I too now, refer to as my Savior. Disciples, parents and pastors have the same responsibility of training, teaching and preparing others to live in an unforgiving world.  My mother instilled within me that this awesome task is not to be approached with cowardice. She never vacillated in her beliefs; she didn’t merely say what she believed; she lived it. I’m not suggesting mom was without fault/sin but her life’s purpose was faithfulness to her God. Her life’s focus was the Great Commandment – "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and. . .Love your neighbor as yourself.”

No one ever had to wonder what she believed or the depths of my mom’s caring. She actively served in her church; her community; and frequently reminded the stranger of God’s love through her kindness. Her life was an embodiment of being: “strong and steady, always enthusiastic about the Lord's work, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless”. My eldest brother said it best, “mom taught us how to live and how to die” signifying the consistency of her spirit and faithfulness to whom she believed.

Each year as I commemorate my mother’s birthday and celebrate her life, I pray I grow in what she always encouraged me, holy boldness!  I pray that like my mom the love and grace of Jesus is so evident in me that I too am compelled to unapologetically share and teach my faith to my children, family and friends, parishioners, enemies and strangers.  I pray that like mom I too will have lived in such a way that the preacher will not have to eulogize me; rather, she or he will only need to recall my life.  I pray too that like my mom I will die having fully-lived my faith.

As a disciple, parent and pastor I have discovered the greatest gift we can offer someone is an introduction to a Savior that shapes our lives into that which is redemptive; selfless; meaningful; and worth dying for.

Thank you Mommy!  I will always love you!!

Marcus