So, look with me at this image. In some ways it is very simple, and many of the details are hints and clues about what is happening. Or, should I say, what happened. This picture has many details; Jesus is not visible here, but is very near.
Let’s have a visual sermon, now. What do you see, what do you notice here. What speaks to you? What makes you curious?
I’ll start. I see the man here has a name on his shirt. JOSÉ - we might call him Joseph. Luke 2:4 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.
Who is he with? She looks rather worried.
Her T-shirt says NAZARETH HIGH SCHOOL – Mary of Nazareth. Luke 2:5 He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child.
This illustration is called José y Maria. Joseph and Mary. This modernizes the scene in a completely unhistoric way. Just like most Eastern icons, and most stained-glass windows in churches, and most pictures in Bibles. What people wear, what their complexion is, what is in the background - so often brings ancient people into the place and time of the artist and the viewers.
So, do you often think of Mary as a youth, a teen? And how difficult this first pregnancy might have been for her. Thankfully she had the great support of her old relative, Elizabeth. The poetry Mary speaks to her, praising God, is a favourite of Christians: the Magnificat gets recited by some quite often, or sung.
Hold to such Bible passages that can be icons for you: doorways into the holy that you return to, over and over.
Rings on fingers – This young couple is married, it appears. Perhaps we are accustomed to hearing the story translated in ways that say the couple is engaged or betrothed to each other, but not yet wed. The old Jewish practices do not quite fit our modern marriage categories. Back in first century Judaism, there were no double ring wedding ceremonies. What did happen was the man paid a dowry to the bride’s father, while they were not yet living together. As the Luke story tells us, Joseph was willing to take her as his wife, though she was expecting a child not his own. In this ancient betrothal, Mary and Joseph were, in essence, legally married. Perhaps the rings on their fingers here remind us of that.
Pregnant - Mary expecting a child. The scriptures today, and then this illustration, took us on a little journey. From promises about a special One to arise in little Bethlehem; to a couple women in the hill country who are expecting children at the same time; to the divine actions Mary knows, in her Jewish Faith, about the God who promised a Messiah; and then this scene on the cover, when José and Maria are on the outskirts of Bethlehem with no place to stay.
Mary is ‘great with child,’ to quote a four hundred year old translation of Luke 2. Me, I get tremendously moved, at times when this becomes clear. This God in physical, fragile form - a human infant. Can the Divine One dwell in me, in my flesh, in my life? And in each person I meet up with, or hear about? God with us. There is a hymn that prays: Let my soul, like Mary, be Thine earthly sanctuary.
BEEF JERKY SAVE M______ – halos
One of our local churches is named for this Holy Family: Joseph, Mary and (soon to be born) Jesus. Halos around the heads of ‘holy’ people are often but not always found in artwork of the past 15 centuries (and not just in Christian art). Holiness signifies someone good and special. Maybe ‘spiritual.’ At least (maybe I should say at most), the Spirit is shining through them to others, to us.
In the New Year, we could watch more closely for halos. I mean, for the Light of life - who is Christ - shining from those who pass by.
DAVE’S CITY MOTEL – Bethlehem, City of David
Today, we read Micah 5:2 But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah, who are one of the little clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to rule in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days. Bethlehem is known, from the First Testament, as the place where the matriarch Rachel died and was buried. Then, Ruth and Naomi landed there, and Ruth married a local named Boaz. One of their grandchildren was David, a shepherd who became King. For Christians, and in our Western culture, Bethlehem is famous for the birth of David’s descendant, Jesus, who then grows up in Nazareth.
Perhaps you have a special place or two - a town, a neighbourhood, a wilderness spot - that is holy to you. You had special moments there, or you know the history of the place. Special places, thin places, become holy, become doorways for your soul. You keep returning, when you can. May you do so again, in 2025.
NO VACANCY – no room in the inn
Luke 2: 6 While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. 7 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 in the guest room.
I grew up next door to my Grandfather’s campground with motel and cottages. I never worked there, except to mow the lawns. Sharon had a couple years working at a motel in the Annapolis Valley: at the front desk and in the dining room. She knows, better than I, of the challenges of making room for guests in busy times.
What else does that motel sign say?
NEW MAN_GER – baby laid in a Manger
In the ancient Near East, hospitality was shown by people in their own homes. Often there was a guest room upstairs with the other spaces. Downstairs was where the cooking went on, and in the front courtyard of the home were some of the animals, right there. When all the guest rooms were full, people would just have to stay downstairs, off the kitchen, among the livestock.
I find this part of the Joseph and Mary story very moving. I look at this modernized couple here, and know that I know nothing about having no place to stay in a time of crisis. I don’t know what it is to seek refuge where there is not much space. I don’t realize the impact, in my heart, of those words Mary has just sung months before, that God has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty. Every day of my life so far, I have been rich. What of José and Maria?
ZEKE 34 15-16 – Ezekiel 34:15-16
I wondered at first what Zeke meant, that scribble on the side of the payphone. Zechariah? No 34 chapters there. Nor in Zephaniah. Then I thought Ezekiel. Yes.
15 I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord God. 16 I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strays, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them with justice.
The Good Shepherd is to be born. Who needs a Good Shepherd today? Who needs protection, justice, freedom, peace, hope? When do I need a Shepherd? Ask yourself, at every nativity scene you see, or that you sing.
SHEPHARD WATCHES – Shepherds watched their flocks
Luke 2:8 Now in that same region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.
We stare into the story, and wonder again at how, at why, such workers out in the countryside were the ones told of this birth. In your life, have you seen humble, country people who responded to Jesus? Or people whose skilled work is very different from yours, who also followed Christ? Perhaps you have pondered their lives. Been inspired. Been challenged. They, as simple witnesses to the goodness they found, can shepherd you in the right direction.
Good News – also called ‘Gospel’ in the Bible. I barely know what to say here, about this. There is so much to say! Read between the lines of this sermon. ‘Good News’ nearly equals ‘Glad Tidings.’...
GLAD TIDE - Glad Tidings of great joy
Luke 2:10 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…
It is fairly common for some evangelical churches to be named ‘Glad Tidings,’ such as the Pentecostal one on the edge of Windsor, NS. The focus then is upon what happens becoming news, becoming something that is reported, talked about, shared.
I have been a rather uncomfortable evangelical Christian, for most of my life. I have always been looking for ways to talk about faith and spirituality without it being a sales pitch, without becoming judgmental, and without taking the scriptures literally all the time.
When you go over and over that favourite Christmas song, or meditate upon that beloved nativity scene - you are also finding ways to talk about joy, that holy moment, that connection with meaning. May we find even better ways of expressing these personal matters during this season and the year ahead.
_ORIA! – Gloria!
Luke 2:13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!”
Praise of God is something that even we protestants can do in Latin. Gloria in excelsis Deo. Praise and worship on our own, alone, is good. Praise and worship of God together is also very good. I highly recommend both to you all, not mostly one or the other. But this is partly me, the preacher, the minister, the professional pastor speaking, wanting pews full and prayers a plenty.
Genuine ‘glory to God’ springs from the inner self. So notice it, when you hear it somewhere; when it rises up inside you. And don’t be shy to find your own voice, and join in with others.
_ECT _EROD ANTIPAS – Re-elect Herod Antipas?
Matthew 2:1 In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea… This artwork has Maria and José in a fairly modern moment, though we can tell it was a while ago. There are no cell phones; they have to use a payphone.
I am not sure why the artist here, Everett Patterson, has a campaign logo for Herod Antipas. I can understand the irony, and satire, in a time when no ruler was ever elected by the people. But, from my reading, his father, Herod the Great, was still barely in power when Jesus was born. About that same time, Herod died and this little patch of the Roman Empire was split between the three sons, including Herod Antipas.
No matter. This is a moment of history. As we meditate upon it, using whatever icons we have, we discover how it touches our moment. What will this New Born King mean to us who have a few fresh coins circulating now with Charles III upon them? With a Prime Minister teetering on the edge of the end? With our neighbour nation having a returning ruler of dubious character and plans? With a new regime taking over in Syria? And on and on.
O Prince of Peace, have mercy upon us!
WEISMAN Cigarettes – the Magi
Matt 2:1 ...magi from the east came to Jerusalem, 2 asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews?
This detail looks ahead more, a couple years ahead, we suppose, to that time when toddler Jesus is visited by wise travelers from eastern places. So many extra details and legends have been added to this part of the Nativity stories. Perhaps more than any other part. Whenever we meditate upon a story or a song, we can remember what the actual Biblical details are, when we look them up. And then we ponder how the additional stuff works. What meaning and truth and power is in the threeness of the Magi, their names, their gifts, their promotion to ‘kings,’ their returning a different way? All that.
Some Christians like to decorate with the phrase, ‘Wise men still seek Him.’ I still wonder how to be a wiser seeker. Do you?
STARR BEER – star of Bethlehem
Matthew 2:2 For we observed his star in the east and have come to pay him homage.” In the legends of many great ones in the ancient world, a star, a comet, a signal in the heavens heralds the birth of someone very special.
When we look at the stars and all in the sky, we often find a holiness. A connection. A perspective. Awe and wonder. Was yesterday’s solstice an opportunity for you? I think I mentioned that I tried to see a recent comet that went by the sun this fall. Thanks to some friends, I did see it, faintly, one evening, while over by the Visitor Information Centre, at the border.
Perhaps the border was a good place to look up and see a comet. Perhaps looking up was a good way of finding a boundary, and how to cross it. From despair to hope. From pain to strength. From apathy to faith. From hell to heaven.
Sprout in concrete – Shoot from the stump of Jesse. I love this Hebrew Testament imagery; and we have a Jesse Tree that sprouted. I can do no better than simply quote from:
Isaiah 11:1 A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. 2 The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. 3 His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.
He shall not judge by what his eyes see or decide by what his ears hear, 4 but with righteousness he shall judge for the poor and decide with equity for the oppressed of the earth…
Our time to meditate upon this artwork, and the scriptures that preceded it, is over. There is more meditating upon such icons to be done. May you see and be seen by all the divine doorways you find.
