SPEAKER_03: Blessed be God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_03: Blessed be God, now and forever.
SPEAKER_03: Amen.
SPEAKER_03: Let's pray together.
SPEAKER_03: Almighty God, to you all hearts are open, all desires know.
SPEAKER_03: And from you know the secrets are made.
SPEAKER_03: Blend the bottom of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love you and worship by your Holy through Christ our Lord.
unknown: Amen.
SPEAKER_03: O God, now we light the candle of your company of heaven, with great sounds of great joy, you come to us.
SPEAKER_03: This is a time of light and resplendent joy.
SPEAKER_03: We have known times when God has come and brought light and light to our world.
SPEAKER_03: God has been born among us.
SPEAKER_00: The prophet Isaiah proclaimed a time when those who walked in the shadows would see a great light, that the light would shine and a child would be born to earth.
SPEAKER_00: The evangelist Luke painted the negativity sky and repeated the heavenly songs of the angels.
SPEAKER_00: Glory and peace on earth and goodwill.
SPEAKER_00: John declared that this great light is Christ, the world made flesh, and the great light gives life that lies among us.
SPEAKER_03: Grant that we who have known the mystery of that light on earth may also enjoy him perfectly in heaven.
SPEAKER_03: With you and the Holy Spirit, it less and reign as one Lord in glory everlasting.
SPEAKER_00: They pressed out a whispered prayer when your chastening was on them.
SPEAKER_00: Just as an expectant mother writhes in labor and cries out in her hands when her birthing time is near.
SPEAKER_00: We too were expectant, and we rise in labor, but it was low we birth and we win.
SPEAKER_00: No victories have we won on earth, and neither do the inhabitants of the world fall.
SPEAKER_00: But your dead shall live, and your corpses shall rise.
SPEAKER_00: Awake and sing for joy you who dwell in the dust.
SPEAKER_00: For your dew is a radiant dew, and the earth shall release those long dead.
SPEAKER_00: The word of the Lord.
SPEAKER_02: For since we believe that Jesus died and rose, even so they who sleep will God by Jesus bring with him.
SPEAKER_02: For this we declare to you by the word of the Most High God, that we who are alive, who remain until the coming of Jesus, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.
SPEAKER_02: For Jesus himself, with a command, in the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
SPEAKER_02: Then we who are alive who are left, together with them, will be caught up in the clouds to meet Jesus in the air.
SPEAKER_02: And so we will be with Jesus forever.
SPEAKER_02: Therefore, comfort one another with these words the word of the Lord.
SPEAKER_04: Now it happened in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered for taxation.
SPEAKER_04: This was the first registration and occurred while Quirinius was governor of Syria.
SPEAKER_04: So all went to be registered, each to their own town.
SPEAKER_04: Joseph also went up from Galilee out of the city of Nazareth to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, for he was from the house and heritage of David.
SPEAKER_04: And he went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was betrothed, and who was pregnant.
SPEAKER_04: And so it was that while they were there the time came for her to birth her child.
SPEAKER_04: And she gave birth to her firstborn son and swaddled him, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.
SPEAKER_04: Shepherds were in that region there staying in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night.
SPEAKER_04: Then an angel of the most high God came upon them, and the glory of the living God shone around them, and they were greatly terrified.
SPEAKER_04: But the angel said to them, Fear not, look, for I proclaim to you good news of great joy for all the people.
SPEAKER_04: For there is born to you this day a Savior who is the Messiah, the sovereign God in the city of David.
SPEAKER_04: This will be a sign for you, and you will find a baby swaddled and lying in a manger.
SPEAKER_04: And immediately there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly array, praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among peoples whom God favors.
SPEAKER_04: And it happened when the angels had departed from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to be, which the sovereign God has made known to us.
SPEAKER_04: So they came hurrying and found Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in the manger.
SPEAKER_04: Now seeing this, they made known what had been spoken to them about this child, and all who heard marveled at what was spoken by the shepherds to them.
SPEAKER_04: But Mary preserved all these words and pondered them in her heart.
SPEAKER_04: The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen.
SPEAKER_04: It was just as it had been told them.
SPEAKER_04: This is the gospel of the Lord.
SPEAKER_04: In the name of God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_04: Amen.
SPEAKER_04: Please be seated.
SPEAKER_04: Well, Merry Christmas.
SPEAKER_04: Two disclaimers before I get into the sermon, because some of you might be wondering: no, you cannot get a contact high from incest.
SPEAKER_04: It is not possible.
SPEAKER_04: So you're good.
SPEAKER_04: That was a lot of smoke.
SPEAKER_04: Number two, being that nobody left.
SPEAKER_04: After 9:30, I think I'm way funnier than I am.
SPEAKER_04: So, like, my family's been telling me this for a long time, so you get kind of punched drunk Sean sermon.
SPEAKER_04: So your first time here, welcome.
SPEAKER_04: But Merry Christmas.
SPEAKER_04: You know, but we can say that every Sunday.
SPEAKER_04: Uh, Chris Moss, Christ, Christ, the anointed, Moss from Misa, the Latin, just means the gathering.
SPEAKER_04: So this is just the gathering of those that are trying to understand the anointed, the Messiah.
SPEAKER_04: So we could say that every Sunday.
SPEAKER_04: Every time we gather is a Christmas, right?
SPEAKER_04: It's a celebration, it's a gathering.
SPEAKER_04: But what was this feast now, right?
SPEAKER_04: This actually has a name, uh, and it's called the Feast of the Incarnation.
SPEAKER_04: Now, I think that most religious traditions, I've said this before, have two great stories and two great symbols.
SPEAKER_04: And this is one of our great stories.
SPEAKER_04: And, you know, growing up, we were Christian people, but we didn't really go to church that often.
SPEAKER_04: Um we went sometimes.
SPEAKER_04: Uh we went to the horse track a lot and the dog track on Sundays.
SPEAKER_04: Um, and we did, it was great.
SPEAKER_04: I have fond memories of, you know, of that with my family.
SPEAKER_04: But we we did go every Christmas, we went every Easter.
SPEAKER_04: And um, I remember, you know, walking in at Christmas and thinking, like, this is different.
SPEAKER_04: Like, I have these memories of like, wow, I mean, it wasn't just our family.
SPEAKER_04: Like, people come out, they they come and they gather together.
SPEAKER_04: And I was thinking about that.
SPEAKER_04: Like, what is the thing that is so powerful about this story that we gather together to remember?
SPEAKER_04: Now, remember, interesting word, right?
SPEAKER_04: One of the antonyms is forget.
SPEAKER_04: Another antonym is dismember, right?
SPEAKER_04: So not to be too gruesome.
SPEAKER_04: But like, a part of like what happens, I think, for me when I leave this place is I feel like the forces of the world are tearing me apart.
SPEAKER_04: Like, I'm just I'm just kind of getting torn apart.
SPEAKER_04: Uh it's integrated, as it were.
SPEAKER_04: And I'm trying to integrate.
SPEAKER_04: I'm trying to put myself back together.
SPEAKER_04: I'm trying to remember something.
SPEAKER_04: And so I wonder like, what is the thing that we're trying to remember today, tonight, in the celebration of the feast of the incarnation?
SPEAKER_04: Well, I think there's a few things, but it's right there.
SPEAKER_04: Incarnation.
SPEAKER_04: That's interesting, right?
SPEAKER_04: In car nation carne, Latin in the flesh, like where we're saying that God took the flesh and became human and was then given a name.
SPEAKER_04: And what was that name?
SPEAKER_04: Jesus, it is, but it says in his name, we just sang it shall be Emmanuel.
SPEAKER_04: And Emmanuel, anybody, for ten bonus points, what does Emmanuel mean?
SPEAKER_04: God raised us.
SPEAKER_04: That's fascinating, isn't it?
SPEAKER_04: Because I think for a lot of people, when they hear about Christian religion, they hear a whole lot about what God did for us.
SPEAKER_04: Boy, God did this for us.
SPEAKER_04: And boy, do we want a God who will do lots of things for us.
SPEAKER_04: I want God to do something for me.
SPEAKER_04: I want God to be for me, which means that God is not for somebody else.
SPEAKER_04: Let's just keep that in mind, right?
SPEAKER_04: So when we use that word, we like a God who is for, for me, not for you, for my wishes, for my desires.
SPEAKER_04: And it's interesting that it's it's actually not God's name.
SPEAKER_04: God's name is with.
SPEAKER_04: And I think that's something worth remembering.
SPEAKER_04: I'm not sure that the worst thing that can happen is death.
SPEAKER_04: I mean, I'm pretty sure.
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I'm pretty sure.
SPEAKER_04: I think the the worst thing, and dare I say, perhaps, the entire gospel was actually rooted on something else.
SPEAKER_04: Because I tell you what, there's nothing that we can't get through if we know that we're not alone.
SPEAKER_04: There's no amount of pain that we can't handle if we know we don't have to do it by ourselves.
SPEAKER_04: And so the story that we're telling is that God said, I will be with you in the highs and in the lows, or the good times, in the bad.
SPEAKER_04: There's nothing that we can do that is going to separate us from God's presence.
SPEAKER_04: And God is gonna show up and be with us in a very particular way.
SPEAKER_04: Vulnerably.
SPEAKER_04: I mean, I think that's kind of the scandal, to be honest.
SPEAKER_04: If you want to know what I think the scandal of Christmas is, is that the foundation, the reality of the universe that we say is love shows up in this vulnerable way, needing to be fed and changed and held and all experienced all the vulnerable emotions, that God comes in and says, I'm not scared of that in humans.
SPEAKER_04: I'm taking it on, I'm experiencing it, and we celebrate that.
SPEAKER_04: I think that it's easy to forget, it's easy to forget that God wants to have a real, vulnerable relationship with us.
SPEAKER_04: And I think that's worth remembering.
SPEAKER_04: And so then what's the nature?
SPEAKER_04: So I started thinking about if that is true, if God shows up to be with us vulnerably in relationship, well then how does God show up?
SPEAKER_04: And where does God show up?
SPEAKER_04: Now, this is where I think it gets really interesting.
SPEAKER_04: So one of the things I will say, because I wasn't like a super catechized Christian growing up, was I thought that Mary and Joseph were like on their own, kind of running from the feds.
SPEAKER_04: The IRS was after them or something, and they like ran out and they were by themselves, and they were going from like hotel to hotel, and everybody was like, we've got no room, and poor Mary and Joseph had to be by themselves.
SPEAKER_04: It was cold, and they had to go to a barn to get warm, and then the baby had to be born.
SPEAKER_04: Am I the only one who thought this in the story?
SPEAKER_04: And this miraculous thing happened.
SPEAKER_04: I can't be the only one.
SPEAKER_04: I know I'm not.
SPEAKER_04: And this is kind of what we think, right?
SPEAKER_04: This is the story.
SPEAKER_04: Unfortunately, that's not actually the story.
SPEAKER_04: It's not the story.
SPEAKER_04: Like the story is that, yes, there was a taxation, there was a census, the taxation would have came later.
SPEAKER_04: And Joseph, likely, he came from Bethlehem, so he had land ownership there, probably was, you know, a son, amongst many sons, so he probably, let's say, had a 15% ownership in some of the land.
SPEAKER_04: And so he had to go back.
SPEAKER_04: Otherwise, if the Romans found out that he didn't, that he was going to lose his rights to that land.
SPEAKER_04: Because basically everybody in that town was family.
SPEAKER_04: So they called everybody in to figure out how much they were going to tax them, and by the time they got there, all the way from Galilee, which was super far north, there wasn't anybody who had room in their guest house.
SPEAKER_04: It wasn't in the word for in is actually guest house.
SPEAKER_04: Cataluma.
SPEAKER_04: It's the same word that Jesus uses later on, or not John Luke uses later on when Jesus has the Last Supper in the upper room, the Cataluma.
SPEAKER_04: There is a word for in, but it's not that.
SPEAKER_04: It's used in another part of Luke with the Good Samaritan.
SPEAKER_04: It's a whole different word.
SPEAKER_04: It's not a hotel.
SPEAKER_04: So Jesus, or not Jesus, Mary and Joseph go, and they go to be with family, and it's overflowing, and they don't have enough room, and Mary gets pregnant, starts to give birth.
SPEAKER_04: And my guess is, in my mind, she has like a sister-in-law or somebody that she didn't like, and she was like, No, you can't be in the guest room, even though you're pregnant, I don't care.
SPEAKER_04: You've got to go downstairs.
SPEAKER_04: You can't be in here.
SPEAKER_04: And so she goes downstairs, and Joseph has to leave, and all the women come in, and they get the midwife, and then Mary gives birth, and they put her in the manger because, well, that was on the bottom floor, and it was probably the cleanest thing that they had, because everything was packed.
SPEAKER_04: It was messy.
SPEAKER_04: It was stressful.
SPEAKER_04: It was, dare I say, boring and normal.
SPEAKER_04: I mean, what's amazing about this is that God doesn't show up in some like miraculous, sanitized, where, you know, like everything in super clean and beautiful kind of way.
SPEAKER_04: Like God shows up in like the normal, everyday, boring yuck and anxiety of life.
SPEAKER_04: I want to see a nativity scene where there's like a whole bunch of like bodily fluids.
SPEAKER_04: See three live births, people.
SPEAKER_04: I've seen three live births.
SPEAKER_04: Like, it's a mess.
SPEAKER_04: Like, why aren't we celebrating that God shows up with the annoying family where there's not enough room and there's like bodily fluids, and everybody is irritated, and they're all frustrated with the government, and they don't want to be there.
SPEAKER_04: Like, God is breaking in that.
SPEAKER_04: Like, the extraordinary is in the ordinary.
SPEAKER_04: Like the miraculous is in the mundane.
SPEAKER_04: I think that's worth remembering.
SPEAKER_04: That God shows up, that we're not alone, and God shows up in just the everyday boring stresses of life.
SPEAKER_04: I mean, how many of us are gonna leave here and go to holiday family parties in our chest?
SPEAKER_04: I mean, we're all gonna leave here and we're gonna go to the reality of our life.
SPEAKER_04: There's gonna be beauty, and there's gonna be celebration, and then there's gonna be mess, and there's gonna be stress, and God is gonna break in in the midst of that.
SPEAKER_04: And I think it's worth remembering as well that as we are the body of Christ, then perhaps we are the ones that are going to help facilitate the continued incarnation and fleshments of God, the continued breaking in.
SPEAKER_04: So I challenge myself and I challenge you to do two things.
SPEAKER_04: One, go out and wonder where God is in the Monday distress, and then wonder how can we be witnesses, how can we proclaim that God is present to those who are perhaps feeling like God's