Sermon time again!
Finally, it’s here! The day we’ve been waiting to come for four weeks! We made it through all the hustle and bustle of the pre-holiday season - sending Christmas cards, buying and wrapping presents, finding the perfect tree, decorating the house. We’ve been rushing around, baking, cooking, cleaning, and receiving invitations to parties for almost every night.
Invitations seem to be a big part of the Advent and Christmas season. Each year it seems that I get more and more invitations to parties and dinners, some of which I can attend, and others that I can’t. I even got an invitation from a friend in Baltimore who knew I’d have to turn it down - he just didn’t want me to feel left out because I didn’t get an invite.
We receive so many invitations every year - not just at Christmas time, either. Some we accept, and some we can’t. Amidst all the present day invitations, it can be so easy to forget the greatest invitation we’ve ever received. But if it wasn’t for other people accepting their invitations that first Christmas, we would never have received ours.
Mary was engaged to marry Joseph, when one day she receives a stunning invitation. The angel Gabriel comes to visit her, and names her as a “favored one”. Mary, described only as “perplexed”, must have been afraid, because Gabriel’s next words are “Do not be afraid” - no surprise, because, I don’t know about you, but if an angel suddenly showed up here, I’d be more than a little frightened! Gabriel tells her that she will become pregnant, and the child will be the Son of the Most High. After a question from Mary - “How can this be?” - and Gabriel’s response, Mary is left with a decision: to accept or not to accept the invitation she has been given to participate in this miracle. Through faith, Mary, the servant of the Lord, is able to agree to God’s plan, and she becomes pregnant by power of the Holy Spirit.
Joseph was engaged to Mary, and planned to marry her - until she is found to be pregnant before they are married. Because he is a righteous man, he plans to divorce her quietly. Until he, too, is visited by an angel, this time in a dream. The angel’s first words to him? “Do not be afraid”. The angel tells Joseph about the plans that God has for the child to whom Mary will give birth, and invites Joseph to take his place in the miracle. Now Joseph is left with a choice: continue with his plan to divorce Mary, or listen to God and accept God’s plan. Through faith, Joseph, the righteous man, is able to agree to God’s plan, and marries Mary, and they name the child Jesus when he is born.
At the time of Jesus’ birth, there are shepherds in the field at night, watching their flocks. Now, while there are positive images of shepherds from the Old Testament - after all, David was a shepherd - by this time, shepherds are not thought of very highly. They were dirty and smelly; they didn’t observe the Sabbath; they were “ignorant, irreligious, immoral, crude and vulgar” ; they were considered so dishonest that they were not allowed to serve as witnesses in court - these were men far from the well-groomed, beautiful shepherds that usually stand in our nativity sets. They are considered about as far from “good” as you can get - not “righteous” or “favored by God” in any sense.
Nevertheless, one night, an angel comes to visit them, the glory of the Lord shines around them, and they are “terrified”, though I like the original better: “they feared a great fear”. And what are the angel’s first words to the frightened shepherds? “Do not be afraid”: they are told to not be afraid because the angel comes with “good news of great joy for all the people” - all people, even the lowly, dishonest shepherds. The shepherds are given a sign that will allow them to recognize the Messiah, and are invited to go to Bethlehem to find him. And just to drive the point home, a multitude of heavenly hosts shows up, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those whom he favors.” Now the shepherds are left with a choice: stay, frightened, where they are, or listen to the angel’s message and go to Bethlehem.
After the angels leave, the shepherds’ choice is easily made: “Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us”. Through faith, the shepherds, ignorant and vulgar, are able to accept the invitation they have been given, and take their place in the miracle.
The shepherds find Mary, Joseph and Jesus, and they begin to tell others what they have seen and experienced. Through the lowly shepherds, the message of Jesus’ arrival on earth is spread. The shepherds - those who couldn’t even serve as witnesses in court! - are the ones that God chooses and makes worthy to tell the news that Jesus is born.
Each of these people - Mary, Joseph, the shepherds, even the magi, who we won’t hear about until Epiphany - had a place in this story. Each of these people received an invitation from God, accepted it with faith, and took the path to Bethlehem, where God’s Son came to earth: Mary and Joseph, a family surprised by God; the magi, relying on scholarship and historical tradition; the shepherds, who receive a dramatic, moving experience in the appearance of angels. We, too, receive an invitation to come to Bethlehem. We can come by any of these means; it doesn’t matter how we come - the importance is that we come.
The shepherds receive their invitation, and they respond by going to Bethlehem, seeing the baby, and telling others about him. This is good news - so good that it can’t even wait for morning! The shepherds see, and immediately tell all that they see about the good news in Bethlehem. Despite their fear, they are strengthened by God, and empowered to spread the Good News that Christ is born.
This is the same invitation that we receive. We are invited to come to this place, we hear the Word of God spoken, we praise and glorify God, we are met at the font and the table by the one who was born that first Christmas night. We are invited to go into the world and tell all of what we see and hear. We leave this place nourished and sustained from the Word and sacraments, and we are invited to praise and glorify God to all that we meet.
We are invited to come to Bethlehem - by scholarship, by families surprised by the Word of God in their lives, by dramatic experiences. We come because we are invited by God; we believe because we have been given the faith to believe from God.
God chose unworthy shepherds on that first Christmas night. They were the last people a new family would want around their newborn child. But by inviting the shepherds to be the first witnesses, God makes God’s point: no human is worthy to be the witness Christ. We are not worthy to serve as witnesses, but God has chosen us - each and every one of us - to serve as witnesses, raising us from our unworthiness and giving us an invitation to share in the joy and glory that we receive through the gift of God’s Son, Jesus.
We are invited to come - the ones who are, at times, more like the shepherds then we would care to admit. But still, God invites us, despite our unworthiness, despite our fear. God comes to us, and invites us to join God in celebrating the Good News that Jesus is born. God comes to us, and takes our fear away, enabling us to be able to share that Good News with the whole world.
This invitation is so great and all encompassing that we receive it not only today, but every day of the year. Every day, God stands with us, welcoming us in God’s family. Every day, God extends an invitation to join in sharing the Good News that Jesus is born. Every time we gather around the font or come to the table, God is there, opening God’s arms and inviting us to join in the celebration.
This is the greatest invitation that we will ever receive, and through the grace of God and the faith that we have been given, we are able to accept it. May we, like the shepherds, be confident in the strength and courage we have been given, and may we use that strength to share the Good News with every person that we meet.