Welcome everyone on this joyous afternoon! This afternoon is especially joyous for us, as it is the time when we meet Jesus again for the first time, through the story of his birth in Luke’s Gospel.
Today everyone received a special angel, made by our Sunday School kids throughout the season of Advent. You see, we are all angels, especially our youngest members. You are good and perfect and although it may not seem like you it all the time – you are, because you are made in God’s image and today is the day to rejoice in it!
And who can tell me, of all of us made in God’s image, who were the first people to meet Baby Jesus? Was it the Wise men? No. Was it the Innkeeper? No, nor the people of the village. It was the shepherds, abiding in the fields. Who knows what abiding in the fields means? Yes, it means actually living in the fields outside of the village walls. People who didn’t live in shelters, in homes or even tents. They were the people who lived with the sheep and cared for them night and day moving from field to field out in the wilderness. They helped keep them fed and safe from attack. They were very dirty. They were like farmers.
You know, years ago, I was a donkey farmer and my neighbor a few fields away was a shepherd. She raised sheep on her farm and together we would go for coffee sometimes. People at the coffee shop would say they knew we were coming from the smell of us!!! You see, people who farm animals don’t dress pretty, they wear old clothes and boots with mud on them because they are more concerned with care and love than they are with fitting in to society and its conventions.
It took me years to figure out, that the first people that Jesus revealed himself to, were the people “outside” of society, the people who were literally and religiously/ritualistically unclean. Wow, what a foreshadowing of exactly who Jesus was to spend his time and ministry with! Jesus came to invite everyone into God’s kingdom and to help us to realize we are all created in God’s image and are children of God.
I’d like to tell you a story about a boy named Wally. Wally was 7 years old and rather big for his age, although he had some special needs. Wally, loved to go to Sunday School. One year, his teacher decided to have a Christmas pageant, just like we had last year. She asked Wally to be the Innkeeper and gave him the important line, “There is no room at the inn.” Wally was so worried he would forget his line that he practiced it and practiced it. Having special needs, Wally didn’t just practice it like other kids might, he practiced it 60 million zillion times and drove his mother crazy. When the time of the pageant came, everyone was worried for Wally. Would he remember his line?
It came time for Wally to speak and he said, “There is … “ and he paused. Everyone was afraid he had forgotten his line. Wally looked around and started again. “There is …” and he paused, he looked at this Sunday school teacher, she had taught him his line. Wally started again, “There is…” he paused and he looked at this mother who had taught him about God and God’s plan. “…no room in the inn” he continued “…but there is plenty of room at my house!”
Wally’s heart was open to Jesus. Is there room in your life for the Messiah? He comes knocking at the door of our hearts many times in our lives through various people and experiences – some like the angel choir, and some like the shepherds.
Being Jesus’ birthday, we have a birthday gift for him. Sue, could you please bring up that beautifully wrapped present? Thank you so much for your help today. Could you young people come and help unwrap it for us? And what do we find inside as a gift for Jesus today? Inside we find all our paper hearts, that we wrote our names on when we entered the church today!
Our gift today on Jesus’ birthday, is to give him our hearts and to promise him we will always try to find room for him in our lives.
Amen.
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