JOY!
December 24, 2023 + Faith-Lilac Way + Pastor Pam Stalheim Lane
“Look at that! Are those Northern lights?”
My eyes flew open. I must have fallen asleep. It had been a long day of planning, preparing, and packing – followed by delays of a car repair along the way. So, we were traveling much later than we had planned – but what a magnificent reward!
The driver wanted a better look – so we took the next exit and drove into the parking lot of a gas station at the top of the hill. There were other people there – but they seemed completely oblivious to the natural wonder that was happening right before our eyes. I was so excited that I almost said to them – “don’t you see the Northern lights? Look up!” But then, as I peered into the sky, I discovered that I could see nothing – nothing but the glaring lights of the gas station. Not to be denied, we started down the road again… and this time, when it was dark enough for us to see the Northern lights, we pulled over and gazed at the beautiful colors in the sky. It was enough to take your breath away…
and when, finally, we went on our way, I couldn’t stop talking about it.
Reflecting back on this moment, I was surprised to realize that I needed to get into the darkness, away from the blaring lights of the city – or in this case the gas station lights – in order to let my eyes feast upon the beauty of the night sky spectacle.
While this beautiful and somewhat rare natural phenomenon is nothing compared to a whole host of angels, I wonder if that is how the shepherds felt that night as they returned, full of joy and “glorifying and praising God for all that they had seen.”
But… that’s not how they began.
They began in darkness. Luke tells us that the shepherds were living in the fields “keeping watch over their flock by night.” This sounds rather pastoral. But… the night shift wasn’t a plumb job. Sheep are not the cuddly creatures that stuffed animal manufacturers have made them out to be. They tend to follow their nose to the next sweet blade of grass, with no sense of where they are going or what dangers might be lurking there. As a result, sheep are vulnerable prey to all sorts of predators. They need caregivers. As for the shepherds, sometimes they are given a bad rap as being ruffians – but they were generally quite ordinary people working to provide a livelihood for their families. Perhaps for some of them it was even a calling. But regardless of their status, in order to do their job and to protect the sheep, shepherds needed to watch and listen and to always be on the lookout for storms and predators.
I’ve heard that animals are often more sensitive to the world around them than we humans are. And so maybe the sheep were restless that night, sensing something, maybe even the rustle of wings. Perhaps their restlessness tipped off the shepherds to pay attention. Or maybe the shepherds were just doing their ordinary patrol. In any case, they certainly were not too busy or sleepy or distracted, because when the angel of the Lord stood before them, the shepherds noticed. In fact, they were terrified.1
And yet, the shepherds were not so afraid that they could not listen. They listened to the Good News that one angel gave them and then a whole host of angels sang to them. And then they got curious. “Let’s go” they said. “Let’s go see!” And once they saw Jesus – identified as the baby who they would find in a manger – they were filled with JOY and couldn’t stop talking about Jesus and what they had seen.
These shepherds are not so different from us. Like the shepherds, we can notice our environment; listen to the Good News of God – our messengers might be ordinary people rather than an angelic host, but like the shepherds, we can get curious, curious enough about where God is leading us, that we take action to follow God’s path.
So what was it that gave them joy? Their situation had not changed. They hadn’t won the lottery. They were still shepherds and they still had to go back and care and protect their sheep even at night, even in the dark. And it wasn’t even seeing the terrifyingly wonderful angel chorus. It was only after they had seen Jesus that a deep and rich joy started bubbling up inside of them, a joy that was not dependent upon their ordinary lives.
For the world did not suddenly become “nice” when the Christ child was born. The rulers and armies of Rome were still there oppressing the people. The world was not at peace.
Instead, as Pastor Nadia Bolz-Weber writes, the Christmas story “reveals a God who has entered our world as it actually exists, and not as the world we often wish it would be.”2
Jesus is not born into a fairy tale castle nor does he pose for a Norman Rockwell painting where everything is “perfect.” Instead, he is born to an unwed mother, supported by a man who is not her husband or his father. Jesus comes into the messiness of our world, into the darkness, the chaos and all of the challenges that we face… and stays. Jesus comes as Emmanuel, God With Us.
A father and his young son were walking on a path when they came to a long tunnel. As they continued on the path, the tunnel became darker and darker. When it got too dark to see, the boy grabbed his father’s hand and they walked in the darkness together. It was only as the boy and his father neared the end of the tunnel, and they could see, once again, the path before them, that the boy unclasped his father’s hand and raced on ahead to explore, calling back to his father, “come and see.”
Isn’t that the way it is with us? We come to dark, tough, challenging times in our lives. Sometimes the world seems so dark and hopeless that it is hard for us to see anything – not even that God – Emmanuel – God With Us is right beside us… and stays beside us - no matter how long it takes. God is With Us in all the dark places of our lives.
A United Nations peacekeeper, Hizkias Assefa, works in some of the most violent nations of the world. It’s difficult, often heartbreaking work. When asked how he keeps going, Assefa simply replied, “I am Christian. For Christians, hopelessness is not an option.” 3 For God is With Us – even in the darkest of times, even in the shelled out ruins of apartment building, even in the wreckage of our lives after tragedy. God is with us – and never gives up loving us and caring for us.
Instead, God offers us the opportunity to be transformed by Christ’s love and grace – every day. Wherever you encounter the power of God’s love and grace, whether it is in the bread and wine of communion – that’s God incarnate – or when you see Christ in the candlelight reflected in your neighbor’s face; or when you see Christ in the world around you, you, like the shepherds in Bethlehem, have seen the face of Christ. Jesus Christ is the source of all our joy. This is why we too can share the Good News of Christ. This is why we can join the shepherds in praising God and singing out with joy. Amen.
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1 Janet Hunt, Dancing with the Word
2Audacious Hope:Christmas 2016 ,Bishop Mariann | Dec 15, 2016 https://edow.org/2016/12/15/audacious-hope-christmas-2016/
3 Ibid