Luke 2:1-20
“Close to Home: Invited Home”
Preached Friday, December 24 (Christmas Eve)
Our Mission statement here at Grace is to invite all into a joyous and caring Christian community. And tonight, if you are worshipping with us either here in the pews or online, you have accepted that invitation. Accepted the invitation to worship together, to celebrate Christmas, to be surrounded by love and care this night.
Welcome. Welcome into this space, a space we know is physical for those here and a space that is intangible, a state of mind and heart and soul, for those joining us from afar. Tonight, wherever you may be, may you feel at home. Welcome home. May you find God here tonight. The God of Love, Emmanuel, God-with-us, Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. May you wonder at the Christ-child. May you find joy. May you be part of a Christ-centered community. May you feel like this place here tonight is home.
And speaking of invitations: the Christmas story can actually be tracked in invitations extended and invitations accepted.
Zechariah and Elizabeth accept the angel's invitation to have a child, John, who would be the one to prepare people for the Messiah.
The crowds in the desert accept John's invitation to repent, be baptized, and change the way they treat each other to be more just and loving.
Mary accepts God's invitation to be the Mother of God, to accept the impossible, to bring God-with- us into the world.
And when there was no invitation for a hotel or a traditional room, someone, an unnamed person, invited Mary and Joseph into their space - maybe all they had to give, so that the Christ-child could be laid in a manger.
Due to an invitation, newborn Jesus had a place to rest his head. Christ is born. Merry Christmas.
The invitations, however, don't stop here. Angels appeared to shepherds in the field and invited them to come and see the Savior, the Messiah, a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger. The shepherds accept the angel's invitation and are among the first to worship the Newborn king…but can you imagine Mary's face and reaction when the shepherds just showed up right after having given birth and wanting to see her baby? SHE didn’t extend the invitation. Mary, still bleeding, covered in bodily fluids, exhausted beyond comprehension, hormones flooding through her body , trying to get baby Jesus to just latch deeply, a first-time mom holding the son of God to her breast in a space that is already less than ideal and then these uninvited guests show.
Shepherds were not considered unclean in the ritual, religious sense but most likely were unclean in the physical, smelling like sheep literal sense. Shepherds were among the lowest workers and could have been men, women, or even children. And they might even have brought their sheep with them! Divine revelations don't wait for shift changes or stop at the pen to drop off the sheep first…
So there Mary is, in all her after-birth, post-partum glory and these uninvited shepherds, their sheep, and all the accompanying smells, noises, and crowd come pouring in.
Oi vey.
Now, the Little Drummer boy is not Biblical but the shepherds showing up reminds me of all the memes on this very subject: Basically the idea that Mary, exhausted, having just gotten baby Jesus to Sleep is approached by a young man who thinks to himself: what this girl needs is a drum solo.
(images)
And as one fairly new mom to another, I would not have faulted Mary for kicking that drummer boy out or, back to the Scriptures, to say to the shepherds and the sheep. What are you DOING here!?
The uninvited guests don't stop there either. Although not present at the birth, the magi, wise men, three kings - whatever name you would like to call them - show up at the home of Mary and Jesus. Strangers from strange lands - invited by a star - not by you - showing up at your doorstep.
And really, this uninvited guests thing is a huge point of the Christmas story
Because when you invite Jesus into your life, your home, your heart - expect Jesus to then invite others without checking with you first. When you invite Jesus into your heart or accept Jesus's invitation to know him - both, really - you lose all control of the guest list. Jesus tells us as much when he tells us that he came for the last, the lost, and the least. His ministry is focused on extending invitations to those who society leaves out.
Jesus tells us in Matthew 25 that when we give the hungry food, when we give the thirsty a drink, when we see a stranger and welcome them in, when we give the naked clothes, when we visit the sick and the prisoner - we do these things to Jesus himself. When we welcome Jesus into our lives, we also welcome in the hungry, thirsty, stranger, naked, sick, and prisoner.
This Christmas as we welcome Jesus into this world and celebrate him in our homes, we are called to look towards the least, the last, and the lost. Christ truly invites ALL to his heavenly banquet table. We are also called to make our guests lists, our homes, our tables look more like Christ’s. This Christmas and beyond.
Knowing that uninvited guests show up at the nativity and in our lives when we invite Christ in, reminds us that we don't earn or deserve our spot on Jesus's invite list either. It's an invitation given not by merit, but by love. So this Christmas, let us all extend invitations of love - love to God, love to neighbor, love to all those whom Jesus came for, the last, the lost, and the least. Love to all. Period. There is the grace in knowing that none of us deserve our spots on the invite list - but they are given to us anyway, out of love. A love that God has for us that God came amidst great darkness, turmoil, stress - all the things of this world 2,000 years ago and our reality this night - God came in the midst of that to take on flesh, become human in the form of a newborn babe, God incarnate, God divine. Emmanuel. God with us. God loves us so much - that God came to Earth to invite us all home. Home with Jesus. This Christmas, you’re invited. Invited to know the love of God. So this Christmas, let’s extend that same invitation to all.
Merry Christmas. Amen.
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