Titus 3: 4-7; Luke 2: 1-20     And God said, ?Yes?    E/DC/GR    Dec.25 2005

1)      Jesus the Christ is born.  Have you ever wondered what went into God?s decision to have this amazing gift of the Christ come packaged as a baby to a peasant family?  Let?s imagine that this morning we can listen in to that holy decision-making.  It?s about 2000 years ago, and the Holy Spirit of Love again brooded over a troubled world. ?How can I really bring light again to this darkness? How can I bring order from this chaos, healing to the unimaginable wounds on the hearts, minds, bodies and souls of this aching humanity?? And once again a plan began to form in the holy heart of God. 

2)      And then - oh wonder of wonders, a simple peasant girl heard the holy request and answered, ?Let it be according to your word.?  Mary and Joseph really did listen to the angel?s outlandish request.  Then God might have paused for a moment and thought, ?But she is so young and not yet safely married. But then why not? This way folks can never with integrity say to our young people, you?re too young; you need more experience, or just wait until you?ve lived more. They?ll be reminded every Christmas that the holy mother of the Christ was young, uneducated, poor and yet God could use her in an amazing way. But most especially there was life there and there was love there and God said, ?Yes!?

3)      ?But a baby will be so vulnerable. What about hostile governors, occupying armies, this senseless census, and the crowded cities? On the other hand, people will be able to totally identify with this baby?s need for the necessities of life and the necessity of love. In that infant?s cry for comfort, warmth, nourishment, strength, all who weep will know God cries with them in their darkness. And unless that baby is well cared for, he will not live. It?s perfect!  Emmanuel - God with us - cannot survive without the loving nurturing of earthly folks. Oh maybe, just maybe, each Christmas they?ll ponder this one enough to realize how important loving nurture is for each person on earth, for everyone bears God within. And maybe, just maybe, they?ll dare to share the gentle, vulnerable part of who they really are with each other.?  And so to this very vulnerability, God said, ?Yes.?

4)      ?And then would you believe, it was shepherds who stopped to hear the angel?s song.  But wait - they are the poor, the outcast, the uneducated, and heaven knows right now, the despised. But of course - that?s amazing. It?ll be just because they?re outcast that they?re perfectly cast. Now there will be no one who can ever say they?re too poor, too busy, too uneducated, or from the wrong side of town to spread God?s news. No one can be in worst shape than these incredible shepherds.?  ?And,? thought God, ?My people have often imagined me as a shepherd and now they?ll be reminded of the One who guides, protects, binds up their wounds.  The shepherds will tell forth the arrival of the Shepherd - Yes!?

5)      ?You know this all is unfolding in such a simple way. Such gentle simple parents, simple messengers, and simple message - and stuck in a simple stable for heaven?s sake. This too has wonderful possibilities. This very simplicity could strip away all pride.  I know the world would prefer it to be the mighty shaking of earth and skies to announce the Savior?s birth. They would love a palace and the wealth and circumstance of royal power. But I will not let them think that it is in a place of riches and privilege that life achieves ultimate fulfillment. Each Christmas they will be reminded that in the lowly, the common, I came to dwell among them.  ?Yes,? God said, ?Yes!??

6)      ?But wait, these are such troubled times. Political unrest. Economic hardship - no work. Conquered people who will not lie down and be conquered. Wars and rumours of war. What if they need to flee? Is this the time in history to try to break in, to do a new thing? Will anyone even listen? And yet - if the Christ comes now, my people will know with certainty there is no time in history I am not present. They will remember that the Savior did not turn aside in the time of trouble, but was laid down right in the middle of it - Yes, in the very midst of those who are suffering most.?

7)      Well, there are always those of us who would advise God.  So you can imagine the grumbling that arose in the heavens.  ?You know what sinners those people are?  They can?t possibly recognize what you?re doing for them! What if they don?t appreciate this amazing gift - what if they reject the Savior?? The patient convinced answer came.  ?They must have the choice, no matter when the Anointed One comes.  If I were to wait until there was no sin - there would be no reason for a Savior! But more than that, they must know there is no time, or no sin that puts them beyond my love and forgiveness.  I do not wait for them to change - I enable the change. They come as they are to be reconciled to me.?  And God said, ?Yes! I will risk loving, without counting the cost.?

8)      But there was sadness as well as joy in the holy heart of God.  This child, who would walk the earth as a man, would bear in a unique way the God essence. God knew the probable suffering ahead, for the Christ would live with integrity, and humanity has a hard time to gaze in the face of truth. Surely the wonder of the plan outweighed the problems and concerns.  Then God asked the final, crucial questions.  ?How else will they know how much I love them?  How else will they learn that to give yourself for others is the way to ultimate joy? How else will they learn that it is because I love and accept them while they are sinners that they are freed to change??

9)      And God said, ?Yes? to the in breaking of holiness, the coming of the Christ Child.   The world has never been the same. May this Christmas be a time when your whole-hearted, ?Yes? to God echoes back God?s whole-hearted ?Yes!? to us.