Community Church Sermons

Year A

December 19, 2010

Advent 4

Singing With the Angels

Matthew 1:18-25

Rev. Martin C. Singley, III

LISTEN IN!

Last Sunday evening was such an impressive and inspiring experience! “Carols by Candlelight” brought together over 700 people to participate in a wonderful program of beautiful Christmas music. Accompanied by brass and percussion from the Knoxville Symphony, our handbell choirs rang their bells, the Chancel choir sang their notes, Jason played our rental organ, and all seven-hundred-plus of us who were there that night joined together singing “O Come, All Ye Faithful!” and other favorite Christmas carols. What a night it was!

Afterwards, a friend of mine from New Hampshire sent me a message on Facebook. I had posted on my wall videos of the performance, and he had just finished viewing them. He was awed by the size of the crowd, and the quality of the musicians, and the choirs. He was especially struck by the beautiful backdrop formed by the design of our new pipe organ.

You know, I hadn’t thought of that! But he’s right! When I mentioned this observation to someone here for WednesdayChurch!, he looked up and moments later said, “They DO look like angels wings!”

Can you let this image take shape in your mind today? Picture that whole congregation, our choirs, the musicians – all of us – joining together with the angels of Bethlehem, singing the songs they sang on that night long ago, “Glory to God in the highest! And on earth, peace, goodwill toward all.”

Angels fly all over the Christmas story! Elizabeth’s husband Zechariah is told by an angel that they are going to have a baby and are to name him John. The angel Gabriel comes to Mary to say that she has been chosen to give birth to the long-awaited Messiah. And, of course, we all know about those shepherds out in the fields, keeping watch over their flocks by night. Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and “the glory of the Lord shone round about them, and they were sore afraid!” The shepherds were told of the Savior’s birth in Bethlehem, and so “they went with haste and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.”

And one of the most beautiful angelic songs is the one Joseph heard one night, some nine months or so before Jesus was born.

Now, you have to stop being modern-day Americans for a moment if you want to understand the story. You have to look through the lens of the ancient Middle East to appreciate all that is going on here.

In that time and place, girls were betrothed to men when they were as young as 9 or 10 years of age. Marriage had nothing to do necessarily with romance or even love. It was basically a business deal transacted by two families, and more specifically, between the girl’s father and the man who sought the relationship. Once the contract was agreed to, an interesting thing took place. The girl was brought into the room, and her suitor held out a cup of wine. “Take and drink,” he would say. And if she took the cup and drank from it, it meant, “Yes!” – she was agreeing to the marriage. Have you ever noticed that when you take Communion, the Lord holds out a cup of wine, and says those very same words?

So now you know what the Lord is asking of you when you come to the Communion table.

But there’s more. If the girl agrees to the engagement and subsequent marriage, the future groom traditionally says, “I’m going now to prepare a place for you, and when I come back, I will take you to myself that where I am, you may be also.”

Those are the same words Jesus spoke to his disciples as he prepared to leave them. They had accepted the cup he offered. Now he said he was going to prepare a place where they could be together. The words of Jesus around the Communion experience are basically the same words that began marriages in the ancient world. This is why the Church – the followers of Jesus – are called “the Bride of Christ.”

So Joseph and Mary got engaged. He went off to build them a place to live together. She remained in her father’s house until she came into puberty and could bear children. Then, once the fiancé had finished preparing their home, he would come back to get her – in a big parade of friends! This is why the Gospels have so many stories that talk about Jesus as the Bridegroom returning for his Bride!

Maybe you can imagine Joseph and his buddies joyfully marching down the road toward the house where Mary lived. They are singing and dancing and celebrating what will be a festive wedding. But when Joseph goes through the door of Mary’s house, he gets the shock of his life!

Now here’s what I love about Joseph and why I think we ought to admire him. The law of the day called for the stoning to death of a woman who became pregnant out of wedlock. That still happens today in some parts of the Middle East and other parts of the world. You can certainly understand the intense sense of betrayal and outrage Joseph must have felt, and how tempting it would be to just give Mary over to the religious police to have their way with her.

But that’s not what Joseph did. Matthew writes, “But Joseph, being a just man, did not want to expose Mary to public disgrace, so he decided to quietly divorce her.”

Sometimes in life things happen that hurt you so deeply that all you want to do is crawl into bed, pull the covers over your head, and never come out again. Right here today in this congregation, there are people who bear deep wounds from some disappointment, some unkindness, some failure, some betrayal. Are you one of them? Do you know someone who is going through a time like that? I think this story about Joseph can help you push through this moment in life, because – like you – Joseph had arrived at one of those places where you feel utterly helpless and don’t even have the energy to put one foot in front of the other. But – like Joseph – you have one thing going for you.

I believe in angels. Of course, I’m married to one, although Sandy’s maiden name “Angell” is spelled with two L’s. But truthfully, I do believe in angels. The Bible says we all have guardian angels. The book of Revelation says that churches have an angel given responsibility for that church. But beyond what we read and study, I think most of us know the experience of a stranger who comes to help at just the right moment and in just the right way. There have been times in my life when I’ve been as low as I could go, but felt lifted up by some unseen presence. I know some people who are convinced that their family pet is more than just a dog or cat.

The angel sneaks into Joseph’s dreams. Have you ever awakened in the morning with a thought about something you should do – like call your mother, or volunteer your time, or send a note to someone you haven’t seen or heard from in a while? Pay attention to your dreams because sometimes angels place messages there!

And did you notice the message the angel brought Joseph? It comes in four parts.

Sometimes in life we can let our problems overwhelm our identity. In other words, our WHAT becomes our WHO. So someone diagnosed with cancer begins to think of himself as a cancer patient, or someone who has lost their spouse thinks of herself as a widow. But cancer is a WHAT, not a WHO. Widowhood is a WHAT, not a WHO. Whatever problem you are facing may be WHAT you are facing, but it is not WHO YOU ARE!

You are the person your dog thinks is the best human being ever! You are the person other people believe in and care about! You are the offspring of a family tree that is rich in tradition and life! And most important of all, you are a child of God!

You see, you can’t deal successfully with the WHATS of your life until you catch hold of the WHO YOU ARE!

David, who conquered enemies. David, who ruled justly. David who committed sin, but found forgiveness. David, who God loved as a man after his own heart.

You are SOMEBODY and WHO you are is stronger than WHAT you are facing! So listen to the song of the angels.

Now there are some people you should never take home – ever. People who are a danger to you, or are abusive toward you, or can inflict harm on you or your family are not the subject of the angel’s message.

What is happening here is that, in the eyes of the world and of Joseph, Mary has sinned and fallen. The message of the angel is, “So love her.”

There is no one here today who is without sin. There is no one in this world who has not messed up, and probably messed up many more times than we could possibly know or they could possibly admit. All have sinned, and fallen short of the glory of God.

When I was living in that little narrow world of fundamentalism I found myself in long ago, all I could do with sinful people was judge them. I saw the speck in someone else’s eye, but could not see the log in my own. It almost seemed as if my Christian duty was to convince people how awful they are, how disgusted God is with them, and try to convince them that their only hope of being saved from the flames of hell was to become a fundamentalist like me! In those days, I wasn’t listening to the song of the angel that says, “Don’t be afraid to love the Mary’s of this world.” Some HAVE sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Others have fallen short of the glory of Marty, and APPEAR TO ME to have sinned, but time eventually reveals they are actually living out the will of God that Marty didn’t see at first. And do you know what? I have learned over the years that loving fallen, very human people is much more effective in leading them to God than judging them is.

Part three of the song of the angel: “…what is going on in her is from the Holy Spirit.”

I was talking with one of the woodworkers the other day, admiring the beautiful piece of furniture he made for us. I won’t tell you who it was or what he made, but when I said to him, “You know, what you’ve made is not just a gift to us – it is a gift you’ve made to God.”

And all of a sudden, his eyes filled with tears, as if his soul was stirred knowing that what he had labored over was sacred – that through the humble working of wood, he had fulfilled a divine purpose.

One of the things you and I need to know about every person we encounter is that the Holy Spirit is at work in them. God breathes divine purpose into every human activity, and God is able to use even our failures and our sins to accomplish his will in our lives. So when you encounter a stranger, or gather with family, or run into a friend, tread very carefully, because the Holy Spirit is at work in them. And learn to use words that help people see themselves as part of the larger purposes of God.

And that leads to Part four of the angel song: “Mary will give birth to a son and YOU are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

The angel tells Joseph that he has a crucial role to play in this miracle of God’s saving the world.

Do you see what you have accomplished here with our first Sanctuary, and now this new one - not for me - not even for yourself, but for GOD and God’s work that will be going on long after we are no longer here!

Every family you provide a turkey for at Thanksgiving – every child you help save from sexual abuse – every young person you provide a scholarship for – every house you help build for a family – every meal you deliver to a frail elderly person out in the county – every man, woman or child who steps through these doors to seek God - is someone in whose life God is at work as part of his plan for the salvation of the world.

I sometimes wonder how Joseph must have felt standing there on Christmas night in the stable, together with his wife Mary, and their baby lying in a manger. What must he have been thinking as shepherds came, and magi arrived, and the angels of heaven sang, “Gloria!”?

Nine or so months ago, he could not possibly have imagined that he had such an important part to play in the purposes of God.

Well, listen to the song of the angels. We hear them singing most clearly at Christmas, but they are actually still singing all year long.