I began the sermon on Christmas Eve with this re-telling of the Christmas story. Click on the link and then read the rest of the sermon.
https://keziahereandthere.wordpress.com/2015/12/21/alternative-nativity/
Total buzz kill, right? Merry Christmas – here’s a depressing slideshow. The truth is: this is what is happening in our world right now. As we celebrate. As the buzz in this room lifts us up off our feet. As we see hope through the eyes of young children. These 2 stark realities exist at the same time. The refugee crisis and our family celebrations.
And we can’t lose sight of this paradox. Because this is always our story as Christians. God always chooses our chaotic reality to be born into. God always brings hope into hopeless situations. God is born into our lives, right here and now at this celebration. God is born into the realities of the refugees. Just as God was born into it 2000 years ago.
And what better way to show that God is with us here than to be defiantly joyful and love –filled. To love when the world tells you to hate. To forgive when the world tells you to fight. To hope when the world tells you to despair. To have courage when the world tell you to fear.
The people in these photos are resiliently hoping and working for life. So let this hard story add to the joy of your night. Go home; eat, drink and be merry. Love your family and friends as a sign of God’s presence in this broken world. And then on Saturday, figure out where you will volunteer this next year. Find a group you trust that is helping the 60 million refugees survive and live. Give money to people who are building wells for water, who are investing in communities for the long haul. Go about your day, hug your kids close, go to your job, put up with your annoying colleague, extend a hand of friendship to a stranger. This is how love wins.
What does it mean that God seeks refuge in our daily lives? God chooses us. Love wins.
What does it mean that God is born in us in new ways each and every day? God lives in us. Love wins.
Love wins. It’s a promise.
Merry Christmas.
