December 19, 2010 - 4th Sunday in Advent

God Is With Us
Matthew 1:18-25
Advent 4A – December 19, 2010

Christmas is a tricky time.

On the one hand, we have the twinkling of Christmas lights, the fresh smell of Christmas trees (or pine-scented candles that help us pretend we have a real tree), the sweetness of Christmas cookies, the anticipation of being with loved ones, far and near, the sounds of the seasonal music that we love (even if we are quite sick of it by the time Christmas comes and goes). We have all of these things, the sights and scents and sounds of Christmas, that evoke warmth and joy and contentment. Aaahhh.

But other hand, this time of year rarely lives up to the hype that comes with it. The Christmas season is built up, created out of our memories, our fantasies, colored with our nostalgia of Christmases past seeping into Christmas present. We have a sense of what Christmas is supposed to be like – even if we know that is almost never is whatever we think about what it is supposed to be. Think about the song White Christmas: "I'm dreaming of a white Christmas, just like the ones I used to know..."

There's a wistfulness to that song, an underlying longing that we all can recognize and relate to, a desire of our lives today to match up with the lives we used to know, Christmas the way we used to know; our lives the way we used to know.

At this time of year especially, we feel the pangs of discontent, that twinge of sadness a bit more intensely, tied up in our desire for peace and harmony – in our world, our families, our inner lives. We find ourselves wishing that the puzzle pieces of our lives would fall back into place. And we feel it even more keenly at this time of year when maybe life isn't working out quite as we had planned, when the dreams we dreamed once upon a time haven't come true; as we face the reality that they might never come true...

It's something Joseph would have related to. We meet him this morning in Matthew's gospel, and he has come to a turning point in his life. He had planned out his life in one direction, and suddenly, he finds that he's on a different trajectory, headed places he never would have imagined, through situations he never thought about facing. We don't know all that much about Joseph. He never speaks a word in the Bible; he just has a silent, supporting role, but we can guess that he was much like any other person, that he was looking forward to starting a new life with his betrothed, Mary. It's easy to imagine that he was excited about bringing her to live with him as his wife, and anticipating what their life together would bring - a home, a family, a career. Faithful, righteous Joseph, who doesn't quite know what to do when Mary turns up pregnant, and Joseph knows for a fact that this baby ain't his! So now what? Which way to turn? As he stands here at the crossroads, realizing that his plans and hopes and dreams will never come to fruition, when he recognizes life as it was will never again be like the life he used to know...

It's a tough place to be. But it's just then that something amazing happens! God sends a messenger, an angel to Joseph while he's asleep & dreaming. The angel comes to Joseph in his confusion and sorrow over what might have been and says, “Do not be afraid...” Have you ever noticed that angels always say that whenever they show up? “Do not be afraid...”

“Do not be afraid...” because while this may not have been your plan, it's part of God's plan. “Do not be afraid...” because even though it may seem like your world the way you wanted it to be is ending, God is making a new beginning. “Do not be afraid...” because the Holy Spirit is working in Mary and through you to bring a savior into the world, the one you will name Jesus, which means, “God saves.”

“Do not be afraid...” because in this baby who will be born is the fulfillment of all that God has been doing since the dawn of time to heal humankind, to make it whole. In this child, creation will be restored, and all of those longings, those brief glimpses you get once in a while about how life really could be, of how the world really should be – in Jesus, they will be made a reality, because in him, you will see that God is with us.

In the middle of the turmoil of his life, God sent an angel with this message - “Do not be afraid – God is with us,” and this indeed was good news for Joseph, not just now when he has found out his fiancée is pregnant, but it's good news for all the days that lie ahead – because even once Joseph marries Mary, even once Jesus is born, it won't all be smooth sailing for him and his family. The road ahead holds its own drama and danger – shepherds intruding in the middle of the night to see his new son, wise men bearing unexpected gifts, a hurried escape into the foreign land of Egypt, fleeing from the jealous wrath of King Herod. It will be years before Joseph's life will settle down and look even remotely like the life he used to know. But through it all, Joseph can cling to the words of the angel: “Do not be afraid...” - God is with us.

These words are good news for us too, as we face the uncertainties of our own world, as we stand here this Christmas season, looking behind to what we thought our lives would be and ahead to the reality of what our lives will be. Good news because whatever it is that we are facing – financial difficulties, health problems, faltering relationships, old aches and fresh wounds – whatever burdens you carry with you this morning, the angel says to us along with Joseph – God is with us. God is with us in this child once born, the one who lived and died and rose again; God made human, dwelling among us, filled with grace and mercy and love, sent to reassure us over and over again that no matter what we face in this life, we are never, ever alone. We are cared for and tended by Jesus, who saves, by Emmanuel, God-with-us.

This is amazing good news – and this is our story to tell. It is the gift we bring to a hurting, questioning world this season, a world that is longing for some good news. God sent Joseph an angel, a messenger. Through the words of scripture, God speaks to us with that same message – Do not be afraid, I am with you. And now God sends us forth as messengers too. May our mouths be filled with the words of angels this Christmas season and always: Do not be afraid. God is with us.

Amen.