WEBVTT 00:00:01.229 --> 00:00:03.310 They wouldn't eat with them. They wouldn't marry 00:00:03.310 --> 00:00:06.990 them. They wouldn't even let them testify. They 00:00:06.990 --> 00:00:17.629 didn't even count. It's night. Not the holy kind 00:00:17.629 --> 00:00:21.730 yet, just the working kind. A field outside Bethlehem, 00:00:21.750 --> 00:00:25.640 cold ground, sheep shifting in the dark. Men 00:00:25.640 --> 00:00:28.280 on third shift doing a job nobody's thanked them 00:00:28.280 --> 00:00:31.140 for. No temple lights, no hymns drifting through 00:00:31.140 --> 00:00:33.780 the air, just a low fire, tired bones, and another 00:00:33.780 --> 00:00:36.460 night. It looked exactly like the one before 00:00:36.460 --> 00:00:39.219 it. And then, without warning, the quiet broke. 00:00:39.520 --> 00:00:42.539 The sky split open like it had been holding its 00:00:42.539 --> 00:00:44.799 breath for centuries. Light poured out where 00:00:44.799 --> 00:00:48.039 nobody was looking. Heaven aimed its announcement 00:00:48.039 --> 00:00:51.280 not at a palace or a pulpit, but at a pasture. 00:00:51.820 --> 00:00:54.640 And the first word spoken into that fear -lit 00:00:54.640 --> 00:00:57.320 darkness wasn't a command, it was a gift. Do 00:00:57.320 --> 00:01:01.219 not be afraid. This is for you. And tonight, 00:01:01.439 --> 00:01:06.159 here we are. Small town church, candles and shaking 00:01:06.159 --> 00:01:09.459 hands. Wood floors worn smooth by generations 00:01:09.459 --> 00:01:13.540 who showed up anyway. For 122 years, folks here 00:01:13.540 --> 00:01:15.640 have gathered like this through wars and winters, 00:01:15.680 --> 00:01:18.319 births and burials, to sit in the dark together 00:01:18.319 --> 00:01:22.260 and listen to the same good news. So wherever 00:01:22.260 --> 00:01:24.359 you are, kitchen table, truck cab, living room 00:01:24.359 --> 00:01:27.459 chair, consider this your candle. You're invited 00:01:27.459 --> 00:01:30.540 into the light. The sky still breaks open. Grace 00:01:30.540 --> 00:01:33.159 still knows your address. I'll see you on the 00:01:33.159 --> 00:01:43.959 other side. If you have been with us on Wednesday 00:01:43.959 --> 00:01:47.760 nights, then you're going to. Probably pick up 00:01:47.760 --> 00:01:49.900 that this is actually part four of our four -part 00:01:49.900 --> 00:01:53.840 series that we've called Four Nights in Bethlehem. 00:01:54.159 --> 00:01:57.239 And we've looked at, well, three so far, different 00:01:57.239 --> 00:02:00.620 aspects of the birth story of Jesus. Tonight 00:02:00.620 --> 00:02:02.400 is the fourth. This is Wednesday. We didn't have 00:02:02.400 --> 00:02:04.480 Bible study, but we still need our Bible study 00:02:04.480 --> 00:02:07.120 every week. So the homily tonight, that was the 00:02:07.120 --> 00:02:08.419 other thing I was going to point out, that if 00:02:08.419 --> 00:02:11.780 you are new, the good news here is homily doesn't 00:02:11.780 --> 00:02:15.240 mean sermon. Homily means about half the length. 00:02:15.979 --> 00:02:19.960 So that's a good thing, okay? But this fills 00:02:19.960 --> 00:02:21.979 us in, for those of us that have been with us 00:02:21.979 --> 00:02:24.199 on Wednesday nights, as we have looked at the 00:02:24.199 --> 00:02:26.479 birth of Jesus from all of these different perspectives. 00:02:26.539 --> 00:02:29.539 And tonight, we're going to look at the shepherds. 00:02:30.759 --> 00:02:34.439 Tonight's homily is entitled, The Sky Broke Open. 00:02:35.599 --> 00:02:39.500 And let me start by kind of setting our scene. 00:02:40.240 --> 00:02:43.379 That's kind of how I want to do. put us in a 00:02:43.379 --> 00:02:45.939 right frame of mind to see the story for ourselves 00:02:45.939 --> 00:02:51.039 it was a graveyard shift in a field that never 00:02:51.039 --> 00:02:56.759 made the papers cold ground sky so clear that 00:02:56.759 --> 00:03:01.419 it felt like it hurt maybe a fire low and spitting 00:03:01.419 --> 00:03:05.280 smoke in their clothes the kind that just doesn't 00:03:05.280 --> 00:03:09.849 wash out Sheep finally settling in for the night, 00:03:09.909 --> 00:03:13.090 tired men with cracked hands and dirt ground 00:03:13.090 --> 00:03:16.030 into their knuckles, the kind of dirt that doesn't 00:03:16.030 --> 00:03:20.990 come out either. Shepherding wasn't a career. 00:03:21.710 --> 00:03:25.330 It was what you did when you couldn't do anything 00:03:25.330 --> 00:03:31.389 else. No benefits, no pension, no 401k, no seat 00:03:31.389 --> 00:03:34.889 at the table. Their testimony wasn't even admissible 00:03:34.889 --> 00:03:39.500 in court. That's how far down on the social ladder 00:03:39.500 --> 00:03:46.439 shepherds were. A shepherd's word didn't count 00:03:46.439 --> 00:03:51.520 in this society. If something went wrong and 00:03:51.520 --> 00:03:56.560 they were in proximity, it was their fault. If 00:03:56.560 --> 00:04:01.580 everything went right, nobody noticed. They, 00:04:01.659 --> 00:04:04.159 the shepherds, they weren't waiting for God. 00:04:05.319 --> 00:04:09.219 They were waiting for dawn, same as the night 00:04:09.219 --> 00:04:15.159 before, the night before that. Then the quiet 00:04:15.159 --> 00:04:20.959 broke. Sky cracked open like something had been 00:04:20.959 --> 00:04:26.120 holding it shut for centuries. The glory of the 00:04:26.120 --> 00:04:31.920 Lord, not in the temple, not in Jerusalem. Not 00:04:31.920 --> 00:04:35.500 in any place the priests had sanctified, but 00:04:35.500 --> 00:04:39.100 rather the glory of the Lord showed up in a pasture 00:04:39.100 --> 00:04:45.980 to men who smelled like the job. And the first 00:04:45.980 --> 00:04:49.759 word out of heaven's mouth to them wasn't a summons. 00:04:50.220 --> 00:04:59.360 It was a gift. This is for you. And maybe you 00:04:59.360 --> 00:05:01.920 know what it's like to stand outside the light. 00:05:02.500 --> 00:05:05.360 You clocked in early, you clock out late. And 00:05:05.360 --> 00:05:08.519 somewhere in between, the world just kept on 00:05:08.519 --> 00:05:11.399 spinning and never bothered to ask your opinion. 00:05:13.819 --> 00:05:16.540 Maybe you're here tonight because someone asked 00:05:16.540 --> 00:05:21.600 you to come. Maybe you're here because it's what 00:05:21.600 --> 00:05:26.519 your family does. Maybe you're here because the 00:05:26.519 --> 00:05:30.120 house got too quiet. You just needed to sit somewhere 00:05:30.120 --> 00:05:36.420 that didn't sit next to an empty chair. There's 00:05:36.420 --> 00:05:39.779 grief in this room. I know that. There's joy, 00:05:39.839 --> 00:05:44.019 too. There's always joy at Christmas, even when 00:05:44.019 --> 00:05:48.540 it has to fight for air. But some of you aren't 00:05:48.540 --> 00:05:51.379 carrying joy tonight. You're carrying a weight. 00:05:52.360 --> 00:05:56.319 And the season doesn't seem to make it any lighter. 00:05:56.970 --> 00:06:02.569 It just makes it louder. Every carol reminds 00:06:02.569 --> 00:06:07.370 you of someone who isn't singing anymore. Every 00:06:07.370 --> 00:06:10.329 light on the tree reminds you of hands that used 00:06:10.329 --> 00:06:13.870 to hang them. And you're supposed to smile and 00:06:13.870 --> 00:06:19.610 say, Merry Christmas and mean it. And if that's 00:06:19.610 --> 00:06:24.410 you, if you feel more like a shepherd than a 00:06:24.410 --> 00:06:28.040 wise man tonight, then... You are exactly who 00:06:28.040 --> 00:06:32.660 this story was written for. The word became flesh. 00:06:33.920 --> 00:06:38.240 And the first people who heard about it still 00:06:38.240 --> 00:06:46.139 had sheep on their sandals. The angel said, I 00:06:46.139 --> 00:06:49.160 bring you good news of great joy for all people. 00:06:50.060 --> 00:06:53.939 All. Not just the cleaned up people, not the 00:06:53.939 --> 00:06:56.800 people who remembered what week three of Advent 00:06:56.800 --> 00:07:04.199 is. All. And then this. To you, born this day 00:07:04.199 --> 00:07:10.899 in the city of David, a savior. To you, not to 00:07:10.899 --> 00:07:13.579 the righteous, not to the prepared. To you, the 00:07:13.579 --> 00:07:16.899 night shift, sheep smelling, wouldn't hold up 00:07:16.899 --> 00:07:22.110 in court. You. Shepherds didn't get a birth announcement 00:07:22.110 --> 00:07:25.930 because they deserved one. They got it because 00:07:25.930 --> 00:07:30.730 God was already making a point. From the very 00:07:30.730 --> 00:07:34.449 first breath, the Savior was for the ones where 00:07:34.449 --> 00:07:38.910 there was no room anywhere else. And when the 00:07:38.910 --> 00:07:43.689 sky closed back up, when the glory faded and 00:07:43.689 --> 00:07:46.529 the night got quiet again, those shepherds, they 00:07:46.529 --> 00:07:51.060 didn't go back to sleep. They got up. They went 00:07:51.060 --> 00:07:56.660 to see. Story doesn't start in a sanctuary. It 00:07:56.660 --> 00:07:59.819 starts in a field in the dark with men who had 00:07:59.819 --> 00:08:03.199 no reason to expect anything but another cold 00:08:03.199 --> 00:08:09.360 night and another long walk home. And that is 00:08:09.360 --> 00:08:15.579 who heaven spoke to first. Not the priests burning 00:08:15.579 --> 00:08:19.709 incense in the temple. Not the scribes. Over 00:08:19.709 --> 00:08:23.009 their scrolls, not the powerful, not the pure, 00:08:23.170 --> 00:08:26.810 the shepherds. The overlooked, the written off. 00:08:28.329 --> 00:08:33.350 The ones who didn't get invited in. And that's 00:08:33.350 --> 00:08:38.190 still how God works. Doesn't wait for the world 00:08:38.190 --> 00:08:40.509 to get its act together. He doesn't require a 00:08:40.509 --> 00:08:43.509 cleaned up room or a prepared heart. He walks 00:08:43.509 --> 00:08:48.360 right into the mess. He shows up in the middle 00:08:48.360 --> 00:08:52.000 of whatever it is you've got going on in your 00:08:52.000 --> 00:08:58.200 life and says, I'm here. So, if your year was 00:08:58.200 --> 00:09:05.460 hard, and a lot of us, it was. If you lost something 00:09:05.460 --> 00:09:09.840 you can't get back, if you've been running on 00:09:09.840 --> 00:09:13.879 fumes and calling it fine, friend, this gospel 00:09:13.879 --> 00:09:20.529 word, It's for you tonight. Verse 8. In that 00:09:20.529 --> 00:09:22.809 region there were shepherds living in the fields, 00:09:22.830 --> 00:09:25.610 keeping watch over their flock by night. Living 00:09:25.610 --> 00:09:28.509 in the fields, not commuting from town. Living 00:09:28.509 --> 00:09:32.250 out there with the animals under the sky, miles 00:09:32.250 --> 00:09:38.610 from anything respectable. Picture it. Fire's 00:09:38.610 --> 00:09:43.009 dying. Your back hurts. You can see your breath. 00:09:44.590 --> 00:09:47.509 You've been doing this since you were old enough 00:09:47.509 --> 00:09:50.190 to hold a staff and nobody has ever, ever come 00:09:50.190 --> 00:09:54.769 out here to thank you once for it. Nobody has 00:09:54.769 --> 00:09:57.850 ever came to you and said the work you do matters. 00:10:00.049 --> 00:10:03.429 You're just the help. You're just the labor. 00:10:04.970 --> 00:10:08.250 You are the reason the people in town have wool 00:10:08.250 --> 00:10:11.929 and meat and don't even think twice about where 00:10:11.929 --> 00:10:16.919 it came from. That is where heaven pointed its 00:10:16.919 --> 00:10:21.580 announcement. Verse 9. Then an angel of the Lord 00:10:21.580 --> 00:10:23.799 stood before them and the glory of the Lord shone 00:10:23.799 --> 00:10:26.639 around them and they were terrified. Of course 00:10:26.639 --> 00:10:31.700 they were. The whole night sky just lit up like 00:10:31.700 --> 00:10:35.519 daylight. Like the world had flipped inside out. 00:10:36.169 --> 00:10:40.149 Like every assumption they had ever made about 00:10:40.149 --> 00:10:43.470 God shows up and got thrown into that sputtering 00:10:43.470 --> 00:10:50.470 fire. And the angel says, first thing, do not 00:10:50.470 --> 00:10:55.730 be afraid. Not clean yourselves up. Not you should 00:10:55.730 --> 00:10:59.710 have been ready. Just don't be afraid. I've got 00:10:59.710 --> 00:11:05.909 news. It's good. Verse 11. To you, this day, 00:11:06.169 --> 00:11:09.450 in the city of David, a Savior who is the Messiah, 00:11:09.789 --> 00:11:15.009 the Lord, to you is born. The light shines in 00:11:15.009 --> 00:11:17.230 the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome 00:11:17.230 --> 00:11:20.529 it. That's the Gospel account of John's version 00:11:20.529 --> 00:11:23.690 of the story. Not from the hillside with the 00:11:23.690 --> 00:11:27.570 shepherds, but from eternity. The same light 00:11:27.570 --> 00:11:30.350 that cracked in the sky over Bethlehem was the 00:11:30.350 --> 00:11:33.769 light that called the very world into being. 00:11:35.529 --> 00:11:39.789 The same voice that said, let there be light, 00:11:40.009 --> 00:11:44.990 was the cry of a newborn baby in a borrowed room. 00:11:46.250 --> 00:11:50.559 And it did not come with a parade. It came with 00:11:50.559 --> 00:11:53.679 crying, it came hungry, it came wrapped in the 00:11:53.679 --> 00:11:56.940 smell of hay and the silence between contractions. 00:11:57.960 --> 00:12:02.399 Word became flesh and dwelt among us, not above 00:12:02.399 --> 00:12:07.960 us, among us. In the grief, in the joy, in the 00:12:07.960 --> 00:12:15.580 exhaustion, in the manger, in the mess. Wherever 00:12:15.580 --> 00:12:19.509 you are tonight, that's where the world... pitches 00:12:19.509 --> 00:12:25.990 its tent for you. So if you feel like one of 00:12:25.990 --> 00:12:28.590 those shepherds tonight outside the circle, not 00:12:28.590 --> 00:12:31.509 on the list, just trying to make it through the 00:12:31.509 --> 00:12:36.230 holidays, here's what I want you to hear. You 00:12:36.230 --> 00:12:42.529 are exactly the kind of person heaven is looking 00:12:42.529 --> 00:12:47.600 for. God doesn't wait for you to climb the ladder. 00:12:47.740 --> 00:12:52.639 You don't need a spiritual resume. God does not 00:12:52.639 --> 00:12:57.120 ask for your performance. He just shows up in 00:12:57.120 --> 00:13:01.559 the dark where you are and says, this is for 00:13:01.559 --> 00:13:05.679 you. Not for somebody better, not for somebody 00:13:05.679 --> 00:13:12.879 more ready. For you. So don't come forward tonight. 00:13:13.500 --> 00:13:15.919 In that spiritual sense. How about come back? 00:13:17.340 --> 00:13:22.200 Come back to the fire. Come back to the story 00:13:22.200 --> 00:13:26.519 you heard when you were small. Come back to the 00:13:26.519 --> 00:13:29.340 mercy that doesn't ask what you've done or where 00:13:29.340 --> 00:13:34.259 you've been lately. Same Jesus who lay in the 00:13:34.259 --> 00:13:37.460 manger walks into whatever you carried in here 00:13:37.460 --> 00:13:41.960 tonight. He doesn't flinch. He doesn't turn away. 00:13:42.960 --> 00:13:47.799 He sits down. He sits down with the grieving. 00:13:49.139 --> 00:13:53.139 He sits down with the exhausted. He sits down 00:13:53.139 --> 00:13:55.080 with the ones who almost didn't come tonight 00:13:55.080 --> 00:14:00.139 because it just felt like too much. He sits down 00:14:00.139 --> 00:14:05.179 with you. And maybe that's where the song starts. 00:14:06.139 --> 00:14:12.080 Not in your perfection. In your presence. Because. 00:14:12.620 --> 00:14:18.120 You showed up. That's enough. Merry Christmas. 00:14:19.139 --> 00:14:28.580 Amen? Amen. As the candles burn low and the room 00:14:28.580 --> 00:14:31.700 grows quiet again, hear this before you go. You 00:14:31.700 --> 00:14:33.700 don't have to carry everything by yourself tonight. 00:14:33.759 --> 00:14:36.519 Whatever you brought with you. The ache that 00:14:36.519 --> 00:14:38.659 won't name itself the joy that surprised you. 00:14:39.310 --> 00:14:42.029 Grief still knows the way home. None of it's 00:14:42.029 --> 00:14:45.570 too heavy for God to sit beside. Seeing Christ 00:14:45.570 --> 00:14:47.970 who lay in a manger still shows up gently, without 00:14:47.970 --> 00:14:51.409 hurry, without demand. Doesn't rush you towards 00:14:51.409 --> 00:14:55.009 answers. He stays. He listens. He keeps watch 00:14:55.009 --> 00:14:58.350 through the long night. And if all you did tonight 00:14:58.350 --> 00:15:00.649 was show up and breathe and listen, that's enough. 00:15:01.330 --> 00:15:04.450 Grace knows what to do with that. Now, before 00:15:04.450 --> 00:15:07.110 you slip back out into the dark, let me offer 00:15:07.110 --> 00:15:11.389 you a small invitation. If this word met you 00:15:11.389 --> 00:15:13.610 where you are, if it steadied you or warmed you, 00:15:13.750 --> 00:15:16.710 maybe reminded you that you're not alone, you 00:15:16.710 --> 00:15:18.610 can toss a like in that offering plate on your 00:15:18.610 --> 00:15:20.409 way out. It helps this little church keep the 00:15:20.409 --> 00:15:23.309 lights on, lets others find their way in. And 00:15:23.309 --> 00:15:25.830 if you'd like to walk with us into the new year, 00:15:25.909 --> 00:15:28.889 consider tithing your subscribe. The little red 00:15:28.889 --> 00:15:31.110 notification works like the church bells around 00:15:31.110 --> 00:15:33.669 here. It lets folks know there's still a gathering, 00:15:33.730 --> 00:15:36.090 still a word, still a seat with your name on 00:15:36.090 --> 00:15:39.330 it. But no pressure, no pledges. Just an open 00:15:39.330 --> 00:15:42.870 door. However you go tonight, go gently. And 00:15:42.870 --> 00:15:46.870 remember, you're held and you're welcome. Merry 00:15:46.870 --> 00:15:47.289 Christmas.