Rev. George Miller
Dec 26, 2021
Luke 2:15-21
Note- This entire message comes from the Rev. Hope Molozaiy. Like a chef, I simply took all the ingredients she gave me, and made them into my own pie. Rev. Molozaiy has allowed me permission to give her the well-deserved credit for making this message possible
Recently a clergy colleague shared a thought- that there are people who exist
on the perimeters of our lives who we aren’t aware of until we see them after a
long time has passed.
8 months ago her city went into lockdown.
The day before, she went to the local library and checked out 70 items
to hold her family over.
The librarian who checked out her items was someone she described as
surly, abrupt, not her most favorite.
During the past 8 months, her family has used every item, sometimes 2 or 3
times. With storage an issue, she was creative
about where to put the books, tapes, and DVDs.
Last week the good news arrived- the library was open! So she went about the house trying to recall the
locations where the 70 items were.
Once found, she made her way to the long-closed library, and who was
there to check back in the 70 items?
The surly, abrupt, not so favored librarian…and immediately my friend
began to cry…
Just seeing this sourpuss of a person made her realize how much she
missed him and that he was someone on the perimeter of her life.
A historic event helped her realize the important, almost invisible role
that librarian was to her and her family.
Sort of like today’s shepherds.
Back then, in Judea, shepherds in a field working the overnight shift
were people on the perimeter.
Like the women in Immokalee who pick our vegetables, or the men in
Frostproof who pick our oranges, and the Florida Crackers who keep track of the
cattle in Zolfo Springs.
No one would have given a 2nd, 3rd or 4th
thought about these shepherds.
They were People of the Perimeter, working where people could not see,
when most folk were at rest, doing their thankless task amongst the stank and
the stunk of a field full of animals.
Who thought about shepherds as they bought the milk they drank, the meat
they ate, and the skins they wore?
If anyone did take the time to think of them, the shepherds would be seen
as lower-class, uneducated, and crude.
And yet these People on the Perimeter were the very ones the angels
appeared, to sing their Good News; they were the ones who made their way to see
Jesus, Mary, Joseph- a family that was on the perimeter too.
Jesus, Mary, and Joseph were so much on the perimeter, there wasn’t even
a place for them to stay or for her to give birth, besides a stable.
Today’s story is about Perimeter People visiting a Perimeter Family who witness
the fact that God had done something new, something outside the perimeter of
human logic.
Isn’t that just like God?
God, who used a maid and a widow named Judith to save God’s children.
God, who used a country-bumpkin’ named Amos to be the first prophet.
Hannah- praying alone, barren, in the sanctuary, accused of being drunk, becoming
the mother of Samuel.
Perimeter. Perimeter. Perimeter.
One aspect of the Christmas Story is how God uses Perimeter Folk to do
fantabulous things.
Ain’t that just like God?
And doesn’t this reading totally reflect where we are today?
Once again, another Christmas in which things are not as we imagined or
hoped they would be,
facing another season of masks and handwashing and minimized festivities.
And yet it seems so right.
So often we place a huge burden on Christmas to be big, flashy and all
the things we think it needs to be,
then come to discover that the true reality is more intimate, private,
less perfect than we realize.
None of us expected to have another COVID Christmas. Yet here we are.
Just like Mary did not expect to welcome Jesus the way she did.
Mary probably thought she’d be back home, in her own bed, surrounded by
family- her Mom, her aunties, her grandmother, her close girlfriends.
Perhaps Joseph, as a carpenter, had spent months crafting a crib.
But here they are, in Bethlehem, on the perimeter. Surrounded not by family, but by
shepherds. Jesus is not resting comfortably
in a custom-made bed, but a manger.
And yet this is where they are…and the world has forever changed.
Mary, Joseph, and the shepherds- People on the Perimeter.
It is to them, that Jesus Christ, embodying the Holiest of Holies, has entered
into human existence to walk with us, eat with us, nourish us.
By God entering humanity’s story through the body of Jesus, we witness how
God is here to be with all of us,
-regardless if we are part of the in crowd or the out crowd,
-regardless if we are in the center of attention or on the perimeter.
In many ways, that is beautiful.
It is reassuring.
And it is realistic.
And upon witnessing the Good Great News of Jesus, born to Mary and Jospeh,
we too can be amazed and excited about what lays ahead.
For that, let us say Amen.
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