Immanuel
Matthew 1:18-2:23

December 23, 2001

Narrator: Believe it or not, this is an unusual time of the year. It may be the holiest time of the year, despite all the commercialism running rampant through our Christmas displays and plays. To make the point, it is only at this time of the year that we even talk collectively about commercialism of a religious message.

The Christmas story is not a normal one. We've heard it too much to be able to tell how odd it really is. It's odd because the point of it is that God is with us, that's Immanuel in Hebrew. It begins with an unspectacular couple who are engaged to be married.

Angel Gabriel (in balcony): Hey, do you know where Mary is?

Narrator: There are lots of Marys. Which one are you looking for?

Angel Gabriel: She's engaged to this fellow Joseph who is part of the David clan.

Narrator: I may have seen her, but who are you? Why do you want to see her?

Angel Gabriel: Isn't it obvious? I'm the Angel Gabriel and I have an urgent message for her. God business.

Narrator: I know who you are, but you aren't supposed to be here yet. This is not the Gospel of Luke year, this year it's Matthew. You are not in that Gospel. Some nameless angel appears to Joseph, not to Mary.

Angel Gabriel: Really? Well, I'm here nonetheless and I am all geared up to deliver an angelic message. I'll take the job. Where's Joseph?

Narrator: Right over there. Sleeping. Joseph does a lot of sleeping in Matthew.

Angel Gabriel: Joseph, don't ask questions, but you are going to be a father. I know you aren't married, but Mary has not done anything wrong. She has been chosen by God to be the mother of the Messiah, so it is the Holy Spirit who will be the father. No matter what anyone else says, and there will be some nasty comments, stick by her. God will be sticking with the two of you.

Narrator: Mary had no clue of what was going on, except that she figured she was in a lot of trouble. Joseph told her what he had dreamed and they quickly decided to get married.

Joseph: I do!

Mary: and I do too!

Narrator: Matthew doesn't waste words. In the next sentence the Christ baby is born. Matthew doesn't even bother with where it happens.

(A baby - maybe only a doll - appears) There is Jesus. That's really fast. It must have been by immaculate conception!

Narrator: Immanuel - God With Us - is not some normal Christmas talk. It is a startling fact, and absolutely incredible. God is up there, out there, there, but never here. We cannot explain God being in the here and now, but we can see what God-With-Us has done to us.

Matthew does get around to stating what is obvious to us, that Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea. Bethlehem is the Here part. God is with us here in Bethlehem, and as a consequence God changed things through Jesus. Not just in Bethlehem were things changed, but all over the world, and cages were rattled even in the capital of Jerusalem.

Magi One: Fellow Magi, something is going on here in this backwater country. You'd think this was Saskatchewan! We saw that very important star and followed it to here. In a moment, we are going to have an audience with Herod, who is the leader around here.

Herod: It's really unusual to see people like you all the way over here in Saskatchewan - I mean, Palestine. What brings you here?

Magi Two: We've followed a most unusual star, which we have figured out means that the King of the Jews has just been born. You're the leader here. Nothing must get past you. Do you know exactly where this child would be born? There must be a special place in the prophecies.

Herod: Look, I am the King of the Jews. But let me check with my researchers....

I've gotten their report back. Bethlehem is the likely place, home of David, you know. Why don't you go there and find him and then let me know. I want to worship this new King too. Make sure he has everything he needs.

Narrator: The wise Magi proceed to the house where Joseph and Mary and Jesus are living. That's right, Matthew says house. Uh oh, here come the sheep and shepherds and angels anyway. They did not get the message that this year's Matthew-type Nativity is not in a stable.

That's all right. Don't tell them. They're a welcome addition. God is with all of us, no matter what our occupation or species.

Narrator: The Magi entered the house and saw the baby Christina. They knew this was the right place because the star was overhead twinkling (Magi look up and point to the organ star chime, which hopefully our organist will turn on so that it twinkles).

They gave gifts to the child - gold, frankincense, and myrrh, but if it were today the gifts would be different. More humble things. Toys, clothes, diapers - swaddling clothes last only so long. And a baseball glove - which is when you think about it just as practical as gold, frankincense, and myrrh to a two-year-old.

The rest of the story appears to have everybody sleeping a lot, because they all get their directions in a dream.

The Magi were warned in a dream not to go back to Herod. His intentions were literally murderous.

Joseph also was warned to flee to Egypt because of Herod's plan to kill all children two years old and younger. (Holy Family takes the elevator down to Egypt).

After living in Egypt for a good while, Joseph was informed in a dream that it was safe to return, but not back to Bethlehem. Herod had died, but his son Archelaus replaced him and he was even nastier. Joseph returned to a small town, Nazareth, nobody in the Old Testament had ever heard of - a real nowhereville. Time did not change in Nazareth, just like in Saskatchewan.

God is with us, and that is all of us. God did not come to the privileged, the famous, or the powerful. God came to the unknown, the vulnerable, even by the world's standards the sinful. God came to be with us not in a peaceful time, but in the midst of a reign of terror and terrorism and death.

God is with us in our worst habits and our best achievements. In the deadliness of life and the kind of life which does not die. On Christmas Day we do not require a central location in downtown Toronto - for a house in Bethlehem was no centre of the universe. We do not require power - what is more fragile than an infant, even in the best of hospitals? We do not require peace, though we surely pray for it - Palestine of the first century was like...Palestine of the early 21st century.

What we do have is God With Us to change us, to heal us, to scold us, to love us, for we are all God's children. To that may we say, Amen.

Preached and Performed at
Knox-Metropolitan United Church
Regina, Saskatchewan