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Lancaster First United Methodist Church
December 24, 2011
Robert McDowell, Senior Pastor
“The Time Came”
Leave
it to Jesus to burst into the world at the most awkward of times and in the most
awkward of places.
Mary and Joseph are miles and miles from their
home up north in Nazareth. They are now in Bethlehem but not because of choice.
Luke is careful to tell us that “all went to their own towns to be registered.”
This was census time. We do this every ten years. During biblical times, the
Roman Empire liked to do it every 14 years. And this was the 14th year.
No questions about what is your religious
preference or how far do you commute to work. No. This census was to make sure
of one thing – that they knew you had a pulse so they could tax you to support
the mighty Roman Empire and King, Augustus. If we think our holiday preparations
have been crazy, think about a pregnant woman forced to ride a donkey 80 miles.
So you try to check in at an inn. I remember
reading somewhere about hotel hospitality. Hotels, most of them anyway, work
really hard to meet your needs as soon as you walk into the door of their lobby
because they know that you’re probably tired, maybe disoriented since you’re in
a different place, and maybe even a little grumpy from the long drive.
I was out of town at a seminar with a
friend of mine and I asked him where he was staying. Immediately, this disgusted
look came to his face, and with a scowl, he said the name of some inexpensive
and cheap motel. He said, “I can’t believe I did this. I went on-line and found
this motel and when I saw the price, I decided to try it and save a little
money.”
I said, “Well, what’s it like?” Looking
look he didn’t get much sleep the night before he said, “Well first of all, I
have to sit on my bed the whole time because the only chair in my room has a
terrible smell to it. There’s no lobby and the worst thing of all happened this
afternoon. I got back from our sessions, and when I got to my room, the door was
wide open and I knew that I had shut it earlier in the morning. I went to the
person sitting at the desk and his response was, ‘Oh, don’t worry about it, it
was probably just the maid.’” He said, “It was all I could do to not reach over
the counter and strangle the guy.”
And then my friend asked me what I was afraid he
was going to ask me, “What’s the place like where you’re staying?”
I felt bad for him but I couldn’t lie. And so I
told him about my spacious room with the refrigerator and how I enjoyed talking
with some friends in the lobby the night before and how every morning, they had
a nice breakfast of eggs, toast, and pastries.
For some reason, he didn’t share in my happiness.
But Mary and Joseph had it a lot worse than my
friend. Instead of a cheap motel, they had to sleep in a room where the animals
were often kept for the night.
And Luke tells us that it was while they
were in that room that “the time came.” And Mary gave birth to her firstborn son
and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in one of the feed troughs since
that’s all there was.
“The time came,” the
Christmas story tells us. Whether you’re ready or not, “the time came.”
Is there every really a good time to give
birth?
For Penny’s first pregnancy, we kept
waiting and waiting for the time to come. We were so excited. Our first child!
Now, Penny and I are both planners. We like to
prepare ahead and have everything in place.
But guess what? Having kids will mess with your
neatly organized life. At 12:35 P.M. on a Saturday, Naomi Elizabeth McDowell was
born. And in just an hour and a half, I was to officiate at a wedding! I had
just enough time to drive the 30 minutes back to the church and be ready to go.
It was the only wedding where I was more jittery than the groom.
But our beautiful daughter was born. Like
St. Luke tells us, “The time came.”
And so, for our second time around, we
couldn’t help but wonder when the next one would be born.
This one needed a little coaxing and our
doctor told us that we were to go to the hospital so that Penny could be
induced. The doctor couldn’t have picked a worse time. That was my church
basketball night. I suggested that if there was no hurry, that we just delay
this for another day or two?
This guy had absolutely no sense of humor.
So anyway, we go to the hospital and it takes
forever for Nathaniel Elias McDowell to be born. He was born 7:30 in the morning
on April 10th.
It was that morning that I had my big ordination
interview meeting in Columbus – the meeting where they decide if you are ready
to be ordained. The meeting where they ask you all kinds of difficult
theological and ministry type questions. The meeting where you need to get 7 to
8 hours of sleep the night before – not 1 to 2 hours. The kind of meeting where
both socks should probably match. The kind of meeting where you use coherent
sentences and you kind of know what Holy Communion is all about. That kind of
meeting.
Here’s why we should all believe that God is
real. I passed that interview! I nailed it! God is real, friends. God is real!
But the really great thing was – our son was born. Like
Luke said, “The time came.”
When Luke sneaks in this little phrase that the
time came, I think he’s pointing us to an important expectation and hope that we
find throughout the bible. This hope that is rooted in the Old Testament was
that someday, somehow, God would be faithful in fulfilling the covenant to bring
salvation to the world.
This hope which begins with the covenant that God had
made with Abraham and later with the people of Israel was to remove sin and
death once and for all. This baby who Mary placed in a manger would be the one
who would fulfill that which God had in mind from the very beginning of creation
– for this world to be a place of joy, peace, and love.
And this is why we celebrate tonight, because Luke
tells us, “And the time came.”
This time of good news is available to each and every
one of us on this Christmas Eve, just like it was for Mary, Joseph, and the
shepherds that night so long ago.
The time came for me during my sophomore year of
college. Lacking direction and purpose, I was struggling with my grades and
wondering what possible future there was for my life.
I remember one day, I was feeling really low and
discouraged and I decided to try something I hadn’t done in quite a while. I
prayed. And it was because of that prayer that I could sense that God was
calling me to surrender and to start putting God first in my life.
I got down on my knees and told God that from
that point on I was going to put him first in every decision. As I stood up from
that prayer, it felt like this huge weight had been lifted from my shoulders. I
knew that I wasn’t alone. I knew that God had created me for a purpose and that
I wasn’t a failure. I knew that Jesus Christ was my Lord and Savior.
The time came. Thank God. The time came.
This past summer, I was attending a seminar on
evangelism with other pastors and lay people. The speaker was talking about how
important it was for people in the church to share their faith story with others
even though that can feel intimidating for many of us to do. During that
session, the speaker had us get into groups of two to three people to very
briefly share our faith journey and pray for each other.
Later that summer, just this past August, a
friend of mine who had attended that same evangelism seminar was at a meeting
with me. Knowing that he had attended the seminar, I asked him what he thought
about it.
And he said, “Something really incredible
happened to me at that seminar.” He said, “Do you remember when the speaker
asked us to break into small groups of 2 to 3 people? Well, before she asked us
to break into these groups, I overheard a conversation of two people who were
sitting right behind me. And the one woman was upset about something and she was
asking questions about God.”
“So when it was time to break into the small
groups, I decided to see if I could be of help. I found out that this woman
wasn’t a Christian and that out of curiosity she had wandered into our
evangelism seminar.
She was going through a difficult time in her life
and she was feeling pretty low. So I shared my faith story with her and told her
about Jesus.
And there, in the middle of that evangelism seminar, she accepted Jesus Christ
as her Lord and Savior. I said a prayer for her and encouraged her to find a
church near where she lived. It was the most incredible thing I’ve ever
experienced. I helped someone to know Christ at an evangelism seminar.”
Like Luke said, “The time came.”
A few years ago, I was on a flight from Atlanta to
Kansas City to attend a church event when the pilot made an announcement that
I’ll always remember.
“I have some
bad news to share with you,” he said. And then there was a long and very
uncomfortable pause. It’s amazing how quickly those little beads of sweat can
form on your forehead in a matter of only two seconds.
Finally, the pilot began his next sentence. “We’re going to need to land in
Memphis because our weather radar isn’t working. When we get to Memphis, we’ll
switch planes and be on our way again. We apologize for any inconvenience.”
After I offered
a quick prayer of thanksgiving to almighty God, I looked at the person who was
sitting next to me, and we both agreed that this pilot could have thought of a
much better lead-in sentence. Anything but, “I have some bad news to share with
you.”
Tonight, St.
Luke says, “I have some good news to share with you.” Good news of
great joy for all the people.” “What’s the good news, Luke?”
“The good news is, the time had come.”
Tonight, as you hold your lit candle as we sing, know
that this good news is meant for you. God has a purpose and a plan for your
life.
Tonight as you hold your lit candle, know that
this good news is also meant for those around us. For the hungry, the homeless,
the lonely, the person who is discouraged and wanders into an evangelism
seminar, the college sophomore who feels like a failure.
Friends: I have some good news to share with you.
It’s Christmas Eve. The time has come.
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