Christmas Vigil

Have we ever stopped and considered, pondered, contemplated, been amazed at just how we got here or anywhere?
I mean, how did a boy, from a very small town in hillbilly Ohio get to here, in Reno, speaking to all of you; many of whom are not from here either?
We walk really, a very winding, crooked path.  And the amazing and frightening part...it’s not over yet.
The Genealogy and this entire Gospel passage capture this.  God created history, and God directed history, using a whole assortment of people with all kinds of histories, and quirks.  The path was never smooth nor never easy.
History reached its high point in Jesus, the Son of God being directly born into history.  Not to end history, but to continue direct it.  

I think of the many histories gathered here tonight, not just a boy from Ohio, but people from Korea, Manhattan, Wisconsin, Seattle and so many other places; and of course from Reno and Nevada, and that God has woven us together.  Our paths have been crossed.  So many histories.
It amazes me.
Reflect too, on the people who have walked in and out of our lives, some still with us; husband and wives, children, siblings, friends…
And those who came and went...
I would assume there have been some real characters, for better or for worse!
People who have helped us to grow; either through their support, or because they hurt us, and we learned to get past it.



And the story continues…and let’s be honest none of us knows how.
Joseph’s future was changed, and he did not know how it would be.  He trusted.
The Christmas message, the Christian Good News, is that God is with us throughout the story.
As God has always been with humanity; guiding and directing, pushing and pulling, pleading, crying, rejoicing with us.

Now with Christ, God has entered directly into our stories, God has entered directly into our lives…
Signifying that our history, although it is important, does not define us.  Our lives have direction.
Salvation means we move forward toward union with God, towards freedom, towards fulfillment.
It means Christ has shown us the true context, the lens through which we can better recognize God working in our lives, guiding us to that Freedom.

Christ who says when faced with a decision, chose true Love, to see the good in others and in ourselves:  As God continues to see our own good.

Christ who says, that when we screw up, it will be okay, the mistakes will not define us:  God’s love remains.
Christ who reveals that hardships/pain are not God doing this to us; but God will get us through it: as the Father did for Jesus on the Cross
Christ who says we are Good and there is Joy, so much Joy and life possible: as revealed through the resurrection.
I think for many of us, it is to easy to get overwhelmed by our lives, by the choices we think we have to make, by the apparent chaos and darkness that seem to want to envelop us.
Trying to decide which path to take, or sometimes even trying to find motivation to get up and take one step!
I think of Joseph, wrestling with his own choices, hoping he was going to do what was right.
Trust can be hard.  
Yet, thinking back on life, reflecting upon how we got here, how we got here, who has been here…

God is with us.  And, really, it is amazing.

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