I want to tell you a true story about a woman named Sara. Sara was an adventurer. She traveled all over the world as a journalist, covering the most newsworthy events of the day. She was hungry for experience and she seized everything that was offered – worked with all kinds of people in all kinds of places. Unafraid of a challenge. Sara was always looking for something.
Eventually, after many years, she slowed down, settled down. She bought a house, got a dog. And she started taking walks around her neighborhood. This was the extent of her travels now.
One morning on her walk, she came by a church. It was a Sunday. She could hear the sounds of worship from inside the building. Without really thinking about it, Sara went inside. She found the congregation standing in the center of the room in a circle. She walked right up to the circle and stepped into it. Someone handed her the bread, the cup.
That morning Sara met Jesus for the first time. It was the beginning of a new life for Sara. It happened just a short walk from her house.
All the other journeys of her life had been preparation for this one. Those few simple steps into the circle that transformed her.
During this season of Advent we have been traveling to lots of interesting places – important places: Rome, Jerusalem, cities that are in the news every day. Then we went to Nazareth, a place that is most vivid in our imaginations, perhaps, as Jesus’ hometown but now is a bustling modern city.
And after visiting all these places we ended up in Bethlehem. In a stable. At a manger. Because God has something to show us there.
In this place we are shown a people who looked for salvation for generation after generation. They sought a land of promise, a land of milk and honey where they might live in peace.
In this place we see a nation looking for a savior who would break the chains of slavery; relieve them from oppression and war and hunger.
And in this place we find a man and a woman, about to become parents, who were simply looking for shelter and the safe delivery of their child. They weren’t certain they understood why they were in this place at this time. But this was where the circumstances of their lives and their faith had led them.
And we are here, too. You chose to come here.
And that is, perhaps, an unlikely event, that you ended up here.
Because you have choices. There are so many places you can go, so many things you can do and experience. There are so many ways to celebrate a day so festive and merry. You could be at a party, at a dinner table loaded down with rich food and drink. You could be exchanging gifts with friends. You could be standing under the mistletoe, roasting chestnuts on an open fire, just a few of the things on offer at this most wonderful time of the year.
You could be at home on your couch watching Christmas movies, the endless stream of It’s a Wonderful Life, or National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, or any number of other classics.
There are so many things you could be doing tonight, but you made the journey here, to this sanctuary. You carved out time and space in your life to be here – in a time when fewer and fewer people do. You did, so perhaps there is something in you that knows God has something to show you.
Two thousand years ago God showed the world a new thing in the birth of a baby in a stable in Bethlehem. There the word became flesh and lived among us, full of grace and truth. Through this child, God continues to show us the way. The way of love. The way of care for the least and the last, the most vulnerable in this world. God’s way of love softens this hard world. Perhaps this is what you came here to find.
You and I are born to be seekers, every one of us. Some of us seek far and wide, traveling the world to find ourselves, our purpose. Others of us confine our journeys to no more than a few miles, seeking the answers right where we are. Many will seek their own enrichment, often at the expense of others, but some will seek that way of love and care, to bring more light into this world.
The light that shines through the darkest night and will always guide our journey.
photo: ChurchArt.com
