It is easy to get caught up in the busyness of the holiday season and forget the true meaning of Christmas (and forget to blog). There are halls to deck, gifts to buy, presents to wrap and parties to attend, but the truth of the season is found in the words written in Luke chapter 2. In December our church’s sermon series in entitled little town… BIG STORY. Bethlehem was just a little town but was chosen as the place for a big story. For Christians, it is the story that changes everything.
It was no accident that Bethlehem was the little town chosen for the birth of a special baby. Mary and Joseph traveled back to Bethlehem only because they had to register after Cesar Augustus issued a decree that a census would be taken and all would register. The trek was quite far to the little town and when there was no room at the inn, Mary and Joseph founds themselves in a stable. That same evening Mary gave birth and placed the baby in a manger. Jesus, King of Kings, Prince of Peace, Everlasting Father, Mighty God, Savior, born in a stable.
In each sermon Chris, our pastor, told the story of the ordinary people that were apart of the extraordinary story. Two weeks ago the focus was on the shepherds (you can hear it here little town… BIG STORY, the shepherds). Chris delivered an amazing message. The shepherds are not the part of the story we usually focus on. They were just lowly second-class citizens, discriminated against, not allowed to worship in the temples, and not allowed to testify in a court of law, yet they were the ones God chose to deliver very important news…
And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you, he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger”
Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on the earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.” -Luke 2:8-14
This was not an accident. The lowly shepherds were chosen by God to deliver the news about the Savior born in the little town of Bethlehem. In this little town there was a BIG STORY unfolding and the shepherds went to Bethlehem to see what the Lord had told them about. God did not choose a big city, he did not choose to tell a king about the birth of Christ. He picked little Bethlehem and shepherds. God comes to forgotten places like Bethlehem, he comes to forgotten people like the shepherds, he comes to little towns and reaches out to people who feel they are not good enough. The shepherds were not forgotten to God. You are not forgotten to God. The good news is for all the people. A Savior has been born for you. Christ has come for you, and with each little story that we are living, there is a much bigger story to be apart of. We need to let God into our story, he was born for us… something to think about this holiday season.
Last Sunday’s sermon was about Mary and Joseph and how their ordinary lives became apart of this extraordinary christmas story. The entire series is worth a listen.
