Christmas is about the “return.”
Not returning gifts and standing in frustratingly long lines…the day after Christmas.
It is not about all the re-gifting that goes on…
Christmas is about “the return.”
It has been said, that religion that takes us away from our daily tasks is false.
God has never promised to take us away from all the duties and the responsibilities of this life. Religion is not meant to be an escape.
We need to stay grounded. We need to be involved. We need to have our feet firmly planted.
God has promised to be with us – where ever we are. To be with us – always!
God has promised to give us what we need: strength, wisdom, mercy, grace and the power to do the duties of our life…
Mary and Joseph did not stay in Bethlehem. If you remember the story, they were forced to flee from there. Joseph took his young family and they became refugees out of necessity.
A refugee is any displaced person who has been forced to cross national boundaries and who cannot return home safely.
Such was the plight of Mary and Joseph and their son. They fled into Egypt-land.
Christmas is about the return!
The shepherds did not stay in Bethlehem. Out of necessity they were forced to go back to their flocks.
They saw, they worshipped, they shared the good news and then, the story says, they departed praising God and glorifying him for all that they had seen and heard.
They were eye witnesses of these events, but of course who was there that would believe their tale?
They were simple shepherds – untrustworthy!
But return they did.
Joseph would eventually have to return to the trade that supported him and his young family. There comes a time to go back to work. Back to the carpenter’s bench, as it were.
Mary too would have to return to her household duties and now added to them, would be the care and the raising of her first born son, Jesus.
In time, Mary and Joseph would return back to Nazareth…back to the life they had formerly known.
Remember I told you that religion that takes us away from our daily tasks is false.
Religion of consequence always throws us, pushes us, coerces us back into life.
We have heard, we have seen…we have paused out of our crazy and hectic lives to come here and pay respect and to worship the newborn child. Our life is momentarily on hold.
But we too must return.
If I could. If I had my druthers. I would stay here forever. I would not leave. I would bask in the glory, the joy and the happiness of this morning. I would stay.
Do not make me go back into the world. Allow me to remain.
Here there is warmth. Here there is safety. Here there is comfort. Here there is family. Here there is protection from the elements. Here there is tranquility. Here there is a sense of peace. Why would I ever want to willingly walk through those doors into the cold and the darkness of our world?
Christmas begs us to return.
Our work is not over, our work is not complete. There is still much to be done and much to be accomplished.
When the song of the angel is stilled…
When the star in the sky is gone…
When the kings and the princes are home…
When the shepherds are back with their flocks…
That is when the work of Christmas really begins…
The Christ child demands that we carry on his work…that we “return”
To find the lost.
To heal the broken.
To feed the hungry.
To release the prisoner.
To rebuild the nations…and dare I say, the cities and our neighborhoods…
To bring peace among our brothers and our sisters around the globe and to make music in the heart…
Christmas necessitates our return…
We are to go from this place to where we live and reside and we are to be the best examples we can be, of the babe of Bethlehem.
We are to become “little christs” to our world…embracing…and loving…and caring for “the other.”
Return and care for those in need. Amen