The Bungee Cord. 11-27-23

Hello,

Many people have a hard time believing the Christmas story. It is hard for them to believe that Angels filled the sky and sang to shepherds. It is hard for them to believe that a young virgin became pregnant without a human counterpart. It is hard for them to believe that a star could guide people to a manger in Bethlehem. It is hard for them to believe that the eternal, if there is such a one at all, could become incarnate in time. It is hard for them to believe that the “hopes and dreams of all the years” could be fulfilled in a mid-east baby.

And who could blame them. The events of the Biblical Christmas story do not regularly occur in most people’s lives. As a matter of fact, for most people they don’t occur at all. At least they have not occurred in my life….no angels….no virgin births….no guiding stars. I have heard people doubtfully say that if such events did indeed happen, surely there would have been a record of them outside of the Bible.

Personally, I do not find myself getting tripped up in the details of the story. Did God connect with humanity if different ways in different times? Maybe. Could it be that God, whose power filled the universe with life could fill the womb of one woman with God’s life? Seems reasonable to me. Might have God guided people in ways that were in their daily experience, albeit different from ours? To think otherwise seems very myopic to me. Although the verifiable historical truth of the Christmas story might be outside of our reach today, to me, to place the power of the Christmas event in the details of the story misses the whole point.

The whole point, in my mind, is far harder to believe, and that is that the one who engulfs the universe (or universes, as some scientists today contend) with power and might should care at all about the speck of cosmic dust that I am, that you are, or that anyone is. When I look into the night sky as the shepherds did, I don’t see a legion of angels, but I see stars who outnumber my count. Who am I in this universe? As the Psalmist says, “Who am I that God should care about me?” When I look into the mirror, I see someone who has brought fracture to creation. Sure, it may be an infinitesimally small crack in the universe, but as we found out recently in the small submarine that apparently exploded under the pressure of the ocean, small cracks are deadly. Why would not the maker of the universe simply want to eradicate me.

The whole point of the Christmas story is that as unbelievable as it is, the one whose hands formed and hold the universe(s) together, actually heartfully holds me. The Christmas event is meant to make that crystal clear in your eyes and mine. It’s meant to have the power to convince our unbelieving minds; to convince them in the same way that when you hear a knock on the door and someone is standing there with a megaball lottery check with your name on it, and they say, “This is for you.” You, with your jaw on the ground, say back, “I can’t believe it, I have never played the lottery.” And the holder of the check says, “I guess someone loves you enough to play it for you.”

The most unbelievable thing about the Christmas story is the most important thing of the story. God loves me and you and everyone. And although we might be inclined to hear that with disbelief, there, staring out from a Bethlehem manger is a child who was born to hang on a cross, and whose name is Jesus, which means God saves. “I guess the One loves me!” I, for one, find myself in awesome wonder, amazement, and….. belief!

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

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