December 19, 2003
An angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her,
“Though you are barren and have had no children,
Yet you will conceive and bear a son.”
The angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah,
Because your prayer has been heard.
Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son,
And you shall name him John.”
We’re very lucky to be living in the 21st century. The things God asks of us today are so much simpler than the things he asked of people in Biblical times. Starting with Adam, God was always calling people to such difficult things.
“Adam, you can eat of any tree in the garden except this one.” Human nature being what it is, poor Adam was doomed from the start. Then to make it more difficult, God sends Adam a woman to egg him on. The poor guy didn’t have a chance.
Then there was Noah. Remember Bill Cosby’s routine about Noah and the ark. “This is God, Noah. Build me an ark.”
“Right. What’s an ark?”
What about poor Moses. He led the whiny Jews through the desert. All they did was complain. Moses parted the Red Sea. He held his arms up for hours while the Hebrews won the battle. How many of us would want to trade places with him. And the list goes on and on.
The two readings today are the precursors of the biggest event of all. The birth of Christ. Think about what God asked of Mary and Joseph. It was an awful lot for a young girl from a small town. And, poor Joseph. “Your wife is pregnant, even though she’s a virgin. You have to marry her anyway.
Then, you’re going to have to leave your business and flee to Egypt in the middle of the night. Once you’re established there, you’re going to have to leave there and come back here.”
All these people did what God asked of them, at least the ones we know about. They didn’t complain or ask anything in return, they just did it.
How different it is today. The things God asks of us are so much simpler than they were back then. Follow the Ten Commandments. Love your neighbor as your self. Choose a spouse and stay with him or her as long as you both shall live. Let God decide when you’ll have children. You can’t put someone “out of their misery” just because it’s no longer convenient to have them around.
But these things seem to be a lot more difficult than crossing the desert for a lot of people. They would rather have Pharaoh chase them across the Red Sea with chariots than to get up on Sunday morning and go to mass. Instead of accepting the blessing of children like Manoah and Zechariah and Elizabeth; and Mary and Joseph, they want to wait until the time is right. I think we can all agree that, by our standards, the time never seems to be right. But, if we let God decide when we’ll have kids, the time always turns out to be right.
We all know that more than half of the couples who get married today don’t really believe that what God has joined, no man may separate. That’s just old fashioned. It’s much more convenient to just go their separate ways.
There’s a Christmas song by the Oak Ridge Boys that says it very well. The song is called “The Most Inconvenient Christmas. It talks about the hassle and stress that can occur around Christmas time. Things can get very inconvenient…
“But the most inconvenient Christmas ever was
Was the first one when God came so far
To give Himself to us
So when stress hits each December
How it helps me to remember
God is with us most when things just can’t get worse
The most inconvenient Christmas ever was…..
The first.
“A young girl expects a child she can’t explain
Forced to walk a hundred miles just to give birth in the hay
While the king at that same hour
Fearing challenge to his power\Sent his troops to track them down
And wipe them out
Yep, hands down…
The most inconvenient Christmas ever was…..
Was the first.
I hope you and your families have a very blessed and Merry Christmas.
Now, please stand as we ask god for the things we need:
“Though you are barren and have had no children,
Yet you will conceive and bear a son.”
The angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah,
Because your prayer has been heard.
Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son,
And you shall name him John.”
We’re very lucky to be living in the 21st century. The things God asks of us today are so much simpler than the things he asked of people in Biblical times. Starting with Adam, God was always calling people to such difficult things.
“Adam, you can eat of any tree in the garden except this one.” Human nature being what it is, poor Adam was doomed from the start. Then to make it more difficult, God sends Adam a woman to egg him on. The poor guy didn’t have a chance.
Then there was Noah. Remember Bill Cosby’s routine about Noah and the ark. “This is God, Noah. Build me an ark.”
“Right. What’s an ark?”
What about poor Moses. He led the whiny Jews through the desert. All they did was complain. Moses parted the Red Sea. He held his arms up for hours while the Hebrews won the battle. How many of us would want to trade places with him. And the list goes on and on.
The two readings today are the precursors of the biggest event of all. The birth of Christ. Think about what God asked of Mary and Joseph. It was an awful lot for a young girl from a small town. And, poor Joseph. “Your wife is pregnant, even though she’s a virgin. You have to marry her anyway.
Then, you’re going to have to leave your business and flee to Egypt in the middle of the night. Once you’re established there, you’re going to have to leave there and come back here.”
All these people did what God asked of them, at least the ones we know about. They didn’t complain or ask anything in return, they just did it.
How different it is today. The things God asks of us are so much simpler than they were back then. Follow the Ten Commandments. Love your neighbor as your self. Choose a spouse and stay with him or her as long as you both shall live. Let God decide when you’ll have children. You can’t put someone “out of their misery” just because it’s no longer convenient to have them around.
But these things seem to be a lot more difficult than crossing the desert for a lot of people. They would rather have Pharaoh chase them across the Red Sea with chariots than to get up on Sunday morning and go to mass. Instead of accepting the blessing of children like Manoah and Zechariah and Elizabeth; and Mary and Joseph, they want to wait until the time is right. I think we can all agree that, by our standards, the time never seems to be right. But, if we let God decide when we’ll have kids, the time always turns out to be right.
We all know that more than half of the couples who get married today don’t really believe that what God has joined, no man may separate. That’s just old fashioned. It’s much more convenient to just go their separate ways.
There’s a Christmas song by the Oak Ridge Boys that says it very well. The song is called “The Most Inconvenient Christmas. It talks about the hassle and stress that can occur around Christmas time. Things can get very inconvenient…
“But the most inconvenient Christmas ever was
Was the first one when God came so far
To give Himself to us
So when stress hits each December
How it helps me to remember
God is with us most when things just can’t get worse
The most inconvenient Christmas ever was…..
The first.
“A young girl expects a child she can’t explain
Forced to walk a hundred miles just to give birth in the hay
While the king at that same hour
Fearing challenge to his power\Sent his troops to track them down
And wipe them out
Yep, hands down…
The most inconvenient Christmas ever was…..
Was the first.
I hope you and your families have a very blessed and Merry Christmas.
Now, please stand as we ask god for the things we need:
posted by Mike at 1:35 PM
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