Child Of Joy
Stories
Lectionary Tales for the Pulpit
Series V, Cycle C
Object:
In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord." And Mary said, "My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior." (vv. 39-47)
Wild West author Bret Harte wrote a story titled The Luck of Roaring Camp. Roaring Camp had the reputation as the meanest, toughest, mining town in the entire West. It was reported that there were more murders and thefts there than any other place around. It was a terrible place inhabited entirely by men, except for one woman named Cherokee Sal who made her living by being the only woman in the camp, if you know what I mean.
Because of her profession, she became pregnant and then died while giving birth to the baby. The men of the mining camp took the baby and put her in a box with some old rags under her. But somehow that just didn't seem right, so one of the men rode eighty miles to buy a rosewood cradle. He brought it back, and they put the rags and the baby in the beautiful new rosewood cradle.
Then the rags didn't look very nice in the beautiful new cradle, so they had another man ride to Sacramento where he bought some beautiful silk and lace blankets. They put the baby in the cradle lined with silk and put the new blanket over her.
Everything was fine until someone noticed that compared to the cradle, the floor was filthy. So these hardened, tough men got down on their hands and knees. With their callused hands, they scrubbed the floor until it was spotless. Of course, then the walls, the ceiling, and the dirty windows without curtains looked absolutely terrible. So they washed down the walls and the ceiling, and they put curtains in the windows.
The place was beginning to look a lot better. The only other thing that could be improved was the environment; the men fought a lot. The baby slept a lot, and babies can't sleep during a brawl. So the whole temperature of Roaring Camp seemed to go down.
The men would take the baby to the entrance of the mine in her rosewood cradle so they could see her when they came out of the mine. One of the men would stay with her the whole day. Then somebody noticed how dirty the mine entrance was. So they planted flowers, and they made a garden there. It really looked quite beautiful.
The men would bring her shiny little stones that they would find in the mine. But when they put their hands down next to hers, their hands looked so dirty. Pretty soon the general store was all sold out of soap and shaving gear. The baby was changing everything.
Perhaps it is best summed up this way: The baby brought joy to their lives. Why were these hardened men going soft -- planting flowers, babysitting, washing their hands? Because this child made them feel a vivid emotion. Through the presence of this child, they experienced love that caused them to act out of character.
Such was the case of the yet-to-be-born Christ Child. The scripture says Elizabeth's unborn child, who grew up to be John the Baptist, "leaped for joy" when the pregnant Mary walked into the room. Mary's joy was so uncontrollable that she burst out into song in which she exclaimed that her "spirit rejoices."
This baby that Mary carried started changing people. He brought joy in a way that people had not experienced before. And that is what the Christ Child brings to us today. A new joy that begins to change us from the moment we experience it.
Wild West author Bret Harte wrote a story titled The Luck of Roaring Camp. Roaring Camp had the reputation as the meanest, toughest, mining town in the entire West. It was reported that there were more murders and thefts there than any other place around. It was a terrible place inhabited entirely by men, except for one woman named Cherokee Sal who made her living by being the only woman in the camp, if you know what I mean.
Because of her profession, she became pregnant and then died while giving birth to the baby. The men of the mining camp took the baby and put her in a box with some old rags under her. But somehow that just didn't seem right, so one of the men rode eighty miles to buy a rosewood cradle. He brought it back, and they put the rags and the baby in the beautiful new rosewood cradle.
Then the rags didn't look very nice in the beautiful new cradle, so they had another man ride to Sacramento where he bought some beautiful silk and lace blankets. They put the baby in the cradle lined with silk and put the new blanket over her.
Everything was fine until someone noticed that compared to the cradle, the floor was filthy. So these hardened, tough men got down on their hands and knees. With their callused hands, they scrubbed the floor until it was spotless. Of course, then the walls, the ceiling, and the dirty windows without curtains looked absolutely terrible. So they washed down the walls and the ceiling, and they put curtains in the windows.
The place was beginning to look a lot better. The only other thing that could be improved was the environment; the men fought a lot. The baby slept a lot, and babies can't sleep during a brawl. So the whole temperature of Roaring Camp seemed to go down.
The men would take the baby to the entrance of the mine in her rosewood cradle so they could see her when they came out of the mine. One of the men would stay with her the whole day. Then somebody noticed how dirty the mine entrance was. So they planted flowers, and they made a garden there. It really looked quite beautiful.
The men would bring her shiny little stones that they would find in the mine. But when they put their hands down next to hers, their hands looked so dirty. Pretty soon the general store was all sold out of soap and shaving gear. The baby was changing everything.
Perhaps it is best summed up this way: The baby brought joy to their lives. Why were these hardened men going soft -- planting flowers, babysitting, washing their hands? Because this child made them feel a vivid emotion. Through the presence of this child, they experienced love that caused them to act out of character.
Such was the case of the yet-to-be-born Christ Child. The scripture says Elizabeth's unborn child, who grew up to be John the Baptist, "leaped for joy" when the pregnant Mary walked into the room. Mary's joy was so uncontrollable that she burst out into song in which she exclaimed that her "spirit rejoices."
This baby that Mary carried started changing people. He brought joy in a way that people had not experienced before. And that is what the Christ Child brings to us today. A new joy that begins to change us from the moment we experience it.
