When Is The Baby Coming?
Sermon
A More Urgent Season
Sermons And Children's Lessons
"When is the baby coming?" Every expectant parent who ever lived has asked that question, but the answer is always the same. Babies come when they feel like coming! Sometimes they come early, as if they can't wait to get out on their own. Sometimes they come late, as if they had heard the evening news too many times while lying in their mother's womb and decided they are better off where they are. Modern medicine confidently gives the parents what it calls a "due date," but that is about as pretentious as meteorologists making promises for the weather. For all our sophisticated tests and predictions, babies never come at the precise time and place of the parents' (or the doctor's) choosing.
I have heard stories about babies being born in hospital elevators or in the back seats of cars which were racing to the hospital. Clearly, the mothers of those children would not have chosen those times and places for giving birth. Certainly, Mary was no different, and I imagine she would have preferred to be in Nazareth, surrounded by the comforts of home and the support of her family when Jesus was born. But the baby Jesus did not come while Mary was in Nazareth. He came while she found herself in a rude animals' stable in Bethlehem.
"When is the baby coming?" Parents ask the question more urgently as the pregnancy enters its final months. The father asks anxiously, "Will the baby come in the middle of the night, or while I am at work?" The mother asks dejectedly, "Will this baby ever come?" Again, I imagine that question also crossed Mary's mind as she took that long, slow, agonizing journey along the bumpy road from Nazareth to Bethlehem, riding on the back of a donkey.
Parents have much to prepare before the baby arrives, and our text suggests what Mary did to get ready for the birth of Jesus. She must have gathered some swaddling cloths before she left home in order to wrap the baby, since we know she had them with her in the Bethlehem stable that night. She might also have packed some salt, since it was the custom in those days to rub the newborn baby with salt before putting on the wrapping cloths. Like good parents everywhere, Mary did what she could to be ready when the time came.
The Bible says that God was also busy preparing for the birth of His Son. First, He sent the angel Gabriel to speak with an old man named Zechariah, to prepare him and his aged wife, Elizabeth, for the birth of a son to be named John, who would grow up to baptize Jesus and announce His mission. (Luke 1:5ff) God also sent Gabriel to visit Mary, to give her the news which would make her blessed among women forever. (Luke 1:26ff) Then God caused Joseph to be visited in a dream, to convince Joseph to go through with his marriage to Mary and not divorce her quietly as he had planned. (Matthew 1:18ff) All of this had to be done and all of these people had to be involved before the baby Jesus could be born.
"When is the baby coming?" In their own way, today's parents still prepare for the coming of a child during the long months of pregnancy. Perhaps they buy a crib and some toys, and fix up the baby's room. If you are like my wife, you do all of that within 30 minutes after you've learned you are pregnant, and then you spend nine months buying every piece of clothing the child will need from birth through high school. If you are like me, you spend nine months wearing out the starter on your car by checking every 10 minutes to make sure it will start when the big moment arrives. Of course, we don't stay that neurotic and compulsive forever. My mother-in-law raised nine children, and she jokingly observed one day that the manner of your preparation changes as you go along. "The first child gets everything," she said. "You lay out the baby's room, fill it with new clothes and make sure everything is ready months before that first child is born."
"You still prepare for the second child," she went on. "But you don't worry quite as much if the room isn't ready on time, and the clothes are now "hand-me-downs" instead of new. As the children keep coming, you prepare a little less each time. By the time you get to the fifth or sixth child," she said, "they are lucky if they get a name!"
I wonder if that is how some of us prepare for the coming of Jesus each year. Do we get more casual about the birth of this child as the Christmas seasons come and go? Does it all become routine, to the point where we are preparing for Jesus not as a first-born child, but as a fifth- or sixth-born child?
On the surface, it appears that the danger of doing this is very real. After all, what do we do to get ready for the birth of Jesus when Advent rolls around? We go into the attic or closet and pull out the same old Christmas boxes we have used for years. We put the same lights in the same windows every year. We put the same little creches or Santas in the same places we have always put them. We hang the same stockings on the same nails and put the tree in its familiar place, filling it with the familiar decorations and placing the familiar star on top.
There may be some value to all this tradition and continuity in material terms, and it probably gives comfort to us as adults to see our childhood stockings and ornaments still being used. But in spiritual terms, if we approach the birth of Jesus with that kind of sameness and predictability, the real meaning of Christmas will pass us by completely. After all, the point of Christmas is not only that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was born among us, but also that our lives are profoundly changed because of His birth. Think of how the birth of our own children changes our lives. For example, you give up forever the idea of having any extra money to save or spend. Phrases like "getting a good night's sleep" are permanently stricken from your vocabulary. Your formerly tidy house becomes a two-story toy box, and your formerly healthy body becomes a depository for every flu and virus that runs through the school system. You hear people talking about such things as peace and quiet and privacy and you wonder what foreign language they are speaking and what these strange words mean.
If I sound like a stressed-out parent, I should be fair and add that children bring other kinds of changes as well. Houses which once didn't know what they are missing are now filled with the sounds of child-like laughter and running feet. Words like joy and wonder acquire deeper meaning as we experience them anew through the eyes of children. Bonds of love grow more profound, connecting us to past and future generations, and allowing us to love our children unconditionally even as we are loved unconditionally by God.
Sometimes the coming of a child changes a whole community and not just an individual household, as we see in a marvelous short story by Bret Harte called The Luck of Roaring Camp. The story takes place in a rough and tumble mining town camp during the California Gold Rush. The entire town consists of rugged frontiersmen, miners, saloon keepers and one woman, who dies as her child is born.
Suddenly, a crude and coarse mining town called Roaring Camp is responsible for the care of a newborn baby, and remarkable changes begin to take place. Hardened frontiersmen become bath-givers and hard-bitten miners become nursemaids. Drinking and gambling are drastically reduced, and the men stop swearing when in the presence of the child. Old grudges are forgotten as former enemies unite in the common task of caring for a newborn baby.
The story doesn't say so, but it would be nice to think that the mine owners no longer required 12-hour shifts seven days a week, as was common in that era, but allowed the men more time to nurture and care for the baby. What the story does say is that the mine in Roaring Camp which was thought to be stripped clean was suddenly producing gold again, so the baby was named "Luck."
Would not God be pleased to see something similar happen after the birth of a baby named Jesus, not just in a family or a town, but throughout the whole world? In a world full of Roaring Camps, where rough greed and rude strife rule the day, would not God be pleased to see this Baby's birth transform everyone everywhere into the loving and sharing people God means for us to be? For starters, would not God be pleased to see you and I approach Jesus' birth this year -- not casually and predictably as if going through the motions of our 10th or 40th or 80th Christmas -- but faithfully and spiritually, as if it were our very first one?
Our text says that the time came for Mary to be delivered. Indeed, that time of deliverance is fast approaching today. A baby sent from God is coming to change our lives and it is time to care for this child by acting in His name in service to others. It is time to reexamine the values we live by and conform our lifestyles to our convictions. It is time to rearrange our cluttered and confused priorities, and make a single commitment to Christ the center of all we do. It is time to refresh and restore our relationships with family and friends, and time to make straight our relationship with God.
When is the baby coming? The due date is December 25th, but as with all babies, we cannot be too sure. The actual day Christ is reborn within us may be earlier or later than that.
This baby will truly come to each one of us when we start caring more for His ways than our own, when we stop living in the old kingdom of this world which is passing away and start living in the new kingdom of God which is already coming. The day this baby truly comes to each one of us is the day we receive Him into our hearts and allow Him to change our lives forever. Then we shall know that the baby we have long been waiting for has come to us at last. Amen. Pastoral PrayerMost Holy and Loving God, who is the faithful answer to every earnest prayer and the abiding hope of every steadfast heart, we ask You to move our spirits this Christmas season, that we may approach Jesus not as parents of a fifth- or sixth-born child, but as worshipers of the first-born Savior He is. Do not let us fall into spiritual ruts, even if we are surrounded by the familiar accoutrements of long-standing Christmas customs and conventions.
O God, let this be a season of spiritual rejuvenation, that our joy may be renewed and our strength restored, our faith reborn and our love reinspired. Be with those for whom this is a difficult season, and help them approach Christmas this year, not burdened by memories of Christmases past, but blessed by the feeling that they are experiencing this joyous and holy day for the very first time. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.
I have heard stories about babies being born in hospital elevators or in the back seats of cars which were racing to the hospital. Clearly, the mothers of those children would not have chosen those times and places for giving birth. Certainly, Mary was no different, and I imagine she would have preferred to be in Nazareth, surrounded by the comforts of home and the support of her family when Jesus was born. But the baby Jesus did not come while Mary was in Nazareth. He came while she found herself in a rude animals' stable in Bethlehem.
"When is the baby coming?" Parents ask the question more urgently as the pregnancy enters its final months. The father asks anxiously, "Will the baby come in the middle of the night, or while I am at work?" The mother asks dejectedly, "Will this baby ever come?" Again, I imagine that question also crossed Mary's mind as she took that long, slow, agonizing journey along the bumpy road from Nazareth to Bethlehem, riding on the back of a donkey.
Parents have much to prepare before the baby arrives, and our text suggests what Mary did to get ready for the birth of Jesus. She must have gathered some swaddling cloths before she left home in order to wrap the baby, since we know she had them with her in the Bethlehem stable that night. She might also have packed some salt, since it was the custom in those days to rub the newborn baby with salt before putting on the wrapping cloths. Like good parents everywhere, Mary did what she could to be ready when the time came.
The Bible says that God was also busy preparing for the birth of His Son. First, He sent the angel Gabriel to speak with an old man named Zechariah, to prepare him and his aged wife, Elizabeth, for the birth of a son to be named John, who would grow up to baptize Jesus and announce His mission. (Luke 1:5ff) God also sent Gabriel to visit Mary, to give her the news which would make her blessed among women forever. (Luke 1:26ff) Then God caused Joseph to be visited in a dream, to convince Joseph to go through with his marriage to Mary and not divorce her quietly as he had planned. (Matthew 1:18ff) All of this had to be done and all of these people had to be involved before the baby Jesus could be born.
"When is the baby coming?" In their own way, today's parents still prepare for the coming of a child during the long months of pregnancy. Perhaps they buy a crib and some toys, and fix up the baby's room. If you are like my wife, you do all of that within 30 minutes after you've learned you are pregnant, and then you spend nine months buying every piece of clothing the child will need from birth through high school. If you are like me, you spend nine months wearing out the starter on your car by checking every 10 minutes to make sure it will start when the big moment arrives. Of course, we don't stay that neurotic and compulsive forever. My mother-in-law raised nine children, and she jokingly observed one day that the manner of your preparation changes as you go along. "The first child gets everything," she said. "You lay out the baby's room, fill it with new clothes and make sure everything is ready months before that first child is born."
"You still prepare for the second child," she went on. "But you don't worry quite as much if the room isn't ready on time, and the clothes are now "hand-me-downs" instead of new. As the children keep coming, you prepare a little less each time. By the time you get to the fifth or sixth child," she said, "they are lucky if they get a name!"
I wonder if that is how some of us prepare for the coming of Jesus each year. Do we get more casual about the birth of this child as the Christmas seasons come and go? Does it all become routine, to the point where we are preparing for Jesus not as a first-born child, but as a fifth- or sixth-born child?
On the surface, it appears that the danger of doing this is very real. After all, what do we do to get ready for the birth of Jesus when Advent rolls around? We go into the attic or closet and pull out the same old Christmas boxes we have used for years. We put the same lights in the same windows every year. We put the same little creches or Santas in the same places we have always put them. We hang the same stockings on the same nails and put the tree in its familiar place, filling it with the familiar decorations and placing the familiar star on top.
There may be some value to all this tradition and continuity in material terms, and it probably gives comfort to us as adults to see our childhood stockings and ornaments still being used. But in spiritual terms, if we approach the birth of Jesus with that kind of sameness and predictability, the real meaning of Christmas will pass us by completely. After all, the point of Christmas is not only that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was born among us, but also that our lives are profoundly changed because of His birth. Think of how the birth of our own children changes our lives. For example, you give up forever the idea of having any extra money to save or spend. Phrases like "getting a good night's sleep" are permanently stricken from your vocabulary. Your formerly tidy house becomes a two-story toy box, and your formerly healthy body becomes a depository for every flu and virus that runs through the school system. You hear people talking about such things as peace and quiet and privacy and you wonder what foreign language they are speaking and what these strange words mean.
If I sound like a stressed-out parent, I should be fair and add that children bring other kinds of changes as well. Houses which once didn't know what they are missing are now filled with the sounds of child-like laughter and running feet. Words like joy and wonder acquire deeper meaning as we experience them anew through the eyes of children. Bonds of love grow more profound, connecting us to past and future generations, and allowing us to love our children unconditionally even as we are loved unconditionally by God.
Sometimes the coming of a child changes a whole community and not just an individual household, as we see in a marvelous short story by Bret Harte called The Luck of Roaring Camp. The story takes place in a rough and tumble mining town camp during the California Gold Rush. The entire town consists of rugged frontiersmen, miners, saloon keepers and one woman, who dies as her child is born.
Suddenly, a crude and coarse mining town called Roaring Camp is responsible for the care of a newborn baby, and remarkable changes begin to take place. Hardened frontiersmen become bath-givers and hard-bitten miners become nursemaids. Drinking and gambling are drastically reduced, and the men stop swearing when in the presence of the child. Old grudges are forgotten as former enemies unite in the common task of caring for a newborn baby.
The story doesn't say so, but it would be nice to think that the mine owners no longer required 12-hour shifts seven days a week, as was common in that era, but allowed the men more time to nurture and care for the baby. What the story does say is that the mine in Roaring Camp which was thought to be stripped clean was suddenly producing gold again, so the baby was named "Luck."
Would not God be pleased to see something similar happen after the birth of a baby named Jesus, not just in a family or a town, but throughout the whole world? In a world full of Roaring Camps, where rough greed and rude strife rule the day, would not God be pleased to see this Baby's birth transform everyone everywhere into the loving and sharing people God means for us to be? For starters, would not God be pleased to see you and I approach Jesus' birth this year -- not casually and predictably as if going through the motions of our 10th or 40th or 80th Christmas -- but faithfully and spiritually, as if it were our very first one?
Our text says that the time came for Mary to be delivered. Indeed, that time of deliverance is fast approaching today. A baby sent from God is coming to change our lives and it is time to care for this child by acting in His name in service to others. It is time to reexamine the values we live by and conform our lifestyles to our convictions. It is time to rearrange our cluttered and confused priorities, and make a single commitment to Christ the center of all we do. It is time to refresh and restore our relationships with family and friends, and time to make straight our relationship with God.
When is the baby coming? The due date is December 25th, but as with all babies, we cannot be too sure. The actual day Christ is reborn within us may be earlier or later than that.
This baby will truly come to each one of us when we start caring more for His ways than our own, when we stop living in the old kingdom of this world which is passing away and start living in the new kingdom of God which is already coming. The day this baby truly comes to each one of us is the day we receive Him into our hearts and allow Him to change our lives forever. Then we shall know that the baby we have long been waiting for has come to us at last. Amen. Pastoral PrayerMost Holy and Loving God, who is the faithful answer to every earnest prayer and the abiding hope of every steadfast heart, we ask You to move our spirits this Christmas season, that we may approach Jesus not as parents of a fifth- or sixth-born child, but as worshipers of the first-born Savior He is. Do not let us fall into spiritual ruts, even if we are surrounded by the familiar accoutrements of long-standing Christmas customs and conventions.
O God, let this be a season of spiritual rejuvenation, that our joy may be renewed and our strength restored, our faith reborn and our love reinspired. Be with those for whom this is a difficult season, and help them approach Christmas this year, not burdened by memories of Christmases past, but blessed by the feeling that they are experiencing this joyous and holy day for the very first time. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.
