Good morning,
Praise the Lord for this Friday. The Lord blessed us with a beautiful day yesterday. Alice and I walked over 4 miles last night. It was a beautiful night. The moon was brilliant and majestic. Praise the Lord for the way He shines His light on dark spots and dispels darkness.
Those of you live in the region join us for our weekly Friday Evening Television out reach this Evening on Time Warner Cable channel 4 at 7 PM. As we journey through the Advent season we praise the Lord for He has a great sense of humor.
Throughout the ages, philosophers have debated over what is it that tickles our funny bone and causes that joyous explosion of air out of our lungs and across our vocal chords, which we call laughter. G. K. Chesterton defined humor as the "sudden perception of incongruity." When two things we usually keep in separate compartments of our brains suddenly cross paths inside our head, the result is humor. God indeed must have a sense of humor.
In the Christmas story that which sounded like a terrible accident turned out to be the greatest story ever told. Judging by this story, I believe God has the greatest sense of humor in the entire universe, in choosing common people to accomplish extraordinary purposes.
The Lord surprised a young man named Joseph. Joseph, like Moses, was at first unaware of God's purposes and challenged by being a participant in God's divine plans. Joseph was quiet and practical. He liked working with wood, a material you can measure and cut and work with your hands. He was an honest, simple tradesman. He may have loved Mary for the same qualities: she was an honest, simple down-home girl, the kind you settle down with and raise a family. Perhaps Mary and Joseph already shared love, and trust, and dreams. The date had been set, and "the invitations were in the mail." Then one day Mary said, "Joseph, I need to tell you, I'm going to have a baby." Suddenly, Joseph's simple, perfect life dissolved into a world of pain. Mary continued, "Oh Joseph, there's nothing to worry about. You see, there was this angel." We can imagine Joseph's response, "Yeah, sure, an angel . . . "
In his poem "For the Time Being: A Christmas Oratorio", poet W. H. Auden pictured Joseph sitting alone in the dark, listening to the dripping of the faucet, as a voice said,
"Joseph, you have heard What Mary says occurred; Yes, it may be Is it likely? No..Mary may be pure But, Joseph, are you sure? How is one to tell? Suppose, for instance . . . Well . . .Maybe, maybe not. But, Joseph, you know what Your world, of course, will say About you anyway. Joseph looks up to God and pleads, All I ask is one Important and elegant proof That what my Love had done Was really at your will And that your will is Love. Gabriel replies, No, you must believe; Be silent and sit still. Forgetting nothing, believing all"
Then Gabriel laid out God's requirement of Joseph, "You must behave as if this were not strange at all . . . To do what's difficult all one's days." But that, at first, proved too much to ask of this young man. According to the Bible, when Mary started to show, he had no choice but to "put her away" — to distance himself from her as a righteous man. One night before he did so, an angel appeared to Joseph and said, "Joseph, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. The child within her is from God. This is Immanuel, the long-awaited fulfillment of prophecy, God with us."
Although the text doesn't say so, Joseph's first reaction to this announcement may have been, "Wait a minute! I didn't sign up for this. All I want is to be a carpenter, to have a wife and a house and a yard and a family." Many years prior, that had been the kind of surprise God had in store for a white-haired lady named Sarah. She probably had to squint to focus on the baby in her arms, who wasn't her grandson, but the son born to her in her twilight years. Her husband, Abraham, was one hundred years old — . Genesis tells us that when Abraham heard he was going to be a father at his advanced age, he fell on the ground laughing. At another point Sarah was eavesdropping from behind the flap of the tent. When she heard God's news that she would bear a son, she laughed, perhaps until tears streamed down her cheeks. God, however, had the last laugh. He told Abraham and Sarah their child would be a boy and he would be named Isaac — in Hebrew yitzak — which means laughter.
Our God revealed in the Person of Jesus Christ our Lord and King, takes great delight in derailing our best-laid plans, and in giving us the last thing we ever expected. The next time a monkey wrench drops out of heaven into your well-oiled machinery, don't curse God. Look up and say thank you. Take a moment to see that unwelcome surprise as an opportunity to trust, a gift to receive, a command to obey. Ultimately, life gives us little we expect, but God gives us everything we need, beyond our dreams, just as He did for Joseph.
In Christ,
Brown
Saturday, December 10, 2011
Christmas banquet
Home Made cooking, "best in the County". donation $7.00
Serving at 12 noon
At Wesley United Methodist Church.
1000 Day Hollow Road, Endicott, NY 13760
Come... Share... Rejoice
For Information: 607-748-6329
Saturday, December 10, 2011
Praise and Worship Service
First United Methodist Church, Endicott
Sponsored by Union Center UMC
6 PM Gathering - Coffee - Fellowship
6:30 PM Worship
Music: Jane Hettinger
Speaker: Dave Hettinger
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