Ministries Blog

By Rev. John W. Nupp

“The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.” 

Isaiah 9:7

How many people do you know named, “Joe” or “Joseph”?  If you were celebrating your 60^th birthday this year, you were more likely to have been born with a boy named Joseph in your graduating class – the name’s popularity peaked in 1956!  Over 2 million people in the US have the first name Joseph, making it the 10^th most popular – pretty common!  We even have a saying about the “average Joe”.  Look at the people God choose to play the leading roles in the drama of salvation that unfolded at the birth of Jesus – everyday people, just like you and me.  But God worked through ordinary people like Mary and Joseph to set the stage for the greatest act of salvation – the birth of our Savior. 

Notice the words spoken to Joseph (Matthew 1:20-21) – “Do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.  She will give birth to a Son and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”  To paraphrase, ‘God has already begun this work within Mary, and she will do the hard work of giving birth, but you will be there to provide for the mother and this child.  He will do the greatest work of all – saving the people from their sins.’

God sends angelic messengers and Joseph is challenged to hear the Good News that this Savior is coming, that he has a part to play in caring for and granting a name to this great gift of God to the world.  But what about us?  Did the Good News end with Mary and Joseph?  No.  The birth of Jesus Christ is just the beginning of the miracle, only the start of the miraculous changes in our world wrought by God!  In the words of hymn-writer Charles Wesley, Jesus was born to give us Second Birth.  Because of Jesus, every man, woman and child receives the possibility of a second birth.  We believe that this possibility becomes a reality when we receive the gift, when we welcome Jesus into our lives.  By his grace, we can begin again – not to live in our own strength or our own power, not fixed on our own goals, not bound to the value of our own accomplishments.  Rather, we begin to see and participate in what God is doing.

In May of 1844, members of congress gathered in a chamber at the Supreme Court as Samuel Morse sent the first message by telegraph to a Mr. Alfred Vail, waiting at a rail station in Baltimore.  The message?  A quote from scripture, Numbers 23:23 – “What hath God wrought?”  Today, we might translate the message as, “See what God has done!”  We get so caught up in our own accomplishments and failures, we can spend so much time worrying about what we do, the works of our hands, that we begin to think that anything that really matters in the world is accomplished by us!  But that is not what the birth of Jesus reveals.  Jesus shows us what God has done, what God continues to do. 

This does not mean, however, that we can just stand by today as spectators, does it?  God is the main actor in the drama of salvation, but we have a part to play.  God entrusts us here and now with the power to participate.

What will we do in response to what God has done?  God began the work, God does the saving in Jesus, but like Joseph, we get to play our part, we get to participate in this unbelievable miracle.  It seems like there is still some work to be done in our world.  Around the world, in places like Aleppo and Berlin.  Closer to home, in places like Baltimore City and the County around us.  In Elkridge and Ellicott City, God is still at work to bring the message of salvation.  And God is still looking for people ready to participate in the unfolding drama, the wonderful story of God’s power to save.

We have the power to take part in something so amazing, so miraculous – the wonder of God at work in the world!  God is calling, not with fear or with manipulation, not with sugary promises or threats – just the simple promise, “Do not be afraid.  Do not be afraid to love, to welcome and to care.  Do not be afraid to build your life around Jesus, who is God with us.”  We may be ordinary, but we serve an extraordinary God, who invites us to share in the miracle of Christmas today and every day.

Based on a sermon preached at Melville Chapel on Christmas Eve 2016.