Home for Christmas

In the musical fantasy film 'The Wizard of Oz', a little girl by name Dorothy leaves her home in Kansas in a dream and travels to another world. In the dream land of Oz, everything appeared vibrant and interesting, fascinating and more attractive than Kansas had ever been. But the characters she met there taught her deeper and more lasting lesons than bright colors and magical experiences. Dorothy learned about faith, hope and love. She learned what it means to have a brain, to have a heart and to have courage. She also learned the truth that she could always go home by saying “There’s no place like home.”

When we strip away the traditional Christmas rituals like the TV specials, the magical lights, the gifts and the music, what remains is 'home'. It is the beating heart of the holiday that reflects our primal need to have a meaningful relationship with a setting – a place that transcends the boundary between the self and the physical world. One of the first questions we ask when we meet someone new is “Where are you from?” But we rarely pause to consider how complicated that question can be. Does it mean where you currently live? where you were born? or where you grew up? The word “home” means more than just a house or a place. It includes people, places, objects, memories and more. Where we live is closely tied to our sense of who we are. When you feel like you don’t have a place to call home, you feel a sense of lostness.

When Jesus came to this world, he found himself without a home. We read that there was "no room in the inn" for Jesus to be born. Mary and Joseph had to prepare a birth place for Him in a manger. Jesus is the most renowned homeless person in history. He said, "Foxes have holes, birds have nests. The son of man has no place to lay his head." I believe one of the reasons why God sent the angels to the shepherds to announce the good news was because the shepherds were a group that historically had no plaec of their own. They were nomadic people, who lived in the fields with the sky as their roof. Jesus brought good news that they can go to the manger and be with Jesus and experience 'home' with the Son of God.

The manger of Jesus is not just for us to see, any more than it was just for the shepherds. It is not just for the privileged, or for the ones that lived in a particular land. It’s not just for the family members we like, or approve of, or agree with. It’s not just for the folks who live like us and think like us. It’s not just for some. This manger is for the entire world, where the homeless find a home, the orphans find a mom or dad, a lonely finds the presence of God. Christ's manger is the place where all the world comes to kneel together as family.

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Fulll sermon audio: Mathew Philip

Blessings

Mathew Philip

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