Tidings of Comfort and of Joy

The following video transcript has been lightly edited

 Hi. During the Christmas season, we sing a song that says, Tidings of Comfort and Joy. And of course, tidings means news, so news of comfort and joy. Jesus arrival into the world is good news of comfort and joy. Here's the thing, though. Like me, you probably experience all kinds of parts and pieces of life that don't feel all that comforting and perhaps don't feel all that joyful.

Well, we're starting a new series, and we're going to be looking at how Christ's arrival, Christ ministry, Christ personhood, gives us real comfort and joy in the midst of the different challenges we face in life. Because we all deal with the drudgery, we all have these things that happen in our life that take our plans and make them go awry.

We experience grief and suffering and loss. And so how is it that that Christ in the midst of our every day can actually bring us comfort and joy. This week what I want to talk about is I want to talk about how we as human beings are vulnerable You and I have all kinds of vulnerabilities We don't like that reality.

In fact, we often hide from it. We try to structure our lives or manage risk out of it. Just so that we don't have to feel that feeling of vulnerability and yet time and time again it interrupts us. It engages and pushes past our defenses. What we see in the birth of Christ is God's entrance into the world, entrance into human history.

And as Luke tells it in chapter 3, Luke reminds us that Jesus genealogy is one in which he was thought to be of born, the son of Joseph. Thought to be meaning he's more than just a human being, but he is fully human. And Luke traces his lineage all the way back through David, and Jacob, and Isaac, and Abraham, and Noah, and Adam.

And reminding all of us that Jesus is the Son of God. And this lineage tells us a few things. The lineage is a story. The genealogy is a story of human history and God's entrance into it. And in the midst of it, what we learn is that God has fully embraced humanity. And because God has fully embraced humanity, you and I can fully embrace our vulnerability.

We don't have to be afraid of it. We don't have to try to manage it away, but it, in reality, what we can do is we can live in the midst of the vulnerability, allowing us to experience comfort and joy in our lives. Luke begins his genealogy by talking about how Jesus was about 30 years old when he began his ministry.

It turns out that even the Son of God needs some time to mature and come into his own. Modern psychologists tell us that that's about the age of maturity, around 30. The Old Testament, often prophets began their ministry around 30, because that was the time that they had come into their full maturity.

You know, it's this reminder to us That if the Son of God needs time to mature and grow, then all of the things in our lives sort of happen in good time. Around Christmas, we like to often have beef bourguignon. And one of the things I've learned is that it's beef cooked in wine, served over mashed potatoes.

If you make it a few days ahead of time and let it sit in the fridge, it sort of oodles together. And this reminder that is the world we live in, that sometimes things with a little bit more time have a little bit more maturity, a little bit more depth, a little bit more flavor. You and I are often in a rush, we're trying to get to that next thing, we're trying to shape things, we're trying to get our life to work the way we want it.

And with that, it creates a sense of panic, a sense of urgency, a sense of control, sort of over managing. Maybe you've got some of that going on in your life right now. But what we see in the genealogy, and what we see in Christ, is that things unfold all in good time. I love that idea of all in good time because it's this reference to God's future breaking in in the present. Joy, mercy, grace, hope, but also that all in good time what we know is in history that one day history will be set right and there's a future in which it'll be the fullness of time, the fullness of good time. That evil, sin, and death will be removed. And so this year, as you get off to a start, rather than be afraid of your vulnerabilities, rather than experience this sense of constant urgency in which you're trying to shape everything, what if you take an approach in which you believe that all things will come in good time, that you have plenty of time, you don't need to rush through anything, but rather you just need to engage in life and trust that in good time, God's grace and mercy and joy will meet you.

In the present and in the future. So think of it as like a cloudy day, partly cloudy day. You have sun breaking through. That's God's light and mercy breaking through into your now, but those clouds one day will part and it'll be the fullness of the sun. That's the life we live. We don't have to rush. We don't have to be afraid. Rather, what we can do is believe that in good time, our life will unfold. And so we don't have to be afraid of our vulnerabilities, but rather we can lean into it.

The second thing we can take from the genealogy is that as it traces back through David and Boaz and Jacob, that these stories of these human beings are imperfect, just like ours.

And so I think we often believe that the brokenness, the poor choices, the events that don't go our way, that somehow those prevent us from progressing. But we see in the stories that all the twists and turns that happen in people's lives, whether it's affairs or people brought into the story that are unexpected or wrestling with God are particularly stubborn.

All of these people are there in Jesus genealogy that none of this prevents God from accomplishing what God wants to accomplish. And so in this mix of life, as we move forward, we can trust that God will bring forth God's purposes. And that allows us to not be afraid of the twists and turns, but rather to greet them and to believe that over them and despite them, God will continue to mold and shape. I want you to think of the Mississippi River. The earth keeps the river within its banks. At times the river overflows, but the water is shaped by the earth such that it always flows eventually to the ocean. And that's exactly what God does. God is shaping and bending back even the brokenness to bring forth newness of life. And so you and I can trust in the twists and turns. Well, how do we do that? Well, I think it's a lot about learning to practice remembrance. Remembering what God has done in the past in human history. Remembering what God has promised to do in the future.

Because of Jesus resurrection, there's this promise of a fully restored and resurrected world. But then also remembering personally how God has brought grace and mercy and hope to our twists and turns in our life. And none of them have completely derailed us. But rather, God meets us, bringing new things.

And what all of this does, I think, is it allows us to not get caught trying to reshape the past, or entirely worried about the future and the ways that things might fall apart, but allows us to be in the present and to notice life and goodness and joy.

The other day, my wife and I got to look out into the backyard and we saw eight different cardinals, four males and four females, and the snow was falling. It was a very beautiful scene. And the reason we can do that is because we have a sense of presence in that moment. Oh, our life has all kinds of twists and turns. And both of us would say that where we are in our life is perhaps not where we expect it to be. And we've experienced loss and grief just like everybody else. But we trust that God will not be overcome by the twists and turns, but rather God will overcome the twists and turns, allowing us to embrace our vulnerability and enter into that present moment where we see the beauty of the cardinals in the snow and appreciate one another in those moments.

Okay, so Christ has come and Christ's entrance into humanity allows us to embrace our vulnerability. And the way we do that is trust that all in good time. We, secondly, allow ourselves to go through the twists and turns. And then finally, we want to remember that we are just part of a whole.

So this genealogy tracks through multiple generations. God has not come just for us as individuals, but God has come for all of humanity. And within this genealogy, there's this reminder that we don't want to fall into self idolatry. That many of the parts of the human story have occurred because instead of being dependent on God and others, people try to pursue independence. And so if we want to embrace our vulnerability, we want to just know that we need others in our lives, that we need God in our life, that we need others in our life.

And that in fact, as creatures, we are dependent upon others. We need people to care for us and help us and encourage us and challenge us. And so as you move into this new year, invite people into your life. Allow them to challenge you, encourage you, care for you, because that'll help you experience tidings of comfort and joy in the midst of your every day.

Looking forward to continuing this series. Hope we're off to a good start. Take care. We'll see you soon.