Greetings Everyone!
I hope your Christmas season has been going well and that your new year is full of health and optimism. For me, the new year brings plans of putting into place the appropriate mechanisms to return to Africa. I hope to be in Niger by the end of the summer, and I would appreciate your support of prayer.
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The hero of the Christmas story, other than Jesus of course, has always been Mary. While I find no Biblical evidence to suggest that Christians should pray to her, the amazing life that she lived cannot be overstated. She became miraculously pregnant and was obliged to cling to the truth regardless of what societal perceptions would indicate. She was also rather poor and had probably accrued much experience in walking long distances, drawing water from wells, carrying grain, helping in the fields, and tending to various animals. She was young, perhaps as young as being in her late teens, but she obeyed the command of the angel and accepted her role with patience and strength.
Jesus, however, had another human parent as well. Joseph had worked for several years to build enough wealth to be able to marry the woman he had chosen. He labored faithfully and followed all the rules. He entered into an engagement (which was socially and legally tantamount to marriage) with Mary only to find out that she had become pregnant. From his perspective, he had been wronged by both Mary and a mystery man who had taken advantage of his wife. He had every right to be furious and seek out revenge. Yet, the Bible says that he tried to divorce her quietly to protect her from public disgrace. It also seems unlikely that he would have investigated the identity of the man. He knew that he was innocent, but any level of kindness shown to Mary could reflect to outsiders that perhaps he was not as blameless as he had declared. Bethlehem was a rather small village, and small villages have a timeless reputation for being gossipy. Joseph was kind to Mary anyway. Then, an angel told him the details of Mary’s situation, and Joseph was ready and willing to obey, even in the face of withering popular opinion. We’re not given too many further details about Joseph other than that he was religiously devout, taking his family to Jerusalem at the appropriate times and teaching his son the Torah. He was alive for Jesus’ Temple escapade when he was twelve and apparently deceased by the time Jesus started his public ministry. From what we do know, Joseph was a kind, patient, sincere, and loving father.
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The Christmas season is also pageant season. This is the second year that I have overseen our church Christmas program. Every year, a man in our church volunteers to play the piano, sing, move stage props, or do whatever is needed to be done. This year, he was scheduled to be out of town. He, like Joseph, is also famous for his kindness. On the day of our Christmas program, we got the news that he had died of a heart attack earlier that morning. After the announcement of his death, he received what was perhaps the most succinct summary of his life. One of the teenagers that attends our church is in the foster care system. When he heard the news, he burst into tears. The boy has been in our church for only a couple of months, but this man was intentional to say a kind, encouraging word to him at every encounter. The worth that had been instilled in the boy was obvious. This year, heaven is a bit brighter.
The holidays automatically bring about stress and anxiety. As Christmas winds down and the new year begins, go out of your way to be patient and kind. Blessings,
Jeremy
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