CARING FOR A CHILD NOT YOUR OWN

Sermon Summary (12/29/19) “Caring for a Child Not Your Own” (Mt 1 and 2 selected)

I grew up in town of less than a thousand.  If I did something wrong, my parents knew it before I got home from school.  The family, the church, the school, even main street were involved in our lives.  My sister–in-law said even the post master, she couldn’t buy a stamp as a kid without saying please and thank you.

I realize that Dad’s implement business employed a lot of people.  He took his employees seriously.  I remember Dad taking me to a house early one Thanksgiving morning (and shortly after a delivery of a baby).  There were Christmas bonuses.  His legacy to me was always to find ways to care without fanfare and with dignity.  Kids in our town were valued.

Charles Dickens’ England was a time and place that valued children little.  I think A Christmas Carol changed that and a crippled child, Tiny Tim, “God bless us everyone,” changed our thoughts.

What do you suppose it was like growing up in a town of 200, 2000 years ago, Nazareth of Galilee?  To carry an illegitimate child?  What did the community say? Was it a mysterious child of the Holy Spirit as the angel said?  Would it be adopted by the community?  A glimpse of Jesus at 12 where his parents believed he was playing with the children of the caravan would indicate he was a child of the community. (Luke 2)

But whose child was it in the eyes of Joseph?  Certainly Joseph responded to the angel, married Marry, protected the child, raised it as his own when even the genealogy of the community did not recognize him as the child’s father: ¹⁶ and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called the Messiah. (Mt 1:16)  Not the father of Jesus but the husband of Mary.

Christmas is a reminder that it takes a community.  Coyote Hills in Harrisburg may be an example of Larry McDaniel and his wife providing for over 40 foster children at a time.  A friend of mine fostered a family of five and later adopted them.  We may not be able to take in foster children ourselves, but Christmas is a reminder that those that do need our support.

And we were blessed with the opportunity this Christmas to support a family with a disabled child.  Thank you for making that possible, Samantha.

This Christmas is also a season of Mister Rogers with his movie in theaters.  In his 32 years he impacted generations of elementary school children emphasizing developing of the child psyche and moral and ethic values.

(At this point we viewed “The Time Shop” (http://tiny.cc/Timeshop).

It is reminder that maybe our greatest gift is a gift of time.  The community, foster parents, even Mister Rogers looking into the living rooms of our homes saying, “I’m going to give you my time.”  So may it be for us.