"When Love is Born" - Luke 2:1-14 - December 24, 2005

Like most of you, my three children were born in a hospital. Their lives began in a completely sterile environment. As newborns they were safe and warm. They had professional doctors and nurses to bring them into the world. I can’t imagine bringing a child into such primitive conditions as a stable. And, a manger hardly competes with a infant bed in a hospital nursery. Recently I saw pictures of my newest grand child who isn’t due until July. With modern technology you can virtually watch the fetus develop. It’s truly amazing.

Perhaps God chose a stable to remind us that God can work anywhere. This non-traditional delivery illustrates the fact that the love of God can be born even in the most primitive of circumstances. The story of Jesus’ birth also illustrates that God’s love can be born to unlikely people in a remote corner of the world. This is not a fairy tale. The birth of Christ took place in a historical setting. But what really matters is this; when love is born, the world changes for the good and wonderful things happen which we can’t explain.

This evening I want to suggest that there are at least three things that can happen when love is born. First, love is not earned, nor is love something you can purchase at Walmart. Love is a gift. When people give, love is born.

One time a monk found a precious stone, a precious jewel. A short time later, the monk met a traveler, who said he was hungry and asked the monk if he would share some of his provisions. When the monk opened his bag, the traveler saw the precious stone and, on an impulse, asked the monk if he could have it. Amazingly, the monk gave the traveler the stone. The traveler departed quickly, overjoyed with his new possession.

However, a few days later, he came back, searching for the monk. He returned the stone to the monk and made a request: "Please give me something more valuable, more precious than this stone. Please give me that which enabled you to give me this precious stone!" (from Homiletics, December, 2005)

What the traveler wanted was far more precious than a jewel worth a lot of money. He wanted the monks gift of generosity. The monk made a sacrifice and gave without any strings attached. When people are generous, giving sacrificially, love is born.

Love is also born when people work together for the common good, when folks cooperate, pull their resources and focus on some goal or need. Love is born when there is a sense of community, a place where everyone is included and people care for each other.

There was a bike shop in a little town that was constantly busy, especially in the run-up to Christmas. One winter, a young boy wandered in, dirty-faced, poorly dressed and obviously from a not very well-to-do family. Although at first the staff were worried about shoplifting, it soon became clear that the child was harmless enough. He would just come in, look closely one at a time at all the new bikes that were being brought in for the Christmas sales, and then stand out of the way in the corner of the room and watch the men work. This went on for some time. He seemed to spend more and more time watching the repair part of the shop. And then, one day, after a large group of customers had just left, the young child made a beeline over to where some of the men were working. He laid a rusty old bolt on the counter in front of them. "Excuse me," he said politely, "would you be able to put a new bike on this bolt?"

The men laughed. Only a child would think of putting a bike on a bolt instead of a bolt on a bike. They hadn't realized how young the kid was. Clearly he hadn't yet grasped the thinking that not only connected two objects, but knew the proper progression between them. The boy wasn't yet skilled at instrumental thinking. He was still at the stage that would say that because a bus takes you to school, therefore all busses must go to your school. Their laughter, even though it was not intended to be mean, hurt the boy’s feelings. He didn't understand, but he knew something he had said must have been wrong. He backed away and left the shop. The men ran outside after him. But the kid had disappeared.

A few weeks later, he was back. This time, however, if anything, he was even more reluctant to make contact with anyone at the store. He looked carefully at every new bike on display, as always, carefully scrutinizing each in turn. But this time he kept his head down whenever anyone else came near. Then he went to the repair area where he had given the men the bolt. His head was down, as if he were embarrassed, or had done something wrong, and he kept fingering the hole in his pants.

One of the men repairing bikes called to him: "Hey kid!" He looked up. "You forgot your bolt." And with that one of the staff wheeled out and presented the boy a bicycle. It was made entirely out of scrap parts that the store workers had salvaged on their own time.
Sometimes, it only takes a single bolt for love to be born. When people start connecting their different parts, great things can happen.

The child that Mary gave birth to was one who would be "merciful and forgiving." Anytime there is forgiveness, love is born. Forgiveness heals and unites. Forgiveness opens the door to newness and togetherness.

Aaron Sorkin's multi-award winning TV series The West Wing explores moral and spiritual issues alongside and inside political and personal ones, often bringing great insight to issues of wrongdoing and forgiveness. In the episode "Noel" (series 2.8) Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman (Bradley Whitford) has been shot and wounded when the presidential party was attacked by two gunmen. Some weeks after the shooting, he is behaving wildly and dangerously: The President orders him to be interviewed by a traumatologist. Josh does allow his vulnerability to surface, but then fears losing his job. After the lengthy interview he finds his boss, Chief of Staff Leo McGarry (John Spencer), waiting patiently for him outside. Josh hesitantly admits his extreme behavior, and Leo tells him a story:

"This guy’s walking down the street when he falls in a hole. The walls are so steep he can’t get out. A doctor passes by, and the guy shouts up, ‘Hey, can you help me out?’ The doctor writes out a prescription, throws it in the hole, and moves on. Then a priest comes along, and the guy shouts up, ‘Father, I’m down in this hole. Can you help me out?’ The priest writes out a prayer, throws it down the hole and moves on. Then a friend walks by. ‘Hey Joe, it’s me. Can you help me out?’ And the friend jumps in the hole. "Our friend says, ‘Are you stupid!? Now we’re both in the hole!’ The friend replies, ‘Yeah, but I’ve been down here before, and I know the way out.’"

Leo looks at Josh. "Long as I got a job, you got a job. You understand?" Josh was forgiven. The point of his story was that when someone comes to you and lives with you in your situation, they love you unconditionally, and you are free to live your life without guilt or shame.

This is the Christmas message. God has come to be in the hole with us. It’s all about the love of God. When their is giving, love is born. When their is community and people work together, love is born. When their is forgiveness, love is born.

Dr. Keith Wagner, St. Paul’s United Church of Christ, Sidney, Ohio