A New Addition to the Family
A Christmas Meditation by Brent J. Eelman
December 25, 2005
Abington Presbyterian Church

Luke 2: 1-14
    In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. ²This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. ³All went to their own towns to be registered. ⁴Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. ⁵He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. ⁶While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. ⁷And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.
    8 In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. ⁹Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: ¹¹to you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is the Messiah,^* the Lord. ¹²This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.’ ¹³And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying,
        ¹⁴‘Glory to God in the highest heaven,
           and on earth peace among those whom he favours!’* 

We have a family legend about the day that my parents brought me home from the hospital. My parents introduced me to my older brother Bruce, (who is here this morning) saying: “Would you like to meet your new brother?” His response was, “No, I don't want him.” (Please be assured that after 55 years we have improved this relationship a bit.) There was a candid honesty in what my brother said. He was almost five years old at the time. He had been the center of parental attention during these five years. He was not stupid. Somewhere inside of him, he knew that things were about to change. Suddenly he would be sharing attention with this upstart baby brother. That is how sibling rivalries are born. Whenever there is a new addition to the family, whether it is a child or a pet, a step mother or father, a brother or sister, it always manages to shake things up. Things will never be the way they were. Within the family structure new alliances and truces are brokered, often subconsciously, so that the family may continue to function. The reality is, no matter how excited we may be about the new addition to the family, it changes everything and there is a part of us that says: “I don't want him.”

The Christmas story is about a new addition to the family... A child was born, Jesus, to Mary and Joseph... and like any new addition to the family, the rivalries started. Herod, (who we might compare to a big brother or sister), acts in a most gracious, albeit phony, manner. “How exciting... a new baby... a new king... peace on earth...” But down deep inside he was muttering: “I don't want him.” Herod wasn't stupid. He was well aware of the delicate balance of power that existed in the Middle East and that any upstart king or messiah was a threat to his power. On the surface he greeted the birth of the child with all the right words. But in truth, he planned to kill that child in his crib. Death to the pretender to his throne and power!

On this Christmas day we read the words of the prophets and the gospels. We proclaim that to us, to our family, a child is born. We have all the right words and the proper greeting, but do we really know what we are in for? This child changes everything. With the birth of Jesus, nothing is the same anymore. Mary, his mother, knew this when she spoke of his power... he will bring the mighty down from their thrones. She knew that his birth meant a change in the very economic order of things. “He has given good things to the poor and the wealthy he has sent away empty.” Are we ready to welcome this child, Jesus, into the family of humanity? Are we ready to accept the changes that he brings?

I suspect that there is a part of us that plays the big brother and says, in all honesty, “I don't want him.” Most of us are very good at hiding this part, but it is there none the less. It is the part of us that needs to change, but doesn't want to. It is the part of us that lacks vision and hope; the part of us that is invested in the way that things are, no matter how destructive.

So this Christmas morn, amidst all the carols and cheer, with all the gifts and good wishes, let us not forget that “to us a child is born.....” A child who changes everything... even us. Let us welcome that child into our hearts, the heart of our communities, the heart of our churches, and the heart of our governments. Let us welcome this child in a spirit of thanksgiving and hope, and may our welcome be genuine. May it transform us and all creation. This is the good news of Christmas. A child is born to this family of humanity, Jesus the Messiah. Amen.
 

*The New Revised Standard Version Bible, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 1989.

Abington Presbyterian Church, Abington, Pennsylvania,  www.apcusa.org