Joy in the Stable: Reimagining the Christmas Story, with Rev. Dr. Steven Koski.

Joy in the Stable: Reimagining the Christmas Story, with Rev. Dr. Steven Koski. Series: The Gift of Advent (2024) A Spacious Christianity, First Presbyterian Church of Bend, Oregon. Scripture: Luke 2.6-7.

Discover unexpected joy this Sunday at First Presbyterian Church of Bend. Join us online or in-person as we explore how love transforms ordinary moments into extraordinary gifts. Come curious, and leave inspired.

About the Series, The Gift of Advent (2024): Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love

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At First Presbyterian, you will meet people at many different places theologically and spiritually. And we love it that way. We want to be a place where our diversity brings us together and where conversation takes us all deeper in our understanding of God.

We call this kind of faith “Spacious Christianity.” We don’t ask anyone to sign creeds or statements of belief. The life of faith is about a way of being in the world and a faith that shows itself in love.

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Keywords:

Bethlehem inn, compassionate innkeeper, unexpected joy, love takes over, personal treasures, heart’s gift, small moments, unexpected turn, Christmas pageant, love’s sacrifice, treasure found, heart’s fullness, God’s love, unexpected joy, heart’s gift, presbyterian, church, online worship, bend, oregon

Featuring:

Rev. Dr. Steven Koski, Becca Ellis, Brave of Heart, Guests

Transcript

Steven: 0:20

Music.

Whitney Higdon: 0:37

Welcome to worship at First Presbyterian we at first, Presbyterian practice a spacious Christianity, which means, no matter where you are in your faith journey, you belong, and there is space for you at the table, there is space for your doubts and questions. We believe doubts and questions are a gift that invite us into deeper conversations and a more authentic faith. We believe diversity is a strength. Every story is sacred, and everybody matters. We do our best to live the spacious and radical love of Jesus so that all might have a chance to flourish in this world. We are so glad to connect with you in this way. We would also love to worship with you in person if you're ever in the neighborhood on Sunday mornings at 830 or 10am and never hesitate to reach out to us to learn more about us or how we might support you. I hope you enjoy this worship service. Welcome. This is the season

Becca Ellis: 1:30

of Advent, as we make room and prepare our hearts to receive, once again, the gift of God's love and the birth of Jesus, it is our tradition to light a candle for each Sunday in Advent. On this third Sunday of Advent, we light the candle of joy, reminding us that joy is the oxygen we need when the air is thin and the work is hard, may we find those things that bring forth joy in ourselves and may we bring joy to others.

Steven: 2:12

you. Here's a prayer from the Iona community, when the world was dark and the city was quiet, God you came. God, you came and snuck in beside us, and no one knew, only the few who dared to believe that God might do something different. Will you do the same this Christmas Lord? Will you come into the darkness of today's world? Not the friendly darkness as when sleep rescues us from tiredness, But the fearful darkness in which people have stopped believing that war will end, or that food will come, or that a government will change, or that the church cares, will you come into that Darkness God and do something different, to save us from despair. Will you come into the quietness of this town? Not the friendly quietness as when lovers hold hands, But the fearful silence when the phone is not rung, the letter has not come. The friendly voice no longer speaks, or when the doctor's face says it all, will you come into that darkness and do something different, not to distract but to embrace your people and will you come into the dark corners and the quiet places of our lives. We ask this not because we are guilt ridden, but because the full. Ness of life we long for depends on us being as open and vulnerable to you as you were to us when you came wearing no more than diapers and trusting human hands to hold their maker. If we open our lives to you, will you come into our lives and do something different when the world was dark and the city was quiet? God, you came. You snuck in beside us to be with us. Do the same this Christmas, Lord, do the same. This Christmas. Amen. The Gospel of Luke says the time came for the baby to be born, and Mary gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, an animal's feeding trough, because there was no room in the inn. You know that short little phrase, there was no room in the inn has become famous the podium Weems wrote, in each heart lies a Bethlehem, an inn where we ultimately must answer whether there's room or not. The line there is no room in the inn. That plays a big part in most Christmas pageants. You know, most Christmas pageants usually include the character of the innkeeper, who's generally portrayed as mean and gruff shouting. There's no room in the inn. You know, why does the innkeeper get such a bad rap? I mean, what if the innkeeper wasn't, wasn't that way at all. Who knows, maybe he was a compassionate guy, but he had already given up every spare room he had. I mean, it was a busy night because of the census. What if the innkeeper told the young couple, you know, they could stay in the stable in the back. And even though he was busy, he he tried to look in on them from time to time and try to keep them warm. I love telling the story of Wally, who was nine years old and and actually played the innkeeper the children's Christmas Pageant. And as you know, Wally had one line, and he'd been practicing and practicing and practicing to deliver that one line with a with a scowl on his face and just the right tone, there's no room in the inn. And the night of the pageant, Wally was ready. Mary and Joseph knocked on the door. Wally was behind the door waiting. I mean, he was ready. He swung the door open, he he looked straight ahead above the couple's head so he wouldn't be distracted, and then he set his lie there's no room in the inn, just like he'd been practicing. Joseph, sadly and lovingly placed his arms around Mary, and the two of them started to move away, but Wally, the innkeeper, didn't slam the door and return inside as he had been directed. Wally stood in the doorway watching the couple walk away, and his eyes filled with tears. Wally's heart was so available to love that the Christmas pageant took an unexpected turn. Wally abandoned the script he was given, and all of a sudden, unexpectedly, he shouted, wait, Joseph, wait. Bring Mary back, and Wally's face beamed with joy as he shouted, You can have my room. Love took over, and something beautiful happened. You know, love does that. When love takes over, old scripts are abandoned. New stories are told. Surprise endings are possible. When love takes over, there's unexpected joy, and that's what the Advent season is really all about, making room for love to take over. You know this really is a season of the heart, and it's a season for storytelling. Robert fulgum tells a beautiful story I want to share, reminding us that. Not to miss the real gift. So I invite you to make room as you listen, the cardboard box is marked the good stuff. As I write, I can see the box on the shelf in my office, I actually like being able to see it. The box contains odds and ends of personal treasures. Now, a thief looking into this box, he wouldn't see anything of value, and he'd probably leave it but if the house ever catches fire, believe me, that box goes with me when I run one of the keepsakes in the box is a small paper sack lunch size. The top is the top of the sack is sealed with duct tape, staples and several paper clips. There's a ragged rip on one side through which the contents can be seen. This particular lunch sack has been in my care for almost 14 years, but it really belongs to my daughter Molly. Soon after Molly came of school age, she became an enthusiastic participant in packing lunch for herself, for her brothers and for me, each sack got their fair share of sandwiches, apples, milk and sometimes a note or a treat. One morning when I was in my my usual hurry, Molly handed me two sacks as I was about to leave. I mean, one regular lunch sack, and the one I mentioned with the duct tape staples and and paper clips. Why two sacks? I asked. The other one is something else? She said, Please take it with you, daddy. Well being in my usual hurry, I stuck both sacks into my briefcase, kissed Molly on the forehead, and I rushed off well at midday, while hurriedly scarfing down my lunch at my desk, I hastily tore open Molly's other sack she gave me, and I shook out the contents out to my desk, two hair ribbons, three small stones, a plastic dinosaur, a pencil stub, a tiny seashell, two animal crackers, a marble used lipstick, a small doll, two chocolate kisses and 13 pennies. I smiled, you know, charming, but rising to raise to all the important business of the afternoon I I swept the desk clean into the waste basket leftover lunch, Molly sack and all its contents. You know, after all, there wasn't anything in there I needed for my important meetings. That afternoon, that evening, Molly stood beside me while I was I was trying to read the newspaper. Where's my sack? Daddy? She asked what sack I muttered, not really paying attention. You know, the one, the one I gave you this morning. I left it at the office. Why? Well, I forgot to put this note in it, and Molly hands me the note and says, besides, I want a back. Those are my best things in the sack, daddy, the ones I really love. You've been kind of sad, so I thought you might like to play with them, but now I want them back. You didn't lose the sack, did you? Daddy? Tears kind of puddle in her eyes. No, honey, I just forgot to. I just forgot to bring it home. I lied. Well, bring it home tomorrow. Okay? Daddy, sure, Honey, don't worry. As she hugged my neck with relief, I unfolded the note that had not gotten into the sack. I. And it read, I love you, Daddy. Oh, I looked at the face of my child. She was right. What was in the sack was something else. Molly had given me her treasure, her heart, all that a seven year old held dear love, love in a paper sack, and I missed it. Not only missed it, but had thrown it in the waste basket because I thought there wasn't anything in there that I needed. It wasn't the first time I felt my daddy permit was about to run out, believe me, it was a long trip back to the office, but there was nothing else to be done, so I went the pilgrimage of a penitent dad just ahead of the janitor, I picked up the waste backs basket, I poured out all, all of The contents onto my desk, and I, I was sorting, sorting it all out, when the janitor to janitor came in. Lose something, yeah, my mind, or, actually, worse, my heart. Well, it's probably in there, all right. He said, What's it look like? I'll help you find it. Well, I couldn't feel any more of a fool than I already was, so I told him. He didn't laugh. He smiled. I got kids too. So the brotherhood of fools searched the trash and found the jewels. He smiled at me. I smiled at him. You know, you're never alone in these things. After washing the mustard off the dinosaur, spraying the whole thing with breath freshener to kill the smell of onions, I carefully smoothed out the wadded sack of brown paper into a semi functional sack, and I put the treasures back inside, and I carried the whole thing home gingerly like like an injured kitten. The next evening, I returned the sack to Molly, no questions asked, no explanation offered. The sack didn't look so good, but, but the stuff was all there, and that's all that counted. After dinner, I asked Molly to tell me about the stuff in the sack. She took it out one piece at a time, placed all of the objects in a row on the dining room table. It took a long time to tell, because every object had a story, a memory of her mother, or it was attached to dreams, imaginary friends. I actually hadn't remembered, but I had given her the chocolate kisses. She was keeping them for when she really needed them. To my surprise, Molly gave the sack back to me once, several days later, same bratty sack, same stuff inside, I felt forgiven and trusted and loved over several months, the sack went with Me in time, Molly turned her attention to other things. You know, she found other treasures lost. She lost interest in the game. She grew up me. I was left holding the bag. She gave it to me one morning, and she never asked for its return. So I have it still. Sometimes I think of all the times in this sweet life when I was so busy so. I so caught up in other things, less important things that I missed, the love I was given a friend calls that standing knee deep in the river and dying of thirst, so the worn paper sack, it's it's there in the box, left over from a time when a child said, here, this is the Best I got. This is my heart. It's yours. Well, I missed it the first time, but it's in my box now, friends, we celebrate in the birth of the child that God has given us this treasure. God has given us the gift of God's very heart. You know, I've missed it more than a few Christmases along the way, for one reason or another. It'd be really easy to miss this year. With our hearts we're so full, so full of ache, it's easy to miss when, when we're following the same old scripts, and there really isn't any room. Take time in the days ahead, to pause, reflect. Find meaning, not in what glitters, but in what is real and true. Find joy in the small and the unexpected. Make sure you have enough room to receive God's great gift of love for you, let love take over, because when love takes over, we abandon the usual scripts and we give to one another and to the world the gift that really matters, the gift of our hearts. Because what this broken and hurting world desperately needs right now is for each of us to say here, this is the best I got. This is the fullness of my heart. It's yours, may it be so. In the midst of the busyness of decorating, shopping, holiday parties, don't forget to make room. Make room to give love a chance to take over, because when love takes over, we remember the gift that matters most, and that's the gift of our hearts. So friends go knowing the gift of God's heart is always with you, and as you offer the gift of your heart to this world, May it bring peace to others. Amen.

Whitney Higdon: 28:37

Thank you so much for joining us, and we hope you enjoyed this worship service. If you would like to make a donation helping make these broadcasts possible or support them many ways. First, Presbyterian seeks to serve our community. You can make a financial gift online at bend fp.org, every week, we hear from someone thanking us for the gift of these broadcasts and what a difference they make. Your support makes that possible. Our church is committed to reach beyond our walls, bringing hope where there is despair and love where it is needed the most. Your generous support helps us to be generous in love. Go to our website, bend fp.org, and click on the link. Give online. Your support is really appreciated and makes a difference in people's lives. Thanks again. I hope to see you next week. You