Family Flight to Safety

December 27, 1998

Matthew 1; Hebrews 2

Matthew 1:14 When (Joseph) arose he took the young Child and his Mother by night and departed for Egypt.

The abrupt "end" to Christmas in the secular world reminds us that many people have no idea what the Christmas story is all about. [How many times I heard this year "That's what the real meaning of Christmas is all about" and then some word of wisdom about loving our neighbor or being kind all year.]

Christmas is about God invading our planet. Christmas isn't over on the 26th. It is just getting started. But what a story! The Holy Family has to run for its life! The Magi. Herod's jealous paranoia. And then a flight in the middle of the night.

Jesus was a refugee even before he could walk or talk. The Holy family was not exempt from the demands of life every family group has to face.

The love and integrity and sensitivity of Joseph as he sought to care for his family is a lesson for all who would seek God's will for the ones they love.

The fact that even Jesus had to flee for safety could make us AWARE OF THE SUFFERING, HIDDEN AND OTHERWISE, IN OUR WORLD.

We all need God's deliverance from evil (as we are taught in the Lord's Prayer) Our world is full of refugees of one kind or another/ of people who pray the prayer "deliver us from evil."

One step we might take is asking God to make us away of those who are in need. We may be able to do something– we certainly can begin by praying– we can't pray unless we are aware:

We may or may not be able to reach out to these needs. But we need to be ALERT TO THE SPIRIT'S WARNINGS IN OUR OWN FAMILY GROUPS

Joseph was warned that he faced a serious physical threat.

It may be that some of the threats that face our families today are serious spiritual threats that could have eternal consequences!

God's people need to flee the evil spirits of our secular culture. [I know there is an empty sort of external, legalistic piety that mocks true spirituality. But we have swung so far from preaching against what we used to call "externals" – that it is impossible to tell the difference between the church and the world any more.]

We need to develop a sensitivity to the Holy Spirit.

We need to dare to say "Others may– I can not! I will not!" Whatever grieves the Holy Spirit of God not only will bring shallowness into my life– it will serve to make my children, my family insensitive to God's Spirit as well.

Secular culture USES PEOPLE. Sex and violence and worship of money are SYMPTOMS of the worship of SELF gone out of control.

Secular culture EXALTS PERSONAL GRATIFICATION. If it pleasures me, then find a way to buy it or rationalize it. If covenants or marriages become inconvenient, they must go!

WE NEED TO BE WILLING TO LISTEN TO THE HOLY SPIRIT. TO TAKE TIME TO HEAR WHAT GOD HAS TO SAY.

Then finally we need to be AVAILABLE TO GOD'S SPIRIT TO HELP OTHERS.

I recall George Anderson and Walter Edsall stopping by the parsonage and saying "Let's go bowling" when I felt absolutely devastated as a young pastor in New Jersey. Maybe not a spectacular flight to Egypt. But a loving gesture of caring that may have saved a ministry??

Maybe something more direct: In our own family, who will, take charge? Deliberate choices of what we shall watch . . . of what games we shall play . . .

I'm not interested in developing lists of this is OK" and "that is WRONG"

I am deeply concerned that we Christians determine we will obey the Holy Spirit, day after day. Step by step he will lead us!

Conclusion

The passage from Hebrews is tremendously encouraging. It says two or three vital things:

  1. We are ALL welcome into the Holy Family. Jesus is not ashamed to call us his brothers and sisters.
  2. Jesus understands our hard places. He was a refugee Himself, and not only as a Baby. He was despised and rejected. So He is able to help everyone who sincerely asks Him.

Prayer:

Lord Jesus we thank you for our families, with all their tensions and awkwardness. Thank you for days that go well, when we feel proud and hopeful and warmly embraced. Thank you for times when we love them beyond question, and we see them strong and good and caring. And thank you for memories of courage and joy, when we see skills and values and character passing and growing from generation to generation. Heal us of hurts too long remembered, and childhood jealousies never released. Help us to see you in the faces around our table, to hear your voice in those family phone calls and to know your presence in comfortable silence For you are Emmanuel, "God with us", at home with us, making every meal holy, and every family member a child of God... Lord, hear our prayer....

Lord, help us to see that the power of Christmas isn't exhausted with the music and the lights and the gifts and the food, but grows as slowly as a baby, to become a living treasure, a reservoir of peace and love, to sustain us, not only through December and into the holidays, but each and every day of the days you grant to us. Indeed, O Lord, bless us that we may see your presence with ever greater brightness and that we may ourselves become more and more like unto him whose birth we celebrate this season. Lord hear our prayer...

Lord, hear our prayer too for those particular persons and those particular things that have been shared within this holy place today:

(Prayers of The Community)

Lord hear our Prayer....

Gracious God, we ask all this knowing that you indeed hear us for we pray as your son Jesus, he who is our brother and Lord taught us, saying.... Our Father...

Hymn No.