Almost exactly one year ago today, on a very snowy Sunday, December 9th of 2007, I sadly announced my resignation as Senior Pastor of the Ely Baptist Church. Although I sensed God’s very clear, exciting and powerfully guiding hand, it was a difficult moment for all sorts of reasons. But perhaps the biggest reason it was so difficult relates to something clearly taught us in our Scripture passage this morning.
As I mentioned in our prophecy conversation last week, one of the clearest and very most startling prophecies relating to the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is an obscure little prophetic comment in Micah 5:2, which announced to the world exactly where the coming Messiah would be born. “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.” The Messiah would be born in the town of David; Israel’s once most glorious king. The Messiah, the very Bread of Life, would be born in Bethlehem, a word quite literally translated as “the house of bread.” It is a lovely prophecy for all sorts of reasons, not the least of which is that it is prophecy come literally and historically true.
But the part of the Bethlehem prophecy most startling, important and moving to me has always been the stunning smallness of it. “Though you are small among the clans of Judah.” Almighty God made a point of choosing Bethlehem at least partially because it was a small, mostly insignificant place in the eyes of the world. This ancient prophecy and its Advent fulfillment shine a wonderful light! This intentionally tiny, Bethlehem birthplace of our LORD Jesus loudly declares to the world that all places, even small places, matter enormously to God.
It was hard to say goodbye to my friends in Ely because I had come to fully understand how very much that small place way up there at the cold end of the road matters to God!
All places matter to God. There is no place on earth too small or insignificant for God to ignore. As the Psalmist put it so beautifully in Psalm 139, “Where can we go from your Spirit?” There is no place on earth too small, too insignificant or too ugly for Jesus to love. The Advent Light of the World we celebrate today is a gorgeously loving, tender and tiny Bethlehem light.
Do we honestly believe that? Do we believe all places truly matter?
I got a beautiful, four-page, frost-bitten email this week from an old friend of mine now living in the Alaskan bush country. She told the story of a long 18 mile snowmobile ride she took to the nearest town of Emmonak, Alaska to get supplies before a winter storm came in. After encountering three enormous moose “much larger than those moose in Minnesota,” she reported feeling like a toddler standing “next to a fleeing Clydesdale.” The ground was shaking. Once she and her snow machine friend finally arrived at the store, they found it surrounded by other snow machines. Her description of the place was wonderful. She said, “The store was crowded. There are four check outs and each one has a long line...one for cash, two for check cards, one for both. I spot Matt right away for he is the only white guy working at the store. I have talked with him several times when ordering over the phone and he is always so accommodating. He is about 30 years old with long hair. I wonder what he is doing way up here...what his story is. Every white person up here has a story. After all, one comes to these places deliberately. This is not a stop-over place by any means.” This is a deliberate place.
After long, gorgeous descriptions of the people, danger, cold and unique situations she encountered on her way home last week, she closed her letter in gratitude saying, “Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. I am thankful; thankful not that I am home, though that is a good thing, but thankful God has brought me again full circle in my life...thankful to be in yet another place where I have been before...grateful...so grateful for this gift He gave me: life.”
My dear friend was grateful for life this Thanksgiving weekend because my dear friend does have a long, difficult and very deliberate story. My friend’s story used to be filled with methamphetamine abuse, violence, low-income housing, broken relationships, anger, tears and sadness. She has come to her precious wilderness place up there in Alaska very deliberately. One always comes to some places in life deliberately. Some places are definitely not stopovers.
Does God care about those places? Would Jesus ever be born in back country Alaska? Would Jesus ever come to a bunch of cold, simple Inuit people racing home against the storm?
Do those places matter?
On Thursday afternoon, I had a long conversation with a woman from Edison High School about a struggling young Hispanic family in our neighborhood; a single mother with four children who uses almost half her income every month to pay rent on a small apartment above a bakery Monica and I enjoy on Central Avenue. Understandably, this scared, young mother is not making it very well and Christmas is coming. And the Edison staffer was wondering if there was anything we could do to at least help give this little family a Christmas.
Does God care about a small apartment that always smells like bread and pastries?
Does a small, insignificant place like that matter?
Would Jesus ever agree to be born there? Could a noisy, little apartment possibly be a Bethlehem of sorts? Could the light and life of Bethlehem ever possibly shine out of that place?
Or what about our place? Many church growth experts would tell us our church is a place long past its prime and potential. Church planting is the way to go, right? Forget trying to work through all the complicated historical and theological issues; just chuck it all and start over, right? Yet this is a deliberate place, isn’t it? This is a place people choose to be. This place is not a stopover. This church made prayerful, deliberate choices not to move away when other church folks did. This church is trying to figure out ways to be more diverse, not more homogenous and that’s always a recipe for conflict and difficulty. This is a place where we want to intentionally value the gifts and abilities of all people, without any regard to gender, age, race or other often divisive factors and that too can be a challenge. And with our Hope Avenue ministry, this church is even trying hard to help give a place in this world to people who quite literally have no place to call their own. In spite of all the difficulties, I believe this is a church longing to be deeply connected to its place…and yet when Christianity Today profiled some Twin Cities area churches recently, somehow our place didn’t get profiled among the superstars. My friend Pastor Ron Saari from Central in St. Paul called to joke with me about it.
Does God care about this place? I sure think so…I see the light of Bethlehem here.
And what about other places?
We have all seen the unbelievable Somalia piracy stories in the news in recent months. The most recent travel advisory from the State Department warns U.S. citizens of the risks of travel to Somalia and recommends American citizens avoid all travel there. On October 29, 2008, terrorists launched several coordinated and near-simultaneous attacks involving multiple car bombs against local and international targets in the regions of Somaliland and Puntland. Terrorist operatives and armed groups in Somalia have demonstrated their intent and capability to attack air operations at Mogadishu International Airport. Kidnapping, murder, illegal roadblocks, banditry, other violent incidents and threats to U.S. citizens and other foreigners can occur in many regions. Inter-clan and inter-factional fighting flares up with little or no warning. Unpredictable armed conflicts among rival militias are prevalent in southern Somalia, particularly in and around Mogadishu. This has resulted in the deaths of hundreds of Somali nationals and the displacement of nearly one million people. U.S. citizens also are urged to use extreme caution when sailing near the coast of Somalia. Merchant vessels, fishing boats, and recreational craft all risk seizure by pirates and having their crews held for ransom in the waters off the Horn of Africa, most especially in the international waters near Somalia. There have been numerous such incidents, highlighting the continuing danger of maritime travel near the Horn of Africa. If transit around the Horn of Africa is necessary, it is strongly recommended that vessels travel in convoys, and maintain good communications contact at all times.
Oh my goodness! What an open sewer; what an absolutely worthless place!
Does God care about that place? Would Jesus ever agree to be born in Mogadishu?
My friends Randy and Donna Weets have been missionaries in Panama for nearly 20 years. Randy is the pastor of Iglesia Biblica Amistad (Friendship Bible Church) in Panama City, Panama which ministers in several different languages. They are also involved in a Christian School ministry, camp ministries, Bible studies, and a building project. We met Randy and Donna shortly after they moved from Colon City (on the Atlantic coast) to Panama City (on the Pacific side of the isthmus). Interestingly, while living in Colon, their home was burglarized so many times (22 to be precise!) they eventually stopped replacing any valuable things. Yet, as testament to their commitment, they continued because they dearly love that place.
This fall, while briefly back in the states, Randy and Donna were asked about the challenges they would face on their return. In an email to me this week, Randy listed four of his primary concerns. He is concerned about those Christians that easily abandon ship or take church attendance lightly. He is concerned about church rent going up again the first of the year making it almost impossible to stay where they are, and yet they have no where else to go. He is concerned about lives in constant struggle. And he is troubled by the constant tension between what God is legitimately doing and the effort it consumes to be faithful.
Why should my friends bother being faithful in such a place?
Why should Randy and Donna Weets care so much about their problematic place of ministry? Why bother? For that matter, why in the world should our Pam Isenhower be so hungry to return to her precious place in Indonesia? Why do Chris and Leslie Smith bother to do what they do way over in Nepal – why in the world should anyone go through all the hassle to love these places? Why hasn’t Tony Weedor given up on Liberia as so many others have? Why has God even allowed a miserable place like Somalia to remain on the map?
Do these places honestly matter?
I believe Bethlehem says they all do. In spite of everything the world tries to tell us about the relative value of real estate, in spite of the “location, location, location” arguments, our humble Bethlehem announces to the world that all places matter to our God! Though you may well be very small indeed among even the small clans of Judah, though you may well find yourself sleeping under a bridge tonight, though you may live in a place forgotten by the world, the Light of Bethlehem shines out gloriously on you today and on the entire world, declaring to us all how very much Almighty God loves and notices us, no matter where we are in the world.
Your place matters. Your workplace matters. This place matters.
All places matter.
May the gorgeously humble light of Bethlehem help us love and value all the places God allows us to be wherever they may be!
Amen.
