merry christmas!

I had a hard time getting in the mood for this sermon. I was not feeling the Christmas cheer. At first I thought it was a strange bit of proclamation. Then as I sat with it, I have realized that I like where it takes me. I hope my little congregation gets something from it.

my children at reformation are always good for a story or two...
a confirmation boy is embracing the role of joseph in tonight's pageant...he came to church yesterday wearing "movie star glasses" since he is the star.

and one little girl, when asked why she was attached to my leg said, "because i love her." it was pretty sweet. then the little girl proceeded to tattle on her brothers that i have in confirmation. it was funny.

i think we may safely say that i have fallen in love with the folks i have been called to serve. they are very different from me, but i care about them. it is good to know that we can care about those who are so different from us.

enjoy the sermon. merry christmas.

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

There is a woman named Fawn who was released from the Minnesota Women’s State Penitentiary in Shakopee, Minnesota a couple years ago.

Fawn is an Ojibwe woman from Northern Minnesota. Her mother grew-up on the streets of the Leech Lake Reservation. Fawn has family on that Rez and the Red Lake Reservation that has most recently been recognized nationally as having experienced one of the most deadly school shootings. Red Lake is also one of only two sovereign Indian Reservations in the United States. Sometimes we refer to Red Lake as our “foreign nation neighbor.”

When Fawn was released from prison, she was pregnant. She had been in prison for almost the entire length of her pregnancy. She was within days of her duedate at the time of her release. It was mid-November in Minnesota. Even though Shakopee is in a more southern part of Minnesota, it is still very cold. Fawn was left at the gate of the prison with no ride home. She was left as a native woman on white land. She was left a pregnant woman with no resources.

Shakopee is about 6 hours from Red Lake. About 5 hours from Bemidji where her mom lives and attends church.

I received a call. I found out that Fawn was stranded with her boyfriend and needed help traveling. I was working at a Native American social service agency in Minneapolis. I worked with my home church in Bemidji to get Fawn a bus ticket.

Yet, like so many babies, this little one could not wait. Fawn went into labor in Minneapolis. The only inn to take her was Hennepin County Medical Center. This is the public hospital in Minneapolis. Fawn was away from home and family. Away from everyone but her boyfriend and me. And I had only spoken to her by phone twice.

Perhaps Fawn is not the person we imagine when we think of Mary, yet Fawn’s story sounds so familiar.

Mary journeyed to a land that she did not know with her betrothed. She journeyed, trusting that things would be okay, but not knowing what would happen. Mary was a foreigner in that land. I do not know if Fawn trusted the judicial system, but I do know that it is a struggle for my Ojibwe neighbors to live in the dominant culture. It is a struggle to understand all the demands that are placed upon them. Perhaps Mary would have shared with Fawn the feeling of being lost in a strange culture.

Mary depended on the kindness of an innkeeper for a space to give birth. An unexpected birth. Yet not so unexpected. I imagine Joseph and Mary hoping that Jesus would just wait a few more days. No such luck. Fawn depended on the kindness of the taxpayers in Minnesota for the prenatal care and the hospital care she received. Had this not happened, her daughter might not have had a healthy birth. I suspect that Fawn wanted her daughter to wait a few more days.

The prophet Isaiah says,

“the Lord has sworn by his right hand and by his mighty arm: I will not again give your grain to be food for your enemies.”

This reminds us of the Magnificat, Mary’s song. It reminds us of what the Ojibwe people might sing. The hope for justice and mercy. It reminds us of what so many people around creation long for. They long for grain that will fill their bellies. They long to be cared for and to not watch injustice rule. When Isaiah says that the Lord has sworn this by his right hand he means that God has sworn this by the hand he uses for mercy. For in the Old Testament, it is understood that the left hand of God is the hand of justice and the right hand of God that is the hand of mercy.

And again Isaiah writes,

“For the yoke of their burden, and the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian.”

We will hear from Christ when he begins his ministry an echoing of these words, Christ says,

“Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

What are your burdens dear ones? For Fawn, her burdens have been poverty, chemical addictions, and oppression. Mary faced being an unwed mother, a foreigner in a strange land, and eventually, being the mother of a convicted criminal.

Christ will carry these burdens with you and for you.

In these families, Fawn’s and Mary’s there is a sense of wandering. The holy family wandered, they wandered looking for a bed. And this is an ancient story. They are not the first families to have wandered.

Adam and Eve were forced to wander once they left the garden. They needed to find a new home to live in.

Hagar wandered in the desert with her son Ishmael. Hagar was abandoned by Abraham and Sarah, yet God had mercy on her.

The Hebrew people wandered in the wilderness, looking for the Promised Land.

The Holy family inherited this tradition of wandering from their ancestors.

The early church missionaries wandered. St. Paul wandered from city to city spreading the Gospel.

An American wanderer was Sojourner Truth, wandering and preaching justice and the Gospel.

My friend Fawn wandered. Trying to find a safe place to give birth and to be Native American in the 21st Century.

God came as a tiny baby so that all who came before and all who will come will have justice and mercy.

When you wander this Christmas know that Christ is with you.
Remember the hymn: I wonder as I wander how Jesus the savior could come forth to die.

It is astounding, isn’t it?
All of this for you and me.

Wonder at it.

Wonder at a few shepherds trusting some messengers.
Wonder at an innkeeper offering all he had.
Wonder at God being born where animals eat and sleep.
Wonder at the children here trusting in God’s promises and sharing them with you tonight in their play.

Wonder too, at the wandering Christ did with his family in foreign lands. When you feel lost and scared know that he has been there. When you rejoice in a safe return, know that Christ has been there too and continues to be there.

Christ was with Fawn as she labored to bring her baby girl into the world. As she struggled to be a foreigner in her own land. And finally as she rejoiced in the presence of her family.

Go in peace, welcome the stranger. And rejoice in the little baby wandering among us.
Amen.