Finding Hope in the Ordinary This Christmas

"Repeatedly throughout the scriptures, we are challenged to stay alert, to stay awake to what's happening all around us. And actually, there's this kind of tendency, in the world context that we all live in, to lull us to sleep, to sort of stop paying attention. But for the shepherds, sleeping wasn't an option. They were the night shift on purpose because even when things seemed calm, even when it seemed like everything was okay, it wouldn't necessarily stay that way." [00:26:23] (29 seconds)


"Professor Matt Durden illustrates this idea of what God can do with ordinary, as a foundation for something more in a structure that is sometimes called the hierarchy of experiences, which I find really helpful. In it, he breaks down that ordinary is something that we may pay attention to. Hopefully we do pay attention to it. And it serves as a foundation to the things in our life that are memorable, that often are identified as things we feel emotion about." [00:27:30] (27 seconds)


"And then that serves as the foundation to things that are meaningful, where we learn lessons in our life that might not otherwise stick without the first two. And then it all rolls up to something that's transformational, that brings real change in our life. Now, it can be tempting to want to skip over a couple of those. It can be tempting to say, well, how do I just get to transformational? Well, I ignore my routine and my ordinary because I don't want to do it." [00:28:50] (26 seconds)


"But we find the memorable amidst the ordinary. We find the meaningful amidst the memorable and the transformational in the meaningful. It's a progression in which God uses the routine in our life, to bring about things that are remarkable. One of the reasons that we can find Christmas time such a special time of the year is because the ordinary, memorable, and meaningful all get sort of mingled together in these things that we call traditions." [00:29:58] (28 seconds)


"And the angel is pretty to the point in this passage. The angel says, don't be afraid. And the angel is saying, don't be afraid as the darkness of the night has been torn open. A creature referred to as a warrior of light shows up with God's glory around him while they are expecting predators to kill them and the sheep near them. Cool, cool, cool. Yeah, definitely won't freak out, right?" [00:32:46] (26 seconds)


"But the angel goes on to tell them that there is a child being afraid. Born, who is the Messiah, the rescuer of God's people. And he came as a baby in swaddling clothes in a manger in the region that they are in that moment. God sent an angel to an unimpressive group of ordinary people to find God in an unimpressive place in the midst of ordinary people." [00:33:21] (26 seconds)


"Think about the extraordinary moments in history and the people who made a difference for major social change, or maybe they stepped in and advocated for the underserved. They weren't the only ones that solved the problems in the flow of their lives. They were just the only ones that solved the problems in the flow of their lives. only ones who were willing to let God disrupt the flow and pattern of their lives." [00:35:55] (22 seconds)


"Luke says, Luke says, of rough and tough shepherds, they left this group of people that God trusted with this amazing idea that when so many other people wouldn't trust them with anything outside of taking care of some sheep, God trusted them through an angelic visitation to include them in the most important rescue mission in the history of the world." [00:38:46] (27 seconds)


"Now, when they get there, the scene was ordinary, even unimpressive, but they still believed because of what they'd heard. When they get there, it was a smelly stable with a manger. There was no white noise machine. There had been no birth plan. There was no top -of -the -line crib. It was a cool night with animals close, and a baby you would have never guessed was anyone but a child." [00:40:45] (27 seconds)