God Found in Impossible Places

Scripture Passage

Matthew 2:7–23 (NLT)

7 Then Herod called for a private meeting with the wise men, and he learned from them the time when the star first appeared. 8 Then he told them, “Go to Bethlehem and search carefully for the child. And when you find him, come back and tell me so that I can go and worship him, too!” 9 After this interview the wise men went their way. And the star they had seen in the east guided them to Bethlehem. It went ahead of them and stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were filled with joy! 11 They entered the house and saw the child with his mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasure chests and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 12 When it was time to leave, they returned to their own country by another route, for God had warned them in a dream not to return to Herod. 13 After the wise men were gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up! Flee to Egypt with the child and his mother,” the angel said. “Stay there until I tell you to return, because Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.” 14 That night Joseph left for Egypt with the child and Mary, his mother, 15 and they stayed there until Herod’s death. This fulfilled what the Lord had spoken through the prophet: “I called my Son out of Egypt.” 16 Herod was furious when he realized that the wise men had outwitted him. He sent soldiers to kill all the boys in and around Bethlehem who were two years old and under, based on the wise men’s report of the star’s first appearance. 17 Herod’s brutal action fulfilled what God had spoken through the prophet Jeremiah: 18 “A cry was heard in Ramah— weeping and great mourning. Rachel weeps for her children, refusing to be comforted, for they are dead.” 19 When Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt. 20 “Get up!” the angel said. “Take the child and his mother back to the land of Israel, because those who were trying to kill the child are dead.” 21 So Joseph got up and returned to the land of Israel with Jesus and his mother. 22 But when he learned that the new ruler of Judea was Herod’s son Archelaus, he was afraid to go there. Then, after being warned in a dream, he left for the region of Galilee. 23 So the family went and lived in a town called Nazareth. This fulfilled what the prophets had said: “He will be called a Nazarene.”

Focus Statement

God can be found even in the least expected places.

Point of Relation

As most of you probably know, I am a Rotarian.

For those of you who know great, but many are probably scratching their head…what’s a Rotarian.

Sure, you’ve probably seen those Rotary wheels here or their saying this or that was done by them...

But what is Rotary.

Well, to briefly share with you,

Rotary is one of the largest service organizations in the world, whose motto is “Service Above Self”.

It was founded by Paul L. Harris in 1905, an attorney who called three business associates in downtown Chicago together for weekly fellowship.

They called it Rotary initially because they would rotate where they met.

Though within one year, the Chicago club was so large that they adopted the now-common practice of a regular meeting place.

During that time, they also felt that it would be better if the Rotary clubs not just met for fellowship, but for service as well.

By 1910, just five years later, a club opened up in Winnipeg, Canada, making Rotary an international organization.

And by 1922, the name was changed to Rotary International, as clubs opened up in London and Dublin.

So, when I first found out I was appointed to First United Methodist Church of Newton, I was still serving Harmony Hill UMC...

And I got this call one Saturday morning from a resolute Rev. E. T. Holland…who said, “Todd, we are having our annual Pancake Breakfast for Rotary at the Newton church. I will see you there.”

Sadly, I was not able to come that day, and I kindly let E. T. know that...

but it became clear that Rotary was going to be in my near future…if I chose it to be.

The first meeting I attended felt very awkward…which I attended sometime after becoming the pastor of First UMC of Newton..

I knew nobody but one or two new parishioners, who I didn’t know very well at the time.

Of course I got to know John Iliff and Frank Eberhart very well…love both of them lots...

And I already knew Rev. Dr. Alden Welch, who served this church from 1978 to 1998 and was eventually bestowed the title Pastor Emeritus here for his long and faithful service.

The rest were all new people to me and, as an introvert, that was hard for me and awkward.

I didn’t know why I needed to be a part of a “service above self” organization, when that is exactly what I do vocationally.

To me, at first, it seemed like I was taking on something I didn’t know I wanted to be taking on.

Yet, I stuck with it…because I had said yes and, unless it really didn’t work, I was going to give it a try.

Eventually, I found my place in it.

It is through Rotary that I met Isobel Costello, founder of the Weekend Bag Program,

I met the principal of the Newton High School,

I met countless people who I realized I needed to network and connect with...

And connect our church to in order to build community and provide mission opportunities.

What I initially saw as a weekly obligation that I wasn’t sure was going to be anything worth my while,

I found God HAD called me there and what I discovered was beautiful:

Business people and professionals giving back to their community in positive and long-lasting ways.

Today I am PROUD to call myself a Rotarian, and I am currently serving as our Newton club’s president.

Who knew!?!?! God knew.

Things to Consider

What are places that we tend to look down on?

We may look down on Spring Street, because people think it’s scary...

But honestly, walk down certain areas of Paterson…how scary is Newton really?

And there’s another place with mission opportunities that we might look down on.

How do we talk about places that we may hold judgements about?

Do we see them and speak of them through the eyes of Jesus our Lord,

or do we see and speak of them through sinful, judgmental, spiteful human eyes.

What Scripture Says

Joseph ends up having to bring Mary and Jesus from place to place,

First he travels from Nazareth, according to Luke in order to participate in a census.

Then from Bethlehem he gets the warning that his child’s life is in danger and is told to flee persecution by journeying to Egypt in the dead of the night…

Eventually, when the LORD clues in Joseph that it is safe, he journeys toward Judea,

but realizing that Herod’s son took over, he ends up settling back down in Nazareth.

As such, Jesus later becomes known as “Jesus of Nazareth”.

It needs to be noted that Nazareth was not a well-respected or highly viewed area of the world at that time,

and no one would have expected that God would LITERALLY be living there.

Don’t believe me…look at John 1:46, Nathanael asks, “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?”

Think of a time in your life when God was found where it would have been least expected.

In Exodus 12:31-33, the people of Israel flee Egypt, yet in today’s text, Joseph ends up bringing Mary and Jesus there for safety.

This is also an unexpected choice.

Imagine the negative associations they would have had with Egypt, being people whose ancestors had been enslaved there.

Think of an example of something (an experience, place, process, etc.) that people may have once been viewed negatively, but that God could transform.

How can we be open to God’s leading when God leads us to places, experiences, etc., that we are afraid of, or hurt by?

(This is not to say we should always go where we don’t want to, but to listen for where God is leading us, even if it is somewhere unexpected).

Joseph consistently followed God’s guidance.

Time was definitely of the essence.

I think of an incident that happened recently where time was of the essence and no one knew it.

A woman was about to drive home from somewhere and wasn’t feeling right.

In that moment. Time was of the essence…without her even knowing it.

But because she didn’t feel good…she decided to have her boyfriend take their baby with him in his car as he had driven separately from her,

and she asked him to follow her home.

And thank God she did, because on the way home she blanked out, having some sort of medical episode,

and she got T-boned when she jumped out in front of my wife.

Thank God, NO ONE WAS HURT...

And thank God the baby was not in that car.

Accidents happen, but because she listened to her body and, no doubt God,

Things worked out miraculously.

And what’s more, we ended up knowing the woman and her boyfriend...

EVEN more miraculous…both of whom are also Christian.

What this Mean for You

Friends, God provides. Amen?!?!

God comes to you wherever you are.

God isn’t only found in our church building or where one expects to find God.

This week, I want to invite you to keep your eyes open for where you see God and take note!

We can, as a congregation, can celebrate these findings during next week’s Community Prayer, where you can lift up those joys.

What This Means for Us

We can look for God anywhere and everywhere, even where it seems impossible to find God.

In the New Year, we can continue to work through our biases that keep us from seeing God’s abundant presence.

Maybe we will become more present in places such as Spring Street.

There are plenty of opportunities to do so.

We can reach areas of our community where we know others avoid, look down upon, judge.

Where are those places? Who are those people?

How can we show God’s transformational love and acceptance to them?

If we are going to have a New Year’s Resolution...

Let it be to be a people who finds and SERVES GOD in those impossible places. Amen? Amen!