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The Nativity of the Lord (Christmas) - 9:00am

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Fr. Tom Wilson, Pastor December 25, 2019 - 9:00am

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what are the things that our staff here at All Saints does to help make it a more Humane place to work is occasionally organizes staff Gatherings and such in a couple of you where to go for our pre-Christmas Gathering the the team that was coordinating what we were going to do asked everybody in the office to take a small sheet of paper and to write down what they remember to be the best Christmas gift that they got as a as a child and it's it didn't take me long it wasn't it wasn't automatic but it but it didn't take me long to come up with that the gift that I remember to be best one that I that I received as a as a child all right this is this is not it okay alright but it's an awful lot like it the way we have a parishioner who is a has a hobby give a restoring old radios and this is the this is the Vintage that I that I received when I was in about fourth grade and as I recall I did not ask for that I did not ask for the four radio and as I look back I suspect if they're the reason that I got the radio for for Christmas and I suppose I should explain to the younger people what a radio is alright alright voices come out of here are you listen to things and and it all of that it doesn't come through digital but actually comes through this machine is called the transistor radio all right but I don't recall asking for it but as I look back I suspect that the was given to me pretty much as a conspiracy on the part of my older brothers and sisters that they they just in order to keep me from crashing their space and their equipment to to use their to use their stuff did you say get in his own alright get him his own and and so they in and so I did and I recall this being a being a great gift okay because I could I could listen to things and in particular killer all right those of you who are who are from Minnesota and I've got to I've got to qualify this because of what happened last night and of a certain age alright and a certain age three names hope I mean something to you write the names herb carneal Al Shaver and Ray Christensen all right I'm in a humble myself how many of you know who these people are raise your hands alright not a great percentage okay it's not a great percentage all right herb carneal Al Shaver and Ray Christensen where the where the sports broadcasters of the twins the northstars and that end in the turn off alarm time. I guess it's a longer time ago than I thought because people can't people don't remember who they are but I remember I was obviously into sports then and and still am now but one of the gifts being able to have the radio in my own room was to be able to listen to it on on my time and in in my own privacy and especially at night all right there the radio is a perfect size alright to put under the pillow all right when I was supposed to be going to bed to be able to listen to the end of the games or maybe even a few Innings or the first. Of a West Coast game or or something like that and as I as I look back cuz I back and hitting and use the an awful lot of leisure time and maybe some that wasn't necessarily Leisure to listen the frequency of of those voices coming into my room made that made the three of those voices in the three of those man none of which I ever met personally in my life but one of them Herb carneal who broadcast the twins a parishioner who worked at met stadium in the in the 70s believe he never said that his entire life okay that's the kind of man he was all right I didn't know the others but I did know a guy who was the UPS man for Ray Christensen all right and he and he brought back a books by Ray it's a very very valued possession still even even today a few years after his death all right by us but as I as I look back the familiarity in the beauty of the descriptions of those games ability to draw a picture with their with their words made it feel like I was actually there just very very talented in the world that's loaded with with video I think we don't necessarily appreciate the hour of of words to draw a picture but the frequency of of their of their coming into the into the home made it seem like they were part of the family made it seem like they're part of the family in the name and such and they're out in the backyard doing that doing the yard work and gardening while listening to the listening to the twins all right I suspect a lot of other people had had similar sentiments similar feelings these three guys being part of the family and it said I mean it's it it's a beautiful thing it's a beautiful thing the matter what was going on we was we're stressed out about at Astor social things or whatever comes up in the life of the kid that difficulty sometimes and families and working and all those sorts of things there was a stability a continuity and a just a foundation of those voices that would bring back to normalcy and they're always on our side and right even if it didn't always go our way they've those voices were were there to bring it to bring a certain amount of of stability into the in the life and into the into the family as we celebrate the birth of Jesus it's sometimes can easily go overlooked the fact that she's has actually came into the world through a fan Mary and Joseph Jesus enters our Human Condition Jesus enters the Human family are human family by taking on human flash and yes we talked about before God can do anything God can do anything he could have come into the world to rescue Us in to save us from our sins and anyway he wanted me to show something actually fairly ordinary in the reality of coming in through a family of Mary and Joseph and into the into The Human Condition what we don't necessarily always appreciate sometimes of the imagery the holy family and such is it Jesus also a man threw a line through an extended family as well we Sue heard in Our Gospel reading this morning the beautiful imagery of the word becoming flash taking on or human flesh and dwelling among us but as he took on that human flesh he came in through the line and last night at that at vigil masses we had the option of reading one of the genealogies in the scriptures in the gospel of Matthew which lists all the people in Jesus lying and we typically don't read it because it's a it's a difficult reading and it's a lot of names it's not going to necessarily make a lot of sense if you're you don't study the Old Testament closely but the truth is as we listen to those names and read those names we find out something about the family of Jesus something about his ancestors they are people there are people on there of ill repute there are people with two terrible characters there are pains in his line the davidic line who are terribly Unfaithful and the one thing that God gave them as a responsibility was to be faithful to him to trust and they failed and this is the line that Jesus came into the world through think about it think about it there's people in this list there's people in this clan that most of us would not want to have anything to do with we would never even want to have dinner with most of us probably would be tempted to write some horrible things on social media about them that's that that's the kind of group that Jesus entered into and yet he chose to do it shows to enter into that reality to save it to redeem it and to bring it lights it's no accident it is no accident that Jesus who could have done it anyway chooses to enter into a family the family our family in order to in order to restore it and to renew wax and think about it think about the power of the family think about how much God takes that seriously and desires us to experience it in the best possible way and then think about what we live in now think about what we experience now I suspect if I had one minute to converse with everybody in church this morning afterwards every single one of us every single one of us could raise our hand and talk about being affected by a wounded or harmed family in some way with those wounds are self-inflicted with those wounds come from the external realities of living in a fallen world or not families are desperately wounded they are desperately wounded and think about it just think about the the plan of God to enter into and take it on our human flashed within a family to redeem the world through a family where do you think where do you think if you if if somebody wants to disrupt that plan you just to doubt it is to feel like it's not going to happen whatever it is where is that enemy going to go he's going to go straight to the family he's going to go straight to he's going to go straight to that family do everything he can to disrupt its can you do everything you can to disrupt it and the truth is we live in a world right now they're very very powerful forces very very wealthy people and organizations all over the world in our country included their going in and they are how to do everything that they can to disrupt the family to disrupt relationships between husbands and wives to disrupt relationships between parents and children to do everything they can to disrupt and to turn it upside down and buy us and that's getting us getting us wondering where is this God where is he and distracted from it and so focused on the on the Hertz and the wounds inside Jeanette and that would have us go Cheese sing some external thing but they're going to say you know what we're the ones who can cure you now don't look to your family we can do this for you nonsense Jesus came into the world to enter into that broken and wounded family of his own but also the broken and wounded family of the human condition of which we are all arts and he wants to be part of it he wants to be part of the family and when I think about those late nights listening to Herb carneal and Al Shaver Andre Christensen describing these games in in in a beautiful way in creating those pictures and becoming part of the family through their familiarity and they're in their routine presents I also remember the great gift the great gift of of of of their of their presents sometimes and Times of instability and uncertainty and fear and all those sorts of things that were agreed that were a great gift at the time when I think about the best gift of my childhood all right as I look back the gift really the best gift wasn't the gift of the radio it was what came out of the radio it was the words the descriptions the familiarity all those things all those braces if you will let that came out of it that were the gift Jesus wants to be the same thing in our families to bring Grace to bring healing to bring stability to bring all those things that help restore a wounded family a wounded Human family but the truth is if I never gotten the gift to the radio I would never have been able to turn it on and that would have never happened the same thing is true of Jesus he enters the Human family the gift is here that we sell it why do we celebrate family so much sometimes at this time of year that we forget about Jesus and celebrating him but the truth is that Jesus can't come in we don't flip the switch he will not force himself upon us he will not do it the switch has to get flipped we got to be willing to listen to him and invite him in not just a Cajun but all the time to make his greatness and his presents familiar and everything that we do and when the switch is flipped and we allow him to become part of the family that's the place that's the place where we can truly embrace the greatness of God who reveals himself to humanity reveals himself through Humanity in form of an infant child

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