Sermon on Matthew 2:1-12

Pastor Jennifer Garcia

Throughout Advent, we talked about God’s dreams and visions for the world as told through the prophets, including John the Baptist. Then, we talked about Jesus being God’s dream come true at Christmas and God’s ultimate dream of Beloved Community that we get to be a part of and that will be complete one day.

Dreams are a big part of the opening of the Gospel of Matthew. Joseph dreamed of a divine messenger encouraging him to marry Mary and be Jesus’ earthly father.

Then, in our Gospel reading today, the wise ones had a dream warning them not to talk to Herod anymore.

They were really close to ruining everything.

I don’t know if they were the sort of people who are book smart but a little naïve about the way the world works, or if there was a cultural difference that made them assume the best of Herod, or maybe they just hadn’t heard of Herod’s reputation.

But they nearly got Jesus killed.

Fortunately, though, God was at work in the story.

God spoke through the cosmos to wise ones so far away from Bethlehem, sending a star to lead them to where God knew baby Jesus would be.

And then, when the wise ones spilled the beans to bloodthirsty King Herod, God protected the baby by speaking to them in a dream, warning them to make themselves scarce on the way home from their pilgrimage.

After our reading, God came to Joseph in a dream again, instructing him to flee with his family to Egypt to escape Herod’s wrath. And when Herod died at some point later, God told Joseph it was okay to go home.

God guided Jesus’ story and protected him so he could fulfill God’s mission in the world.

It’s a powerful story, but it can feel like God only guided people during biblical times. Generally, we regard people who say they’ve had visions or that God came to them in a dream with suspicion or write them off as ridiculous.

We know too much about astronomy to follow a star. We’re too rational to make decisions based on dreams. And certainly, there are times when seeking out mental healthcare is the best choice when encountering something seemingly supernatural.

But maybe we ignore anything we can’t explain, we’re missing out on ways God can speak to us.

As Hamlet put it, “There are more things in heaven and earth…than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”

Maybe it feels like God only guided people in the Bible and never us because we never pay attention.

God is still active in our world today. God is still speaking.

What might God say if we opened our minds and suspended our disbelief for just a moment?

Jesus talked about having faith like a child. We do need to be careful of people who want to take advantage of us, but what if we let ourselves imagine more and be willing to experience wonder?

What do we have to lose? And more importantly, what might we gain if we’re more attentive to God’s voice in our lives?

What if we too looked to the heavens, the cosmos created by God’s imagination, and really paid attention?

I don’t have the training to be able to pick out a star in the sky and know what it means like the wise ones did. But there’s a tradition in a lot of congregations to pick “star words” on the closest Sunday to Epiphany, and I thought it would be fun and hopefully meaningful to join in this year.

In a few minutes, you’ll get the opportunity to pick a slip of paper with a word on it. The idea is not to look at it before picking it and not to exchange it for a different one if you don’t like what you get.

The idea is to be open to how God might be speaking to you through your star word throughout this year.

Now, you can take what you want out of this. You can enter into this activity to the level of your comfort. It can simply be a fun activity for today, like opening a fortune cookie from your takeout order. That’s perfectly fine.

But if you’re open to it, I encourage you to put your star word somewhere prominent—on a mirror, your refrigerator, or in your car—so that you can see it as you go about your daily life.

When you see it, pause and ask God where your word might be showing up in your life or how you might seek out more of it that day.

Like the star the wise ones followed, perhaps your star word can guide you. Maybe it can help you be open to what God has in mind for you this year.

And if you sit in prayer and find yourself drawn to a different word, that’s okay too. I’ve already spent some time picking a word and journaling about it this past week, but I’m curious to see how my star word might enrich my understanding of my word for 2026. Maybe this star word willpoint you to a different path that God is leading you toward.

The point is to open yourself to God’s voice in your life, and God speaks in many different ways: a star, a dream, a cloud, a still small voice. Listen for what God has to say to you today.

As we prepare to receive our star words, let us pray:

Gracious God, you guided the wise ones with a star and a dream. Please help us be open to your voice in our lives however you choose to make it known. Let us be open to the gifts you have for us and make us receptive to your call. Guide our path in 2026 and beyond. Amen.

Take a word. Don’t exchange. Sit with it, close your eyes, and pray about it. Listen to the Holy Spirit.

The Lord be with you:

Emmanuel, God with Us, some of our star words may be speaking to us already, some may feel frustrating, and some may seem irrelevant. Please guide us, regardless, and help us imagine the world as you see it and follow where you are leading us. Give us wisdom, understanding, and discernment as we seek to walk in your ways this year and always. Amen.

If you notice someone isn’t here today and would like a word, let me know—I’d be happy to get them one. We’ll be sending them to our at-home members too.

May your star word bring you insight and may God’s voice, however it comes to you, guide your path this year and always.

Sermon on Luke 2:1-20

Pastor Jennifer Garcia

If you, like me, have a hard time not hearing the Christmas story in Linus’s voice from the Charlie Brown Christmas special, you might have noticed that in place of “because there was no room for them in the inn,” as the King James Version has it, the version we read tonight has the words “guest room.”

It can be unsettling having words changed in a story as beloved as this, but let me tell you what difference that word choice makes.

The Christmas pageants of our childhood maximized the drama—Mary and Joseph’s weary and solitary journey to Bethlehem, their frantic search for a room for rent, only to finally be shown to a stable, where we see Mary and Joseph bowing reverently to already-born baby Jesus lying in a wooden manger.

There are beautiful themes in that version of the story about the hardships Mary and Joseph overcame, the change of heart of the innkeeper, and God’s willingness to be born in the loneliest and humblest of circumstances.

But it probably didn’t happen quite like that.

First, if everyone had to go back to their hometowns to be registered, Mary and Joseph probably weren’t traveling alone, but with a caravan of people.

Second,the biblical account doesn’t give us any reason to believe Mary wasn’t in Bethlehem in plenty of time before baby Jesus arrived: “While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child.”

Third, since this was Joseph’s family home, they wouldn’t have been booking a room at an inn. They would have stayed with family. Hospitality was an important value, and Joseph not being welcomed into the family home would have been unheard of.

Plus, the word translated “inn” in the King James Version is different from, for instance, the word used in the parable of the Good Samaritan, where the Samaritan pays an innkeeper to care for the injured man. So, “guest room” is a more faithful translation for a word that’s distinct from “inn.”

Homes at that time had an upper room for guests, which is what the word “guest room” is referring to. Then, there was a separate family room that had an upper portion where the family slept and a slightly lower portion where they brought their handful of animals in for the night. That lower portion would have little trenches dug into the ground where animal feed could be put: mangers.

So, since the guest room was taken, and the upper part of the family room taken up by the family who lived there, they would have cleared one end of the animal portion of the family room for Mary and Joseph, and one of the trench mangers would have worked as a place to lay the baby.

Speaking of the baby, there would have been other women there to help Mary deliver her baby. She wouldn’t have been alone in a drafty stable with only poor Joseph to tend to her.

So, yes, our Christmas pageants make for an exciting story, but they don’t give a fair representation of the hospitality and kinship present in the story of God’s dream come true.

God chose to be born to a humble family, yes, not to a king, emperor, or warlord. And God was also born surrounded by a loving, caring community. That’s why the word choice of “guest room” matters.

Jesus came to create a Beloved Community of people who take care of each other, show hospitality and generosity to the vulnerable, including a young pregnant woman far from home, and live out God’s love for the world.

Even Jesus’ birth exemplified that Beloved Community.

And then, God told the Good News to shepherds—not politicians or generals or rich patrons—but shepherds who spent the night outdoors and were probably a little smelly from taking care of animals and who definitely didn’t have a highly-regarded profession.

These shepherds were welcomed into Joseph’s family home, which was already overcrowded with distant family members and chaotic from the aftermath of a birth.

But since the guest room was full, everyone was family—Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus, and the shepherds.And when the shepherds shared what they had heard from the angel, “all who heard it were amazed.” It was a shared experience of joy.

God’s dream for the world is one of community and inclusion. It can be a bit messy, but it’s filled with love.

It can be hard to find that kind of community these days. Many of us have the luxury of single-family homes, which might be extra full this time of year, but maybe not, since we do have hotels.

We have the ability to communicate with people around the world in our pockets, but how often do we really connect with other human beings?When someone asks you how you are, do you ever say anything but “fine” or maybe “busy”?How many people do you feel safe enough with to admit that life is hard?

And it can be challenging these days to have conversations with family members who have different political beliefs. It’s often safer to keep the conversation to “how is work” or “wow, it’s been raining a lot this week.”

Modern life can be really lonely.Christmas can feel more like being relegated to a stable than being welcomed into the family.

But no matter how lonely you feel, you are part of God’s family. God created you, loves you, and was born this night to build a Beloved Community in which everyone belongs.

It’s not fully realized yet and won’t be until the end of time. That will be God’s ultimate dream come true, and it will last forever.

In the meantime, God’s working to create Beloved Community day by day, and thanks to the Holy Spirit, we get to be part of helping create it.

Every time we choose kindness instead of hatred,

Or generosity instead of overconsumption,

Or belonging instead of exclusion,

Or love instead of violence,

the Beloved Community is becoming more real, and God’s using us to make God’s love known to the world.

And every time we fail, every time we fall short, and we will, because we’re human, God is still in our corner, comforting us, reminding us that we will always belong to God, and there’s nothing we can do to make God love us any more or any less.

Jesus was God’s dream come true two thousand years ago, the fulfillment of the Beloved Community will be God’s ultimate dream that will come true one day, and God dreamed of you before you were born, so you, too,are God’s dream come true.

Let that belonging settle into your heart, Beloved, and may the peace of the Christ Child be with you now and always.

Sermon on Matthew 1:18-25

Pastor Jennifer Garcia

We’re used to hearing the Christmas story from the Gospel of Luke, whether on Christmas Eve or recited by Linus in the Charlie Brown Christmas special, which shares a lot of Mary’s story.

But today, we get the Christmas story from the Gospel of Matthew, which is more from Joseph’s point of view.

We’ve been talking this season about God’s dreams and visions for the world, and we’ll talk on Christmas Eve in a few days about Jesus being God’s dream for the world come true. But today’s reading talks about how close that dream came to not happening.

Joseph understandably had some misgivings about how his life circumstances were shaping up.

He was betrothed to a young woman, which at that time meant they were effectively married already, but it turned out that she was pregnant with a child who wasn’t his.

He would have been very much entitled under the law to have her stoned to death for that, but he was mercifuland wanted to end their relationship quietly and let that be that.

He was upstanding and trying to do the right thing, the humane thing, but he certainly wasn’t on board for raising someone else’s child.

And because of that, he almost missed out on what God was up to, not just in his own life, but in the story of God’s relationship with God’s people and the whole world.

We live in a practical world, a post-Enlightenment, seeing-is-believing world. We want peer reviewed studies and research and sound logic. We have to be careful these days or risk being scammed, cat-fished, ghosted, or trolled. I often find myself saying, “if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”

Instead, we try to be grounded, productive, and efficient. We optimize our time and try to be industrious and practical. Those are all good things.

But what if we, like Joseph, are missing out on something in our efforts to be responsible and industrious?

God had something different in mind for practical, upstanding Joseph, as God so often does. God has ways of communicating with us that sometimes surprise us.

Joseph drifted off to sleep one night and dreamed. He dreamed of God’s dream for the world. He dreamed of a baby who would grow up to save the world.

That dream changed the course of his life and enabled God’s dream for the world to become a reality.

Joseph had to rest in the dark long enough to hear God’s voice.

We often focus on light and dark this time of year. We light Advent candles and sing of the light of the world chasing away the darkness.

There is something in us that is still afraid of the dark.

But darkness can be generative. Seeds sprout in the dark. Babies, even the Christ Child, grow in the darkness of a womb.Darkness can help us slow down and gives us room for imagination. It’s hard to dream under harsh fluorescent lights.

Author Jeanette Winterson wrote this about what she loves about darkness: “I have noticed that when all the lights are on, people tend to talk about what they are doing — their outer lives. Sitting round in candlelight or firelight, people start to talk about how they are feeling – their inner lives. They speak subjectively, they argue less, there are longer pauses.

“To sit alone without any electric light is curiously creative. I have my best ideas at dawn or at nightfall, but not if I switch on the lights — then I start thinking about projects, deadlines, demands, and the shadows and shapes of the house become objects, not suggestions, things that need to be done, not a background to thought.”

Maybe we need the darkness of this season to help us see God’s visions for this world. God’s visions usually don’t seem practical. They don’t come with business plans or a step-by-step to-do list. They push us beyond what we think we’re capable of.

We can only imagine the possibilities in the liminal space between sleep and waking. That is a way God speaks to us. The Holy Spirit whispers of God’s completely impractical and beautiful dreams. We can only adopt those dreams as our own if we rest in the dark long enough to recognize God’s call.

Sometimes we think it’s too late to answer God’s call. Joseph had already decided to call off the betrothal. Sometimes it seems like it’s too late for us to do something new. We’re set in our routines and habits. Too much time has passed for us to learn something new or to change our ways. We don’t have the energy we once did. Our bodies have changed. Our memories aren’t as sharp. Surely God can’t be calling us now. Our practical minds doubt. But maybe the darkness has gifts for that too.

Here is a poem by Rosemary Wahtola Trommer called

“Too Late?”

By the time we arrive at the cliffside

to watch the sunset, the darkness

has already come. But because

of the ink-ish sky, we see thousands

of yellow lights glitter across the harbor.

And moonlight on the water makes

the blackened surface shine. How often

do I think I’m too late, only to find I have

arrived at just the right moment,

the moment in which there is a beauty

beyond the one I knew to wish for.

Like how, when I thought it was too late

to forgive, forgiveness arrived with its

soft and generous hands. Like how when

I thought I was too late to love, love

bloomed like a sunset, radiant and blazing,

and stayed, the way sunsets never do.

Like how I believed I was here to adore the light,

I came to learn how exquisite, how

lavish, how astonishing, the dark.

It’s not too late for God to do something new in your life or in this world.

In a few days, we’ll be celebrating God’s dream come true, and we also know that this world isn’t yet what it will be. There’s still so much pain and suffering in this world. God is still creating and forming this world into God’s vision for it.

Maybe what we need is more darkness in which to dream of a better world. On this longest night of the year, let’s embrace the darkness. Let’s welcome the gifts of darkness before we rush to celebrate the lengthening days.

Beloved, rest in God’s creative darkness and see what grows.