Twenty Years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones that you did do. So throw off the bow lines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.

                                                Mark Twain

            Every year when I sit down to write a Christmas message I usually turn to the birth of Jesus and highlight the miracle that it is – the entrance of God into the ordinariness of the world. I often write of the mystery of Emmanuel, that is, God-with-us, and I always point to God’s plan, and God’s action, and God’s love for us. Still, as in every event of scripture, while God does the inviting, there needs to be a response. This past week as I discovered the above quotation from Mark Twain, I began to reflect a bit more on the response to God in the lives of Joseph and Mary.

            Joseph is the central character of Matthew’s account of Jesus’ birth. Joseph is the one to whom dreams are given. Joseph is the one who is instructed not to fear, to take Mary as his wife, to name the child Jesus, to flee to Egypt, and to return to Nazareth. Joseph is the one given the invitation by God in Matthew’s Gospel. And certainly Luke the Evangelist places Mary at the center of his story. The announcement of the pregnancy, the visitation to Elizabeth, the journey to Bethlehem and the birth in a stable all revolve around the young girl from Nazareth named Mary. And while there is so much in each Christmas story that is unique, there is also a common thread that moves through each – that to follow the call of God demands risk!

            Each year as I recall the infancy stories of Matthew and Luke, I am always surprised at the amount of risk involved. How much safer it might have been for Joseph and Mary had they chosen to ignore the call of God. How much more comfortable their lives might have been had they played it safe and done what their families expected of them. How much more ordinary their lives might have been if they had simply walked away. And yet the reason why we read these Gospel stories two thousand years later is that they are incredible stories of risking everything in the name of love, in the name of life, and in the name of God. Joseph and Mary chose to take the great risks of faith and they were rewarded with a wonderful adventure, the adventure of God in Jesus.

            How often in our own lives we are tempted to play it safe and to turn from the risks of real love? How often we want to walk away from change and turn from the invitation to love? Still, I believe that our God calls us to take the risks of love every day. I believe that God invites us to throw ourselves into relationships of love and risk being vulnerable. I believe that God calls us to get up from our dead-end jobs, entrenched routines, and safe habits to strike out on a new paths, and risk being little insecure. I believe that God calls us to drop old hurts and wounds, challenge our prejudiced opinions, forgive old enemies, and risk being more than just a bit uncomfortable. All life, or rather, all real life demands risk.

            In the end, the Christmas stories are stories of invitation and risk - risks that lead to wonderful adventures. God invites us every day to enter ever more deeply into the journey of love. It is usually uncomfortable, often times unsettling, and always frightening but the reward is great. What is God calling you to risk this Christmas? Take heart from the Gospel; remember Joseph and Mary’s response; take the risks of love!

Twenty Years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones that you did do. So throw off the bow lines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.