Sun. Dec. 19, 2010 (Don Teichroeb)

Don Teichroeb used the liturgical texts for that Sunday to examine who Joseph the Carpenter was as father to Jesus and husband to Mary, how the Holy Spirit featured in his life, and how the hope and promise we see in Christmas resists perversion from its origins in faith, truth and respect. We know little about Joseph, except that he was a man of integrity and character who, despite strictures of Mosaic law that would allow, even require him to divorce Mary when she was found pregnant with Jesus, instead demonstrated kindness, love and mercy. Don wondered at what Joseph’s misgivings must have been. But the Holy Spirit is seen at work, coming to Joseph as “reassurer”, as bearer of truth, that his son Jesus would bring God’s truth to all men, that Jesus was partner with the Spirit that was there at the Creation of the world, and that he who saw Jesus, also saw the Father, something never seen before in the world. Don pointed out that despite the world’s best attempts to debase Christmas with excessive feasting, gluttony and other sins, the sign of the Lord, as foretold in Isaiah 7:14 remains sufficient to fulfill not only the hope of meeting God in the everyday lives of ancient Jewry of that time, of Jesus’ own time, those of the early church, but also our own time where the sins of commercialism threaten to erase the enjoyment of the miracle of Christ’s birth and life. Like Joseph, we are called to patience and faithfulness. [AP] Listen to the sermon audio MP3 recording from Sunday, December 19th, 2010 using your browser's preferred media player.