Upper Path Valley Presbyterian Church

Micah 5:2-5a

“You Came From Where?” Rev. Meagan M. Boozer

In the last 4+ years since I’ve been pasturing here, there have been numerous times when I’m out of the valley at a meeting or something when someone has asked me, “So, where’s your church?” In the first year or two I would answer something like this, “Oh, it’s in a little town in the middle of nowhere. I’m sure you’ve never heard of it.” Then they’d ask the name, and I’d tell them, “Spring Run,” and they would reply, “You’re right, I’ve never heard of it.”

More recently however, I like to give the people the information they seek right away. “So, where’s your church?” “Spring Run.” “Oh, I’ve never heard of that. Where is it?” “It’s in between Willow Hill and Dry Run.” I like to act like I think they should know where these places are. “I’ve never heard of those places. What’s it near?” “It’s near Amberson, Neelyton, and Doylesburg.” Still there are blank looks (of course). SO then I drop the T-word. “The turnpike runs right through the area.” “Oh, the turnpike. I know where you are now.” No, they don’t.

Most of you have been doing this all of your lives. I’ve only gotten to do it for a couple of years. It’s fun.

But, I know some people from small communities such as the ones I have mentioned, some grow up with a sense of inferiority. High school students often feel like they can’t wait to get away from their small town so they can get out there and prove they can make it in the “real world,” as if their small tightly-knit town is not the “real world.”

As we will see in our Scripture reading for today, God cares about the whole world, including small towns, like the ones I which we live. We are reading from the book of Micah, one of the minor prophets, who wrote approximately 600 years before the birth of Christ. Do you remember from several weeks ago that the term major prophet refers to the longer prophetic books and the term minor prophet refers to the smaller books written by prophets? Micah is one of the smallest prophetic books- only 7 chapters- and yet it holds one of the most important prophecies written about the coming Messiah. Here’s what Micah wrote:

But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathan, who are one of the little clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to rule in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days. Therefore, he shall give them up until the time when she who is in labor has brought forth; then the rest of his kindred shall return to the people of Israel. And he shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God. And they shall live secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth; and he shall be the one of peace.

In Matthew 2:6 we read of the story of the wise men from the East who came to Jerusalem seeking the child. Let me read from Matthew 2:1-6,

“In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.” When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet:

‘And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who is to shepherd my people Israel.’”

Can you imagine this? Let’s just say the right now, someone in here would stand up and say, “In the year 2606, a church will be built on the corner of Market and Vine streets in Taxahaw, North Carolina. This will be a great church and will bring millions of people to faith in Jesus Christ.” Let’s just say that not only is this proclaimed, but it is written down. Then, six hundred years from when these words were spoken, people go looking for Taxahaw, N.C., and they expect there will be a Market and a Vine Street that intersect, and they expect to find a great church there that will bless the lives of millions of people.

About six hundred years before Jesus was born in Bethlehem, Micah wrote that he would be born there- and his words were not just read over the centuries, but his words were heeded by some of the wisest of men in the world some six hundred years later.

It would have been expected from a logical perspective that the Messiah would come from Jerusalem, that great, majestic, holy city. But we don’t hear the wise men asking, “Where?” “Oh come on, he’s not really coming from the dinky little town, is he?” The men of wisdom believed the prophecy from Micah. They expected to find the new ruler of Israel in the little town of Bethlehem.

I went to see the new movie, “The Nativity,” this past week. Let me read a brief film review from the Presbyterian Outlook, “What’s so impressive about this film is not how “realistic” it seems, but what an extraordinarily “straight” treatment of the nativity it is, in a secular and cynical age, where it’s politically incorrect to even mention faith, much less openly profess it. This Mary, this Joseph, this Elizabeth, this Zechariah, are truly figures to be admired for their steadfastness of faith, particularly when their external circumstances were difficult. These are not the prosperous “successful” people of their age. They are working folks, people who are struggling to get by, people who seek to live with integrity given the difficult circumstances in which they find themselves. They are “role models” not for their physical prowess or financial wherewithal or political influence, but for their spiritual depth. Imagine that. 1”

This movie is a beautiful, artistic endeavor on the part of the director Catherine Hardwicke. There are places that seem a little “staged,” but for 95% of the film, you are transported to a whole different culture and shown what it might have been like for Mary, for Joseph, and for their families. The music is inspiring, and the photography at times makes you want to freeze the frame and just stare for a while. But what really got inside of me through the experience of this movie was a more vivid sense of God submitting himself to human flesh and coming into the world just like any other human enters- as an infant. The sense in this movie of the light of the star, symbolizing the power of God, shining onto Mary as she did as Micah prophesied, “she brought forth” a ruler for the people of Israel is incredibly powerful. I wonder if old Micah can see this film from the theater of heaven. I wonder if he would say, “Yes! That’s what I was talking about!”

We all need to get to the theater and see this film for two reasons: 1. You’ll be glad you did. 2. Christians need to send a message that these kinds of movies are worth making. People want to see them! The only way we can send that message is to go and buy tickets.

“But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, are only a small village in Judah. Yet a ruler of Israel will come from you…..”

God will often choose the least likely, the smallest, to accomplish his purposes. Gideon, form way back in Judges 6:15 said to the Lord after the Lord told him to go into battle for him, “But how can I deliver Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.” Saul described his tribe as the “least” of those in Israel in 1 Sam. 9:21. The Lord chose David, the youngest, over his brothers (1 Sam. 16:1-13) to be Israel’s next king- and he chose simple, hardworking shepherds whose names we never even know to get a visit from an angel of the Lord to tell them about the birth of their Savior.

God’s first view of earth from human eyes saw not the plush velvet of a palace, but the plain, hard walls of a cave. The first sounds he heard from human ears were not the sounds of trumpets heralding his arrival. He first heard the sounds of cows and sheep, and the sounds of his trusting earthly parents crying over the miracle of Micah’s prophecy fulfilled through them, in Bethlehem.

God has made a statement here. When it comes down to the question God might ask himself, “Who should I choose to do my work?” the following criteria do not apply: Your bank account doesn’t matter, your social status doesn’t matter, the clothes you wear, the kind of house you live in, or don’t live in, doesn’t matter, educational achievements don’t matter, the kind of work you do, your height, your weight, your IQ, your age, your natural (or fabricated) hair color, the car you drive doesn’t matter, the church you attend, the pew in which you normally sit, the size of the town from which you have come does not matter. All of these things are not part of determining whom God will choose to do his work.

God chooses the willing. God looks on the heart.

Micah was willing to go out on a 600 year limb in order for the work God called him to do to be proved true. The other prophets, major and minor, were willing to speak harsh words for God in order that his people might turn from their wicked ways. Some of them were willing to do some pretty weird things in order to get their point across. In these days, we read what they wrote, and we are amazed and grateful that they were willing to be rejected by the people of their time so that the people of our time could see how God supernaturally directed their work and witness. These prophets were willing to work in such a way that God would get the glory, not them. That’s the kind of person God is looking for.

As we complete our walk through the books of the Old Testament today in our Year of the Bible program, I pray that the Spirit of the Lord has taught all of us things we did not know before. I pray that we have developed a greater respect for the Old Testament- for without it, we lose our history. We are the children of Abraham. We are the Israelite people wandering in the wilderness. We are the ones who rebelled against God. We are the ones who want what we do not have. We are the ones who kill, and who commit adultery, and who do not honor our parents; we are the ones who steal, who do not tell the whole truth, and we are the ones who jealously covet what other have been given. The history of the Israelite people is our history- and it is the history of God’s constant, unconditional love for us. In His mercy, God send us the only One who can shepherd us. He sends us the only One who can help us live at peace with ourselves and at peace with Him.

“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light, those who lived in a land of deep darkness- on them light has shined.” (Is. 9:2)

That’s us. Jesus, the true light, has come into the world. We who once lived in the darkness of despair, can live in the light of hope. Jesus was born in Bethlehem to bring healing and wholeness to all people without discrimination.

Great things have happened in small places. Great people have come from humble beginnings. Great messages have been spoken in God’s still, small voice.

May God find in you a willing heart, to hear and fulfill the glorious plan set in place from the days of old. Amen.

1 The Presbyterian Outlook, Dec. 4/11, 2006, p. 7.

Upper Path Valley Presbyterian Church

12-10-06