All oppressed people are invited into this story of the birth of Jesus through identifying with the child born into a poor family who experienced rejection and degradation.  We are also invited in by the shepherds, who were at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder in first century Judea.  We are encouraged to enter the story with the song of the angels proclaiming peace and good will to all.  We identify with these people as the outcasts who have been wrongly despised by society.  Those who have experienced such ostracism today – either because of race, ethnicity, gender, sexualities or able-ism – enter this story by identifying with the Christ child, the Holy Family, and their first visitors.

	When you read the Christmas story in Luke 2, what comfort, questions and challenges arise?

The manager scene’s emphasis on the oppressed and underclass stands in stark contrast to the royal theology of the ruling class presented in Isaiah 62, Psalm 97, and Titus 3.  In all of these passages the emphasis remains on the powerful:  the king in Jerusalem processing into the temple, God as king, and the rich who are heirs. 

On the one hand, justice in the book of Isaiah refers to the distribution of resources in the society so that all can reach their potential.  The rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem in Isaiah 62 and Psalm 97, address the concerns of the underclass and oppressed as they seek protection.  The sense of these passages, however, is of insider/outsider – with the ones who follow this God being rewarded, while all others destroyed (Psalm 97:4-8). 

Psalm 97 was probably chosen because of its references to the cosmic order and proclamations, which resemble the singing of the angels in Luke 2.  However, peace is not proclaimed in this psalm, especially for those who don’t adhere to this God.  The perspective of the psalm makes it difficult to live in peace in communities today which are comprised of people from many faiths.  The perspective also raises concerns for those of us who have been named and treated as “outsiders.”  Although some LGBT people look to these texts as a pathway toward inclusion, others are cautious on whether there will be true acceptance for them.

	Throughout your life, when have you felt like an outsider?  What difference does being an outsider make in how you relate to other outsiders, and how you relate to God?

In these passages, elitism and loss of human agency and responsibility are emphasized -- it is God who does everything.  The role of humans in the drama of life is eclipsed by the top-down ideology.  In Luke 2:1-20, humans observe, hear, ponder, travel, but do not seem to have the ability to affect their own lives.  Even the claim in Titus 3:4 that it is not our works or agency but God’s mercy which impact our outcomes, works against humans taking responsibility for themselves.  This is most important for people who are oppressed because of sexuality, class, gender and/or race.  Partnership with God in addressing our problems is a more empowering theological emphasis.

We view the portrayal of Mary, the one chosen to be the mother of the Christ child, as a positive inclusion of the perspective of women in the gospel.  With Mary we see a woman pondering in her heart and exploring intellectually the events which are transpiring and which are to transpire in the life of her child.  Through her pondering which is in line with Lady Wisdom in Proverbs and Sophia in the Greek traditions, we are asked to enter into the biblical story from the point of view of a woman.   While last Sunday’s reading from Matthew stressed the reaction of Joseph to the pregnancy, in Luke’s gospel we gain an understanding of the birth story from Mary’s perspective.

These texts in Luke, however, are still heavily male-dominated, with women pushed to the background.  Mary, having allowed her body to be used to carry and deliver the Christ child, has nothing else to say or to do in the narrative.  Where is Joseph’s mother?  All the other characters, even the angels, hoi angeloi, are male, which is surprising, since in the Hebrew Bible tradition, it is the women who rejoice with dance and song (Exodus 15; Judges 11; 1 Samuel 18). 

While some could argue that women are included in the categories of the lives of God’s faithful in Psalm 97:10 and the heirs in Titus 3:7, it is God and Jesus and the male saviors who affect all.  There are no other female references in these passages.  This becomes important because women are invited into the story because of Mary’s prominence in the story.  Thus, to ensure that we recognize the influence of women in the drama of life, we have to explore how they are presented in the text, especially as this relates to access to and exercise of power.

In similar manner, LGBT and other oppressed people are often called in the church to support the agenda through their offerings of time, talents, funds and service, but then get silenced. Although many welcoming congregations proudly claim women and LGBT people as pastors and lay leaders, many others silence their voices.

LGBT people of faith may rush to the manger, but they are not to identify themselves as shepherds.  They may even clean the stable, but they are to be ashamed of their sexuality, race, gender, and class.  They are to ponder it in their hearts, but not offer these parts of themselves as a resource to the church.  They are to hope to be heirs, possibly in the afterlife, but now they are not to push the church to redefine justice and righteousness; to move sexuality out of the sin category.  They are to sing in the choir, write the most exciting pop-gospel songs, entertain the crowds, but they are not to claim voice.  In order for peace and good will for all to become viable, the church has to become the safe space for all – to advocate the rights of all and be the challenger of society when these rights and hopes are dashed.

	In what ways does your congregation celebrate the gifts of LGBT people?  When does it silence LGBT wisdom and gifts?  What prayer or possible actions arise of reflecting on these questions?

We can claim our own power through the power of the Christ child. Our Christmas hope is the transformation of the world - from one that builds up the powerful and crushes those at the bottom to a world where we claim our own voices in partnership with a God of peace and justice.