Westminster Presbyterian Church, Alexandria Va

Secondly, the details with which Luke describes Joseph’s journey to his home – And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem – serves as a reminder that as glorious, as spiritual, as salvific as is the event to which Mary and Joseph travel and in which they are direct participants – the birth of Jesus Christ – that birth is rooted to earth. Originating in the beyond, that birth occurs in history. At a particular place and time. Among a particular people. In a land of particular rulers. An event of heavenly origin, it occurs on earth, redeems the earth, transforms the earth, saves the earth. It is in turn welcomed on earth, glorified on earth, lived out on earth, sung to and about on earth by those who are drawn to it, touched by it, and moved to orient our lives toward it and from it. It is a heavenly event that shapes and molds who we are, how we live on the earth we all home. Rev. Larry H