Love, a sermon based on Matthew 1: 18-25, preached on December 21, 2025

Have you ever felt overlooked? Underappreciated? Misunderstood or taken for granted? If so, then you have a friend in Joseph. Unlike Mary, there aren’t many songs about Joseph. There are a couple. In the early service, I said that there aren’t any songs about Joseph, but Cheryl Davenport knows of three, and Herbert Kearse knows of another. Certainly, there’s no song about Joseph that’s we’ve heard as much as Mary, Did You Know? or Ave Maria. The best of all the songs about Mary, in my opinion, is Momma Mary by Roger Whittiker. It makes my mother-in-law cry. It touches her heart. It goes like this: Tell me how did you feel when the angel came into the garden? How did you feel? How did you feel? When he said "If you're afraid I beg your pardon But you're the one to bear God's son.” It’s a great song. My mother-in-law loves it, only why aren’t there more songs that ask Joseph how he was feeling? Why hasn’t anyone sung, “Joseph, did you know?” Imagine with me what you would be feeling if you were in Joseph’s shoes. You’re engaged to be married. The wedding plans are in place. There have already been multiple bridal showers. Invitations have been sent. Maybe, because you’re a carpenter, you’ve already put an addition onto the house, or maybe you’ve been working on a bed for your bride to sleep in. I don’t know exactly what it was like. There aren’t any songs about it to tell us, so just imagine what it would have been like for you to find out that, after you’ve told everyone and prepared in various ways, Mary was “found to be with child,” and the child wasn’t yours. How would you have felt? What would you have been thinking? Now, imagine what your mother would have said. It’s hard enough for the daughter in-law-to-be. I was once a son-in-law-to-be. I love my mother- and father-in-law very much, but about the time Sara and I were getting serious, her father bought a revolver. He did. He said it was because of the wild boar that had invaded their property up on the mountain. Yet it may also have been because a wild young man had invaded his daughter’s heart. It’s hard to be the son-in-law to be. From what I’ve heard, it’s harder to be the daughter-in-law to be. How much more so when the wedding hasn’t happened, the bride is pregnant, and the baby isn’t the groom’s. “Well, I never liked her anyway,” Joseph’s mother might have said. Parents can be like that. People can be like that. But the angel of God calls on Joseph to be more than that. We read in the Gospel of Matthew: “Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly.” Only then, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” That’s a high calling, right there. While it’s not as heavy a load to bear as the one Mary is asked to carry, consider Joseph with me. Imagine what it would have been like to be in his shoes. Like Mary, God called on Joseph to step out in faith: to take a step, not based on what his eyes could see but based on what God had said. Believe, the angel said. Trust, the angel said. Have faith, the angel said. The faith God calls on Joseph to have is a particular kind of faith. The faith of Joseph takes the form of love. “Love her anyway,” the angel said. “Cherish her anyway.” “Stand by her anyway.” That’s the call of Joseph, and while you may know what it feels like to be overlooked, underappreciated, misunderstood, or taken for granted, I hope you also know what it feels like to be seen, to be loved, to be appreciated, understood, and valued. That’s the call of the angels to Joseph, and that’s the work of God. I read last week in our book of Advent Reflections that Jane Manning put together with our Director of Communication, Kelly Dewar. I’ve started each day this Advent season reading a brief reflection written by a member of our church, and one of the most powerful was written by three young mothers, Stephanie Schmid, Lisa Stokes, and Caitlin Watkins, who celebrated with Mary, who declares that God, “has looked on the humble estate of his servant.” Now this sermon is about Joseph, but know that Mary is able to do what she is able to do because she knows that God sees her and understands her. The three young women who wrote the devotional celebrated this quality of God. In other words, God sees me, they declared. In those thankless moments of parenthood when you work hard to get a dinner on the table yet no one takes the time to say thank you; when you pack nut-free lunches for a preschooler who only wants to eat his dessert; when you organize a birthday party that ends in tears; when you give up your career and no one seems to understand, God sees it all. That’s true. And God, who sees it all, invited Joseph to see Mary. God invited Joseph to see Mary, not the way the gossips in the community saw her, but the way that God saw her. Joseph is a hero of the faith because he had faith enough to love Mary, to believe Mary, to trust Mary, to stand beside Mary, even as his mother was ready to throw her out. Now that wasn’t easy for Joseph, and so he deserves a song. He has four, but I don’t know any of them. The song I do know that gets to this same sentiment was written by R. E. M. You probably know it: When your day is long And the night, the night is yours alone When you’re sure you’ve had enough Of this life Well hang on. Don’t let yourself go Cause everybody cries Everybody hurts sometimes. Do you know that song? Live that song. Dare to believe that everyone is carrying a burden. Before you judge, dare to show compassion. Before you assume, dare to understand. Even when the world would allow you to gossip, hate, deport, dismiss, or imprison, choose to love. Last night, I was honored to take part in the Christmas Program at Turner Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church. It was an incredible evening. I was honored to be invited, and from the parking lot to the pew, I was welcomed so warmly. I sat next to Chief Deputy Rhonda Anderson, who runs the Cobb County Jail. She was invited to lead the service, too. I’ve known the Chief for a while now. She’s been instrumental in our partnership with the jail that has resulted in our church providing books for the library and clothes for men and women upon their release. She’s an incredible person, and there’s always a smile on her face. “Chief, if you’re at the jail all day, how do you keep your joy intact?” I asked her, just making conversation before the program started. “I treat everyone with respect,” she said. “When you give respect, you get respect.” That just blew my mind, but she’s right. Joseph had the chance to dismiss Mary quietly. Instead, he chose to love her. Instead, he chose to see her. Instead, he chose to stand beside her, even as the community whispered behind her back. Have you heard whom our community is whispering about now? It happens all the time and in every season, yet I call on you to show them respect. Dare to see them, not as the world sees, but as God sees, for when we dare to see and appreciate and value, wonderful things happen. Did you hear what Kirby Smart did? He’s done a lot, so let me be more specific. Two members of our congregation play in the University of Georgia Marching Band. They are Jacob Duda and Joel Clotfelter, and along with the rest of the Redcoat Marching Band, they practice multiple times every week. They travel along with the University of Georgia Football team, but there is no NIL money for the marching band. They inspire the team, yet they do not make the highlight reel on ESPN. They provide a homefield advantage no matter where the bulldogs are playing, and yet they are unsung heroes, and so, when Coach Kirby Smart, after the Bulldogs beat Alabama, took the time to acknowledge them on national television, it made a difference to them - a wonderful difference to them, for there is tremendous power in taking the time to notice, in taking the time to say, “Thank you.” Dare to see people as Joseph saw Mary. Dare to love people as God loves you. We’ve had the pleasure of welcoming new members into this church in recent weeks, and we’ve welcomed 485 since 2017. That’s a lot of people, yet so many of them say the same thing. They say things like, “I tried a lot of churches and was able to slip in and out without being noticed, but here, people took the time to welcome me. They called me by name. They helped me find my way. This is the kind of church that I want to be a part of.” This is how we make the love of God known, not by assuming we know, not by following the judgementalism of the world, but by loving beyond appearances, embodying the love of God. Amen.