It must have been the worst day of his life.

We don't know when or where or how he got the news, but when it came, it threw Joseph into a state of shock. Mary, his betrothed, was pregnant.

His mind must have been going a zillion miles an hour as he went over in minute detail every moment of his relationship with Mary. There had been the required meeting with her father, telling him of his desire to marry the girl. And the agreement of what was to be exchanged. There was the traditional cup of wine shared, and then Mary was invited into the room for the custom that sealed a betrothal. Joseph remembered holding out the cup to her.

"Take and drink", he invited.

And with the sort of elegant pause that such a momentous occasion deserved, Mary looked at him and gently smiled. And then she took the cup and drank the wine. Then she waited to hear the words she'd longed for since she was a little girl.

"I go to prepare a place for you," Joseph said, "and when it is prepared, I will come to you and take you to myself, that where I am, you may be also."

And Joseph remembered her gentle blush and the lovely glow of her simple beauty. And when he left her father's home, he let out a whoop and almost ran all the way to Nazareth where he had already picked out the lot where he would build their house with his own hands - for he was a carpenter.

As he cut the wood and hammered the nails, Joseph must have dreamed about the day the house would be completed. When he would return to Mary by surprise, and find her friends burning the traditional oil lamps in hopeful anticipation of his arrival, and how they would light the way to her house, and how the rabbi would come, and the celebration begin.

There was so much joy about to come into his life! But now....this.

While he was away - building their future home - Mary had gone and betrayed him. She was pregnant. Sent in shame to live with relatives in the country. The oil lamps of her friends no longer burned, and neither did Joseph's dreams. Family and friends urged Joseph to litigate the matter, to exact justice for himself. But he knew that the law required an adulteress to be dragged outside of the city and stoned to death.

He couldn't bring himself to do it. So Joseph decided to swallow his pride, and just quietly dissolve the betrothal.

It must have been the worst day of his entire life.

Have you ever had a day like that? Or a week, or a month, or a year? When everything you've dreamed about, committed yourself to, worked hard for seemed to come unraveled, never to be put together again?

Although the circumstances are probably different, most of us know exactly what Joseph was going through. Because life is hard, and awfully frail, and despite all our attempts to convince ourselves that we're strong enough to withstand anything, in our heart of hearts we know just how vulnerable we are.

And God understands. God knows us better than we know ourselves. And the God of our faith is a God who is committed to the well-being of his children, even when it seems like there's no hope at all.

I want to call your attention this morning to this beautiful story about Joseph, found in the first chapter of the Gospel of Matthew. And I want to suggest to you that this is not really a story about Joseph, so much as it is a story about God. And what I hope you'll see today, is how God powerfully LOVES Joseph through this moment of great difficulty, and opens a new door for him through which this crisis eventually becomes Christmas - the greatest miracle of all!

You remember the story. Joseph can't sleep. He tosses and turns, and goes over and over in his mind the decision he's made about Mary. And then, sometime in the wee hours of the morning, Joseph finally drifts off...and he begins to dream.

God sometimes uses dreams to speak to people. Perhaps its because our conscious mind on occasion becomes so overloaded with thoughts and cares and worries that it just can't handle any more information. I'm not sure how it works, but I do know that on page after page of the Bible, God uses dreams to speak to people, and I know that, in my own life, there have been dreams that could only have come from God.

As Joseph begins to dream, the image of an angel comes to him. And the angel says three things that will change the direction and scope of Joseph's life.

The first is this: "Joseph, son of David, don't be afraid to take Mary your wife."

I believe that one of the greatest gifts that can be given us when we're facing challenging times, is the gift of reminding us who we are in relation to God. "Joseph, son of David..." the angel said.

Notice that the message is not, "Joseph, jilted lover...Joseph, victim of life...Joseph, sufferer of hard times" but rather, "Joseph, son of David."

One of my dear friends is a vibrant woman whose life has touched and shaped the lives of both Sandy and myself in major ways. She was kind of a mentor to us as we grew up, and we love her deeply. How sad we were, years later, to learn that Nancy had fallen out of the top of a bunk bed while babysitting her grandchild, and had suffered a serious spinal injury. She became a quadriplegic.

When I visited Nancy sometime later, she shared with me a sad insight she'd gleaned since the time she became confined to a wheelchair. She told me that people treated her like a non-entity. When she went to church, people would come up to Nancy and her caregiver, and they would ask the CAREGIVER how Nancy was - not Nancy herself! People would not think to lower themselves to a knee so they could talk face-to-face, but would stand over her and talk down at her, not with her. That day, Nancy said something I'll never forget. She said something along the line of, "People see me and treat me like I'm a cripple. But I'm not a cripple. I'm a PERSON. I am NOT my disability!"

What a powerful thought! You are not your disability! You are not your tragedy! You are not the problem you're facing! You are not the disease you're fighting!

Who are you?

Why, you are a child of the living God!

David, the recipient of all God's promises. The one whose descendents would be instrumental in bringing salvation to the world.

One of the disciplines I have been trying to implement in my own life - especially when I face difficult times - is to remind myself who I am.

I am a Christian. I am a follower of Jesus Christ. I am one to whom God has made great promises. I have certain principles and values. I have responsibilities to fulfill in the building of the Kingdom of God.

This is who I am. This is who you are! And as we face each day, wrestling with being husbands and wives, and parents, and friends, and neighbors - the reminder that the word Christian goes before all those roles we play can have a powerful impact upon how we live.

The angel reminded Joseph that he was not the problem he was facing, but a person who God loved and had plans for! That was the first thing the angel said.

The second was, "...that which is conceived of her is of the Holy Spirit."

Who would ever have imagined it - that the very object of Joseph's shame was actually the instrument of God's will??

You probably remember the terrible experience of the late Joseph Cardinal Bernadin who, in 1993 was publicly accused of sexual abuse by a young man named Steven Cook. The scandal swirled for some time, but finally was shown to be without substance, and Mr. Cook eventually admitted that he'd made the story up. He was a troubled young man, alienated from all who loved him and from the Christian church as well. Beyond all that, Steven Cook was dying of AIDS.

After being exonerated of Cook's charges, Cardinal Bernadin threw himself back into the extraordinary Christian work for which he is still fondly remembered. But as he immersed himself in it, he found himself deeply troubled over the lostness of Steven Cook - out there, somewhere, alone - dying.

Finally, the Cardinal made a bold move. He had an aide contact Cook and invite him to meet the Cardinal in the safe setting of a seminary outside of Philadelphia. Bernadin explained that he wanted Cook to know that he was forgiven, and that he wanted to pray with him. When they met, a dam broke. Steven Cook poured out the sad story of his life, and the reasons he was so alienated from God and the church. They talked for long hours. Then Cardinal Bernadin gave Steven an inscribed Bible and asked him to share Communion with him. He took out a 100-year old chalice that someone he didn't even know had given him in hopes that one day it might bring the wine of life to the lips of Steven Cook. Afterward, Steven said, "A big burden has been lifted from me. Today, I feel healed, and for the first time, at peace."

Who would have ever thought that the object of a Cardinal's shame would turn out instead to be the instrument of God's salvation for a young man dying of AIDS?

As you think about the challenging events of your life, can you believe that God is at work within the darkness, transforming shame into grace? You see, what is Christmas if not the birth of a miracle in the midst of a scandal? And as you and I face the sorrows, shameful moments, and terrible disasters of our own lives, God dares us to believe that, within every darkness, he will bring about a birth of light and hope.

The angel reminded Joseph who he was. And revealed to Joseph the divine dimension of what seemed to be a shameful problem. And, finally, the angel assured Joseph that the result of this journey would be salvation for him and for others. "You shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins."

Isn't that amazing? That when we take up our true identity and live as children of God, that when we see our problems as the possible birthplace of grace, God will make sure the result will be salvation for us - and others! It will be okay!

Oh, it must have been the worst day of his life. Yet, it turned out to be the greatest day of all! Because God is good, and God's love is the greatest power there is. And you and I - as we prepare to leave this place - will go out to confront challenges of our own. Problems and failures. Hurts and disappointments. Illnesses and troubled relationships.

And as you come face to face with your unique issues this week and in the weeks to come, I wonder if you might ask yourself a simple question, "What would the angel say to ME?"

As Christmas comes, may you learn to discern the divine. And may you bring the divine to others, in Jesus' precious name. Amen.