Bedlam

Luke 2:8-14

Nearby shepherds were living in the fields, guarding their sheep at night. The Lord's angel stood before them, the Lord's glory shone around them, and they were terrified. The angel said, "Don't be afraid! Look! I bring good news to you—wonderful, joyous news for all people. Your savior is born today in David's city. He is Christ the Lord. This is a sign for you: you will find a newborn baby wrapped snugly and lying in a manger." Suddenly a great assembly of the heavenly forces was with the angel praising God. They said, "Glory to God in heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors."

A New Word for Madness

bed • lamn. a state of confusion or commotion

"In that place be found many men that be fallen out of their wit."

That's how William Gregory, a mid-fifteenth century mayor of London, described the institution known today as Bethlem Royal Hospital. One of the first hospitals to specialize in treating people with mental illness, Bethlem Hospital is today a modern research and treatment facility. In past centuries, however, its patients endured neglect and abuse, cruel confinements, and rough restraints. People who passed by its gated courtyard could hear "the cryings, screechings, roarings, brawlings, shaking of chains, swearings, frettings, chafings" of those inside.

The place had been named, at its founding, after Bethlehem—the "little town" where Jesus was born, lying so still in dreamless sleep (as Christmas carols tell us). But, because these sounds of suffering so came to define it, the hospital's original name gave way to another name, a word meaning, according to most dictionaries, "a state of uproar and confusion." That word? You guessed it: bedlam.

Does Christmas Drive You Crazy?

I don't know how you experience the holiday season, but more than one December has found me groaning, "Christmas is driving me crazy!" Why? The incessant advertising, for starters. This year I saw my first TV commercial starring Santa in September—a new record. And all those ads make me think about the shopping I'll be doing and the presents I'll be buying. Then there's decorating the tree and decking the halls, along with extra church commitments and neighborhood parties. And the soundtrack for all this busyness? Those radio stations that insist on playing holiday music 24-7 from Thanksgiving through December 25. Now, I like Christmas music, but I only want to hear so many renditions of "Jingle Bell Rock!"

I hope your experience of Christmas isn't a crazy one. After all, Christmas means time off from school, right? No homework for a week or two. And the adults in your family are probably the ones handling most of the holiday logistics. As a teen I never found the Christmas season crazy. It was a time for sleeping in, staying up late, plenty of free time, and lots of good food.

Of course, for many people, Christmas doesn't bring a break from life's problems and pressures. The season's emphasis on giving and receiving gifts can strain the nerves of families scraping by on tight budgets as parents look for work. Its idealized expectations of spending quality time with loved ones may only make matters worse when family members don't get along, or when some loved ones can't come home for the holidays. And its relentless insistence that it is (as one holiday radio hit claims) "the hap-happiest season of all" can strike those who are sick or grieving or anxious or alone as a tinsel-tinged slap in the face. For many people in pain—physical, emotional, mental, spiritual—Christmas doesn't feel so much crazy as it does crushing.

Don't get me wrong: Our cultural celebrations of Christmas can be a lot of fun. But they tend to ignore that Christmas is, at its core, God's gift to precisely those people who aren't full of holly jolly fa-la-las.

That's why the strange connection between the words bedlam and Bethlehem might be a good thing. When we think about Bethlehem and that first Christmas, we should remember that more than a little bedlam was involved.

To Whom? To You!

Maybe you've seen Christmas cards that picture the shepherds "living in the fields" of Bethlehem, lounging serenely on a gently rolling hillside among their woolly lambs. Maybe you even played one of the shepherds in a childhood Christmas pageant, bundled up in an old bathrobe or some bed sheets (and practicing ninja moves with your shepherd's staff when the pastor wasn't looking—admit it!).

Well, don't believe it! Our culture sentimentalizes these shepherds the way it sentimentalizes almost everything about the biblical Christmas story. Let's start with the obvious fact: Shepherds, by definition, work with sheep. Sheep are dirty and smelly. That means shepherds are going to get dirty and smelly, too! You wouldn't necessarily want to be stuck under the mistletoe with one of these guys.

In first-century Palestine, "respectable" folk held shepherds at arms' length for more reasons than bad hygiene. Shepherds' work took them far from home, at all hours of the day and night. What's more, shepherds were accused, rightly or wrongly, of letting their flocks graze in other people's fields. Low-class, lazy, louse-infected, lying losers—that's the reputation shepherds often labored under. They had good reason to feel that life was driving them crazy, to say the least.

Any craziness the shepherds experienced, however, didn't keep them from becoming the first folks to hear the good news of Christmas. In fact, God broke into the shepherds' earthbound bedlam with some bedlam on a heavenly scale! That night of Jesus' birth was anything but silent, with a sudden outbreak of divine glory and the appearance of "a great assembly of the heavenly forces" singing the praises of God (2:13).

But the cause for all this commotion is where things really get crazy. All this uproar is over the birth of "a newborn baby wrapped snugly and lying in a manger" (2:12). And why does this kid rate such a spectacular birth announcement? Because he's "Christ the Lord" (2:11). First-century Jews didn't call anyone "Lord" lightly. They didn't even use that title for the Roman Emperor, though he claimed it for himself. No, only one person deserved to be called "Lord": the God of Israel, who chose the family of Abraham and Sarah for a special relationship, freeing them from slavery in Egypt and bringing them to a Promised Land so they could be a blessing to all the families of the world.

So why is this baby's birth worth some heavenly bedlam? Because this same God, the One God whom Israel calls "Lord," is present in him. In Jesus, God has been born into our bedlam, our "craziness." In Jesus, God has been born to real people, facing real problems. As the angel proclaims, "Your savior is born today in David's city" (2:11). To you is born in Bethlehem—in bedlam—your Savior!

Keep the "Crazy" in Christmas!

Jesus' birth didn't cause the shepherds' problems to magically disappear, of course. They still had those dirty and smelly sheep to deal with, as well as all the sneering and snide remarks from their neighbors. There's no indication the angels returned for a repeat performance the next night. The first Christmas didn't bust the shepherds out of their bedlam.

But something did change. Luke tells us that, after they visited Jesus in the manger, they "returned home, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen" (2:20). In other words they were raising a ruckus, echoing the hoopla they'd heard on high. Now they could face the smelly sheep, nasty neighbors, and every dark night to come with music in their mouths and hope in their hearts. Now they knew they were not alone, for the Lord, the Savior, was born for them in "Bedlam."

That's our song and our hope, too. If we're looking for Christmas to magically make our problems disappear, we're going to be disappointed. But if we're looking to Christ himself, then we can face our problems with more confidence and strength and hope than we can manage on our own.

We may even, like the shepherds, find ourselves making some blessed bedlam when we emerge on the other side of this Christmas season. Not the mindless melodies of the 24-7 Christmas music; not the forced frivolity of holiday parties; and certainly not the ringing of cash register bells. Maybe we'll find ourselves glorifying and praising the God whose foolishness is wiser than human wisdom (see 1 Corinthians 1:25)—our "crazy" Christ who chooses, for no reason other than love, to be born in and to share our bedlam with us—our surprising Savior who comes down to us so that one day, in his time, he can raise us up to where he is.

Light the Advent Candles

Leader: You will need an Advent wreath, five wax or electric candles, and hymnals or songbooks including "O Little Town of Bethlehem."

Recruit volunteers to read aloud the following litany, with the entire group responding by saying the boldfaced text.

The Lord be with you!

And also with you!

"Who could possibly
compare to the Lord our God?
God rules from on high;
he has to come down
to even see heaven and earth!" (Psalm 113:5-6).

In Jesus Christ, God comes down to see—and to save!

"Jesus isn't ashamed to call [us] brothers and sisters when he says, ...

'Here I am with the children

whom God has given to me.' ...

[S]ince the children share in flesh and blood, he also shared the same things in the same way" (Hebrews 2:11b, 13b-14a).

Light one Advent candle.

Great and gracious God, sometimes we let Christmas drive us crazy instead of taking time to remember and rejoice that in Jesus' birth, you met us in the middle of our loud and chaotic lives, promising peace that passes all our understanding.

By your Spirit, center our celebrating on you, that we would make a joyful noise about the good news of your arrival among us, and for us, in our Savior, Christ the Lord.

Read or sing together "O Little Town of Bethlehem" (Stanza 4); The United Methodist Hymnal, 230.

O holy Child of Bethlehem, descend to us, we pray;
Cast out our sin and enter in, be born in us today.
We hear the Christmas angels the great glad tidings tell;
O come to us, abide with us, our Lord Emmanuel!

—Words: Phillips Brooks (1868)

Unto us is born in bedlam a Savior!
Thanks be to God!

Exchange words and gestures of peace with one another.

Hear God's Word

Read Luke 2:8-14, then the article for Week One, "A New Word for Madness." Discuss some or all of these questions.

* What, if anything, about the Christmas season drives you crazy? How might you make this Christmas a little less crazy?

* How, if ever, have you celebrated Christmas when life was hard?

* What made life hard for the Bethlehem shepherds that first Christmas? Why was the angelic message in Luke 2:10-11 especially good news for them?

* Whom would you particularly like to know, "Your savior is born today" (2:11)? How could you tell and show that person this good news?

Responding to God's Word

Leader: Choose one or more of the following activities.

Make a "Bethlehem Bedlam" Montage

Leader: You will need old Christmas cards; old Christian education materials about Christmas; magazines and newspapers; scissors; a large sheet of mural paper; glue; markers, crayons, and other art supplies.

Each person should choose a traditional Christmas image from old cards and/or Christian education materials, along with an image from magazines, newspapers, or the Internet that depicts a difficult circumstance people face. Each participant should then glue or tape the images to the paper to make a montage that illustrates how the angels' news of Jesus' birth is meant for those living in "bedlam."

Allow time for each person to talk about his or her contribution to the montage, then display the montage for the rest of the congregation to see during the Advent and Christmas seasons.

Shout About the Savior

Leader: You will need recording equipment, if possible, for youth to use.

Write and perform a song, chant, or cheer based on the angels' good news (see Luke 2:10-14). Perform your work and (if possible) record it for others in the congregation to hear.

Meet a Messenger

Leader: Invite someone in your church who ministers to people who face difficult circumstances in life to visit and speak to your youth.

The word angel literally means "messenger." Invite someone from your congregation who ministers with people in difficult circumstances (for example, through a homeless shelter, literacy program, children's legal advocacy program, and so forth) to speak with your group about how what they do communicates the angels' message, "Your savior is born" (2:11). If it is appropriate, encourage your guest speaker to discuss ways your group can support the ministry.

House of Bread

Leader: You will need cooking and packaging supplies for the baked goods.

The name Bethlehem means, in Hebrew, "house of bread." It's very appropriate that Jesus, who would call himself "the bread of life" (John 6:35), was born in the house of bread! To remember and share this truth with others, bake some Christmas bread or cookies with your class. Use a favorite family recipe, or experiment with a new recipe. As you work, ask the following:

* What do we mean when we call Jesus "the bread of life"? (Read John 6:2640 for context.)

* What are some ways we, as individuals and as a youth ministry, will feed others, physically and spiritually, in the name of the baby born in "the house of bread" this Christmas?

Enjoy the finished product together before packing and distributing the rest to share with homebound or hospitalized members of your congregation.

Daily Devotions

This week think and pray about how God announces good news to people living amid "bedlam," as well as how God might announce that good news through you.

MONDAY: Galatians 21:9-21

God had promised old man Abraham and his wife Sarah innumerable descendants, but they were impatient waiting for God to keep that promise. They arranged for Sarah's servant Hagar to give birth to Abraham's first son, Ishmael. When God made good on the promise with Isaac's birth, Abraham and Sarah forced Hagar and Ishmael to leave. What good news does God announce to Hagar and Ishmael? What good news does God have for people today who have been rejected?

TUESDAY: Exodus 3:1-12

People who are suffering often fear that God isn't paying attention to them. God's meeting with Moses at the burning bush shows that God does pay attention (3:7). Who are the suffering people in your community? Is God telling you to "get going" (3:10) and share, through caring acts, the good news that God loves them?

WEDNESDAY: Isaiah 7:10-16

We often hear God's promise of the child Immanuel applied to Jesus. While Christians believe Jesus is "God with us" in a unique way, Isaiah's prophecy meant something different. Through Isaiah, God urged Israel's king to sit tight and trust God. The danger he feared from an enemy empire would pass in the time it took a newborn baby to begin eating solid food and telling right from wrong (7:14-16). When does fear make it difficult for you to trust God? Who are God's messengers of good news for you when you're afraid?

THURSDAY Ezekiel: 1:1-21

Talk about bedlam! Ezekiel's vision may seem like crazy special effects from a sci-fi blockbuster, but it's actually a visual promise of God's presence. The mighty Babylonian empire had conquered Jerusalem and destroyed the Temple, the place above all places where Jews expected to encounter God. Those wild, whirling wheels Ezekiel sees reassure God's people, living in exile, that God isn't limited to just one locale. God is with them even when they're far from home. How do you feel knowing that God is always with you? How will you communicate God's presence to people who have no home?

FRIDAY: Mark 6:34-44

Jesus' compassion for people meant he was concerned with not only their spiritual needs but also their physical needs. The need to eat is one of our most basic needs, and hunger has always been one of humanity's most pressing problems. In this story Jesus provides a miraculous meal—but it starts with the five loaves and two fish gathered by his disciples. Today, share your food with someone who is hungry.

SATURDAY: Acts 16:25-34

Imprisoned for their missionary preaching about Jesus, the apostle Paul and his partner Silas received a miraculous "message"—in God's actions, not in words—of freedom in the middle of a dark night, a lot like the shepherds of Bethlehem did. How have you heard and seen God's good news in the darkness of your life or someone else's life? During this Christmas season, how will you share God's good news with people in physical or spiritual prisons?