HOPE IN OUR CITY

Scripture: Luke 2:1-7

INTRODUCTION

Back in the 1950’s, Dr. Ralph Sockman, the well-known pastor and preacher of Christ Methodist Church in New York City, came home on the train one cold Sunday evening in December following a speaking engagement in Philadelphia. He hailed a cab driver at Grand Central Station, and told him, “Take me to Christ Church.”

The cab driver, who was a Catholic, knew exactly what to do. He wove his way through the traffic in Manhattan and finally parked at the curb in front of St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Fifth Avenue. Sockman looked out the window and said, “But this isn’t Christ Church.” The cabbie turned toward the preacher and replied, “Mr., if he ain’t here, he ain’t nowhere!”

Throughout this Advent season, we have been talking together about the hope that Jesus Christ has brought into out lives – Hope in Our Hearts, Hope in Our Homes, Hope in Our Church, and today, Hope in Our City. As Christians, we believe that God has come to us through the birth of His Son, our Savior Jesus, and that we who worship and seek to serve in this church at the corner of 16^th and Peachtree, have good news to share. And the good news is this: Christ is here, right here in the heart of the city, offering hope and healing, joy and peace, love and grace to all of us as we make our way toward Christmas.

Of course, all of that was not nearly so evident as Joseph and Mary, who was nine months pregnant, made their way to the city of Bethlehem. The Gospel of Luke, chapter 2, tells us why they went there:

In those days a decree was sent out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be enrolled. This was the first enrollment, when Quirinius was Governor of Syria. So everyone went to be enrolled, each to their own city. Joseph left Nazareth in the region of Galilee and traveled south to Bethlehem, the City of David in Judea, because Joseph was of the house and lineage of David … And with him was Mary his betrothed, who was about to have a baby. (Luke 2:1-5, paraphrase)

At that time in history, Rome ruled the world. And when the emperor decided that he wanted to raise the taxes in the region we now call Israel, all of those people were commanded and required to return to their hometowns so that they could be counted in the census.

We don’t know for certain how many thousands of citizens there were in and returning to the city of Bethlehem – they didn’t have an electronic sign like the one across from Piedmont Hospital on Peachtree Street, clicking off each birth on a daily basis totaling 4,192,901 here in Atlanta (I checked the numbers this morning).

But we do know that as the population of Bethlehem expanded exponentially for the census, the folks who gathered in that city were not hopeful about their situation. Caesar Augustus was Emperor and he claimed equal status with the pagan gods. Quirinius was Governor of Syria and he was an unpopular puppet ruler set up by the Romans. The Gospel of Matthew tells us that Herod was King of Judea (Matthew 2:1) and he was a ruthless and deranged tyrant who murdered members of his own family and all the male children in Bethlehem less than two years old (Matthew 2:16), trying to destroy the Christ Child whose birth was foretold by the Wise Men.

So there wasn’t much hope in that city as Joseph and Mary arrived. To make matters worse, they soon discovered that all of the public accommodations were full. Luke describes it with a single sentence – There was no place, no room for them in the inn – which has created a scene played out in Christmas pageants ever since of a gruff innkeeper who hears a knock at the door and turns those poor travelers away. Legend has it that they eventually found relatives who took them in, but on that first night in Bethlehem, Mary and Joseph were homeless.

And they might have become hopeless in the midst of it all – political oppression, economic disparity, pervasive fear and confusion, and the anxiety of not knowing exactly where the baby would be born …

But then it happened! Luke reports that While Joseph and Mary were there, the time came for her to be delivered. And she gave birth to her first-born son, wrapped Him in swaddling clothes and laid Him in a manger… (Luke 2:6-7). And suddenly, Joseph and Mary knew that the proclamation of the angels and the promise of God was true: You shall bear a son, and you will call his name Jesus, and He will save His people from their sins (Matthew 1:21, Luke 2:31). You see, they believed that God was with them in that city of Bethlehem and He had promised to bless them if they were willing to trust in Him.

II.

So it is all these years later, as we make our way to Christmas right here in the city of Atlanta. Somewhat akin to our spiritual forbears in Bethlehem, we can come up with a laundry list of problems: economic disparity between the haves and the have nots, and the gap, according to Jimmy Carter, is growing wider year by year; thousands of homeless people on our city streets – men, women and more and more children – who do not have a place to live, clean clothes to wear, work to do or food to eat.

In case you’ve been away on another planet and haven’t heard by now, our sewer system is broken down and we need more than four billion dollars to fix it. And although the four million plus people recorded on the Peachtree Street sign indicates that Atlanta is one of the most rapidly growing cities in the nation, that also means we are facing traffic jams, transportation gridlock and air pollution far more serious than anything we have seen before.

Moreover, the recent debate over renaming our airport, which led to a compromise between blacks and whites, revealed all over again that Atlanta, once described as “The city too busy to hate,” still has a long way to go as we figure out how to relate across racial lines.

Now if all of that sounds more like bad news than good news, let me tell you where I see hope on the horizon for this great city. Instead of the corruption and cruelty that marked the government and political power structures of the first century A.D. when Jesus was born in Bethlehem, we Atlantans in this year of our Lord 2003 have the right Mayor at the right time in the right place. Shirley Franklin is a leader who cares more about the health and prosperity of this city than she does about her own political career. Mayor Franklin’s integrity, personal faith and wisdom have led us to make good decisions on complicated issues, including naming the Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport and setting up the Homeless Commission with respected leaders like Horace Sibley and Jack Hardin who belong to this church.

That is also true of Cathy Woolard, President of the City Council, who has worked hard for peace and reconciliation on many of our tough problems, including the sewer system. We, all of us, need to pray for those two outstanding leaders, asking that God will continue to give them the courage and vision they need to lead us forward with hope for the future.

Two weeks ago, the United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta, announced that they will meet and exceed their goal of $72.2 million, all of which is designated to help people in need across this city. Jenner Wood, President of SunTrust Bank Central Region, Chairman of the Campaign and a member of this congregation, announced at the celebration gathering that “After a two year decline in one of the worst economies in recent history, our number one priority was to turn the Campaign around … and together we delivered.” That kind of leadership and philanthropy spells hope for our city in the months and years ahead.

And over the past two years, the faith communities of Atlanta have re-organized into two new visionary groups – The Regional Council of Churches, which is Christian, and The Faith Alliance of Metro Atlanta, which includes all of the religions represented in Atlanta. Living as we do in a time of polarization and division between people of different spiritual orientations, these new coalitions are signs of hope for our city as we seek to live together in peace.

CONCLUSION

Rick Allen, another member of this church who was my roommate at the University of North Carolina, wrote a book in 1996 entitled “Atlanta Rising” as we celebrated the Olympic Games in this city. In the preface, he reminded us of the old joke that “To get to heaven or hell, you had to change planes in Atlanta.” And then he went on to say something which I think is profound: “The clichés about Atlanta mask a far richer truth – that for all of the city’s good fortune, it could not have risen to become the foremost metropolis of the American South without the hard work, forward thinking, bluster and occasional sheer brilliance of its leaders, black and white.” And among those who are lifted up in the book is our former Mayor and fellow Presbyterian, Ivan Allen Jr., who died last July following a lifetime of faithful service to this city and all of the people who live and work and worship here.

And if you reflect over the past 75 years of what has happened in Atlanta, I think you will find that the same hope which was born in Bethlehem long, long ago – love radiating out of that stable, the spirit of reconciliation coming out of that ancient city, peace being offered to all people and light shining in the darkness – that same hope has helped us to lay the foundations for “the beloved community” that Martin Luther King Jr. envisioned us to be and become.

God knows, there’s still work to be done and miles to go before we sleep. But if we are willing to follow the Holy One who was born in Bethlehem, He will guide us and provide us with all that we need, reminding us in our journey of faith every step of the way that A city set on a hill cannot be hidden … Let your light so shine that others will see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven (Matthew 5:14, 16).

I saw that Light reflected in the eyes of our children this morning as they gave Christmas stockings to more than 1,000 homeless guests who came here for breakfast. And the sense of our Lord’s presence was overwhelming in this place … because Christ is here at the corner of 16^th and Peachtree, offering hope and help and healing to all of God’s human family – Hope in the Heart of Our City!

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

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