What was changed, then? Only Joseph. Joseph himself was changed. And whether the dream came from his faith, or his faith came from his dream, when he woke up he dared to act as if everything were true, all of it. And because he did, and together they all escaped and returned to Nazareth, and made a home, and Jesus grew up with Joseph's help, and eventually, because of Mary and Joseph and their faith, Jesus was able to get on with His life's work. And the work Jesus did in His world was possible partly because Joseph lived as if the dream was true.
IV
There may be no good reason for us to believe that this season means anything more than a new razor or a bottle of perfume, a food processor or a sweater or two. Look at the newspaper and it is easy enough to chalk it all up to wishful thinking .... except that it is precisely wishful thinking, and dreams, that make me want to proclaim that even where there is no good reason, there is faith. Even when there is no proof, there is hope. When pessimism resigns and skepticism abounds, grace more abundantly abounds.
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Even though the world is not changed, we may be changed, we may be new, we may live in peace, must live in peace, at least with each other -- because we are people who have seen the light of God's day in a darkened world.
Everything is different because of this Child, whether the world knows it yet or not. But we know it, because everything is different for us. At least it is different for us if, as Joseph did, we accept this Child, if we accept the responsibility of what God has done for us, if we accept the life and the light and the peace the Child offers to us.
Life and light and peace. This is the stuff of dreams, isn't it? Impossible dreams? Quite impossible for a world like ours. So impossible that the words themselves become cliches.
Yet for us, with a Saviour like ours, even though we do not understand all of it completely, life and light and peace may be ours. If we believe, and dream, and then live as if everything we celebrate in this season, this one birth, this one life, really does make all the difference in our lives.
If we act like Joseph, if we live as if it is all true, if we let the dream move us and guide us and change us, then we may find like Joseph, that Jesus' work in our world continues to be possible -- just because we, as God's children, continue to live the dream.