We all like to feel loved, appreciated and needed; people in church leadership often suffer because of their own internal need to be needed.   In Advent, as we approach Christmas many of us become despondent because of our own circumstances which often mean that our families act as if they don't need us – or don't need all that information about us!   Sometimes we feel as if our unique gifts and talents are not needed by our families or even by our churches. 

 

Yet this feeling of not being needed is at the heart of the Gospel narrative of the birth of Our Lord.   Joseph is often forgotten when we reflect on Christmas and the birth of Jesus into our world.  We sing and read of Mary, the shepherds and the angels but don't really dwell on Joseph, the man whose genes God didn't need.  

 

For a man of his era agreeing to continue a relationship with a woman he hadn't made pregnant was extraordinary.   To knowingly bring up a child who wasn't his own was amazing and reveals astonishing love and faith.  I think Joseph must have sometimes felt resentful and not needed; he is incidental to the Gospel story and in many ways incidental to Jesus' conception.  

 

Yet the truth is that God did need Joseph.  God needed Joseph's discernment to hear divine guidance in his dreams, to love and protect Mary on the way to Bethlehem, to love, nurture and guide Jesus through his vulnerable childhood, and to provide for his family in exile and in Nazareth.   God needed a whole array of Joseph's gifts and skills, but not the one which his society and culture would have placed the most value on. 

 

Our society, culture and churches need our gifts and skills; but they may not need the ones which are most obvious or apparent.   Like Joseph we need to discern what God is calling us to do and offer; like him we need to follow God's calling even when it costs.  Like Joseph we need to use our gifts and love to nurture and allow the presence of Jesus to grow and develop in our world.   So, tonight as we celebrate the birth of the baby Jesus into our world spare a thought for Joseph, the man whose genes God didn't need.