Christmas Letter to Joseph

Kopp Disclosure

(John 3:19-21)

@#$%

Christmas Letter to Joseph

“Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way.  When

 his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before

they came together, she was found to be with child

from the Holy Spirit…Joseph, being a just man

and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved

to divorce her quietly…

But as he was considering these things,…an

angel of the Lord appeared to him…saying,

‘Do not fear to take Mary as your wife,

for that which is conceived in her is

from the Holy Spirit.  She will bear

a son, and you shall call his name

Jesus,

for He will save His people

from their sins.’”

Dear Joseph,

An elder came to me not too long ago and complained about a member who said I’m a jackass: “I don’t like people saying my pastor is a jackass.”

“But,” I admitted, “I can be a jackass every now and then.”

It’s true.

Paul’s right: “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

Nobody, except, you know, your “son” was ever pure and perfect in every way.

Of course, He was out of this world even while spending some time in it.

That’s why calling Him your “son” doesn’t, you know, make sense to me.

Reaaaaaaallllllly, none of this makes much sense; but since when has anything about God made sense since He started it all by making everything out of nothing?

I just can’t wrap my head around that/Him.

It gives me a headache to even try.

I’ve come to realize you’ve got to accept some things on faith value.

2

God knows I know you know all about that.

Getting back to me and everybody else but you know who being a jackass, I give lots of credit to you for not acting like a jackass when you found out Mary was pregnant without any help from you.

I probably would’ve picked up a bat or gun and gone looking for the guy who did it.

After all, you were engaged. 

They called it betrothal back then; and it was everything included in marriage except, you know, how babies are made.

Reaaaaaaallllllly, if my betrothed came to me and said she was pregnant and it was miracle, I’d be, like, “I’m outta here!  Feet do your duty!  Wait until I tell ‘em about you on Facebook!”

Buuuuuuut, then again, I can be a jackass every now and then.

You’re a better man of God than me.

You didn’t blab to anyone about what/who you didn’t know. 

You decided to put everything in the rearview mirror without making any fuss about it.

You understood how love works long before your “son” explained it in such great agape detail.

You humble me, Joseph.

Awesome!

I guess that’s why God sent an angel to tell you all about it/Him.

The rest is history – His story.

You went with His program for the Son of God without any fanfare then or now or ever – no songs written about you, not much more in the Bible about you after He kinda put you in your place in the temple as a divinely precocious 12 year old who told everybody that He had to be “about His Father’s business” and everyone got the impression from then on that it

3

had nothing to do with you, and you just faded so far into the background that nobody even knows if you were dead or alive when everything predicted about Him came true from passion through resurrection and ascending reign with Father and Spirit.

Getting back to jackasses like me, it’s sooooooo much more than ironic to see us in fancy church clothes in fancy buildings with overpriced and overdone and over the top religious trappings more hollow than holy when you and mom rode on one of our relatives to a barn where He was born in a cow trough; proving any relationship with the real Son is impurely coincidental among those who’ve made a religion, industry, and mockery of Him.

Maybe that’s why that guy from Germany wrote, “The agenda for today’s church is to discover what is permanent – originally meant – before it was covered with the dust and debris of two thousand years of church history.  This is not another gospel; but the same ancient gospel rediscovered for today.”

You got it/Him back then; and, maybe, if we’re faithful to what you got about it/Him by the book, we will too.

All I know is you prove we don’t have to stay jackasses about it/Him.

I’m guessing you’d still rather not have us write a song about you; but you know we should know it’s not about anyone but Him.

Affectionately,

Part of the Family

@#$%

@#$%

Blessings and Love!