Most tech workers at church are volunteers. They work out of sight. They never hold the microphone or stand on the stage. They are “nobodies.” But they are important nobodies. In fact, God loves nobodies.
The Christmas story is filled with a cast of nobodies. We all know the story of Christmas: the baby, the barn, the shepherds and magi. Hidden inside that familiar story is the surprising revelation that God’s way is to ignore the big shots and use nobodies instead. Just count the nobodies:
Mary was a teenage girl from a small town. In Bible times women were not important people, and teenagers were even lower on the scale. Mix in her pre-marital pregnancy, and you’ve got a real nobody on your hands.
Joseph was a nobody, too. He was just a working man across town from Mary’s family. He was faced with a choice between trusting God or protecting his small-town reputation.
Shepherds are not important people. Just the opposite: second-shift schmucks who work outdoors.
The Magi? Nothing more than rich pagan astrologers. It didn’t matter if they had money, they were foreigners. Elizabeth & Zechariah: a kindly old couple engaged in harmless religious activity. Anna & Simeon: Alone and elderly, they were two people almost completely invisible to everyone. Everyone except the Holy Spirit.
One and all: God invited the nobodies to the party long before the world heard the good news.
The secret message inside the Christmas story? God invites the nobodies. And when God invites you to the table, he provides everything you need. Even the nobodies encounter Jesus. In fact, the nobodies are in on God’s secret work years before the world knows what’s happening.
If you labor behind the scenes in the shadowland of soundboards and IT offices, rejoice! The Father will reveal his greatest news to you, too! This season, if you are a nobody — rejoice! You are not far from the Kingdom of God.
