There were those who shouted "peace on earth" when he drove through the crowd. Expectations for his reign were high. He had no use for anything that occurred on the perimeter of his empire, in an obscure religious sect.

As Augustus flexed his muscles and required census and taxation, there was born a child who was the reality of all that Caesar claimed for himself. No one would have suspected a child born in such circumstances to amount to anything. His adopted father was not a ruler, but a carpenter; his mother a young girl forced by this emperor to make the long journey to Bethlehem in the last month of her pregnancy.

Yet against the backdrop of Rome and its secular and newly-formed sacred cult of emperor-worship, Jesus was born. While Augustus sent out decrees, and ruled the known world, angels rejoiced in God's salvation, and sent a band of poor shepherds to find a child in a manger. There, in that abode for animals, they found Jesus, and proclaimed the news. The messiah, the true king was born.

100 years after Augustus' reign, the golden reign of Augustus had degenerated into chaos, under such brutal rulers as Caligula, Nero, and Domitian.

Yet while Rome began to disintegrate from the inside, out of that tiny incomprehensible religious sect in Judea arose a movement that literally changed the world.

For the manger that the shepherds came to was just the beginning of a story that has not yet ended 2000 years later. We are here this morning by and large because we believe the message of the shepherds. We ourselves heard the story because others along the way had taken up the shepherd's proclamation - perhaps our parents, or our priests, or teachers - and we continue to tell the story today. Jesus the Messiah is born. God has come to dwell with humanity in a way unknown before. And today, against a different backdrop of the secular world, we remain counter-cultural, recognizing truth, not in the trappings of a holiday season, but in a manger.

Each year, it becomes more difficult to pass on the message of Jesus. Yesterday - on Christmas eve, mind you, I was in a store that was quickly consolidating its Christmas trappings to make room for new merchandise for Valentine's day. Wal-Mart changed the words "We wish you a Merry Christmas" to "We wish you a happy holiday." We are part of a diverse culture, and the message of Jesus Christ is offensive to some.

Yet it was this kind of culture in which the church was born. The Apostle Paul called the cross of Christ an offense - a stumbling block - yet he proclaimed it, because he knew it to be the truth. Should we not do the same? Should we not identify ourselves with the shepherds, willing to tell their world that the Messiah was born among beasts? Should we not take up our place in the long line of witness and proclaim the good news of Christ?

200 years after Augustus' reign, the emperor of Rome converted to Christianity, because Christians in the realm were willing to be a thorn in the side of their culture. As we bow before the Christ Child today, let us remember, not only the child, but the Man Jesus, who loved us, and gave himself for us, that we might share the news of his coming to the world.