Awkward moments in history

     I don't know about you but I've had my share (and then some) of awkward moments in my life.  Some have been simple while others have been complex.  Sometimes the moment came and went without my catching it until later leaving me feeling foolish.  When we wake up in the morning (or the beginning of our day) we don't sit back and contemplate all the possibilities of awkward moments that might come upon us.  The awkward moment may have been that first time you built up the courage to let someone know that you liked them.  Maybe it was the very first time you met her/his family?  That time when you were beginning a new job and didn't know how to do something and were afraid to ask.  Awkwardness is all around us.  We associate awkwardness with youth, inexperience and lack of confidence.  Our willingness to take a chance, make the move, or step over that boundary for the first time inhibiting our whole being.  Society places many expectation on us that we never ask for.  In place of those expectations we put on fears, inadequacies and failures.  The more we fail the greater the risk for the "next time" we come into that situation.  Confidence is a much needed element in our beings in order for us to move through and past the awkward moments. 
     Mary and Joseph come to mind as being in an awkward place in life with the center of their lives caught up by the Son of God, Jesus whom they were charged with parenting.  First Mary was much younger than Joseph.  Then the pregnant out of wedlock element gets thrown into the mix.  Finally there is the birth of the God of creation being born in a manager in a barn underneath or behind a bar. Herod trying to find the challenger to his authority and the killing of innocent babies ushers in resentment that this one baby, the Son of God, could cause so much pain for so many in such a hideous way.  Yes, awkward, is a good word to describe the while birth, death and resurrection of Jesus.  Coupled with the expectations of man and the disappointment of man; Jesus was an awkward inconvenience for the lives of all in society.  As we engage this Christmas season awkwardness is, for the most part, gone.  We've become very comfortable with the story and the lessons (they are different) as they have been repeated for thousands of years.  Familiarity with awkwardness has lent a mediocre response to such an important awkward beginning.
     Awkwardness today comes in the wake of "political correctness", "inclusivity", and a major push to not offend anyone in light of our choice to be disciples of Jesus.  Christianity should not be an awkward moment in time or years of living amongst the unbelieving.  Christianity should be natural for us who claim Jesus as Savior.  THAT should create a situation where others who don't know Him are awkward.  We have all kinds of awkward relationships in the world based on hate, sex, love and music (part of a much longer list).  Being a Christian and living as a Christians in a non-Christian world should, for those who believe, not be an awkward situation.  Our faith should be the hallmark of someone who knows who they are, what they stand for, and maintain a commitment to follow Jesus.  Instead many are awkward in their faith failing to tell others the hope that is within them.  fear has incapacitated many and even rendered some ineffective to the point where one wonders whether they had faith in Jesus in the first place.  What does your life show?  How do you live?  Where is your confidence found?  Is your faith unshakable and set in the Rock?