Quick Summary:

The 2010 census figures are in. What’s so important about census numbers? They not only affect our collective voice in Congress, they also determine how and where $400 billion dollars will be spent annually on infrastructure and services. In a world where money follows the numbers, numbers matter.

Tonight St. Luke tells us that the macro-context of Jesus’ birth was a census initiated by the Roman Emperor Augustus. But after framing the story of Christ’s birth by referencing the powers-that-be and their agendas for the world, Luke turns them into window dressing for the real story he wants to tell—a story of two solitary travelers and the village that becomes the birthing place of God’s son. At Bethlehem, God comes to people who, by the world's reckoning, don't count, but by God's reckoning do.