Sermon Tone Analysis

Babysitting.

Love us that you have called us as a people into relationship with you, that you have called us into relationship with yourself.

You have done it through.

Your work.

got to work that we have done not through our own goodness, our own piety our own righteousness but by the blood of the Lamb,

And we thank you for that, we praise you for that.

We worship you, father, son and spirit that you have given us a hope, and a future that you have given us a chance to be family.

Not just family tied together by a common DNA.

but by the commonality, That we Are All Sons & Daughters of Christ.

When we believe in you, Pray that we will live out that reality that we will represent you.

Well, as your sons and daughters, and it's in Jesus name, we pray Amen.

Merry Christmas.

I hope you are all doing well.

I'm pretty excited for out for the day for the season for Advent.

I've had some conversations about Christmas music as I normally do this time of year in and there's this commonality that everybody has the right time when you start listening to Christmas music and in mine has to start weeks ago cuz I get to, I get to prepare a sermon series and got to get in the Christmas spirit, right?

And it occurred to me, that there is one song that is going to help too.

Well, it's going to help to bind all peoples in one heart in mind, B, Envy Streisand Coral seas.

And it's not that song because in Kirksville, there's a little bit of a divided.

If you ever noticed that people talk about it to buy, there's kind of like The educated.

And the people who aren't quite as educated, right?

There's like a phds from 80s, you and Truman and, and that's pretty cool.

And then, there's two people without the phds from ETSU in German and that's good.

We leaned into that as a community.

We have people that are from all spectrums of, of, of the educational background.

But there's, there's a word that I want to dry your attention to in.

Oh, Holy Night, you know that song?

Oh Holy Night, Holy Night.

Everybody needs a pull up the lyrics to that o'holy night and I just Google that real quick.

Oh, Holy Night.

You might think of this as a high church song the people, you know, really like to sing in and very sophisticated circles.

But who besides us- Kirksville Ian rednecks says Yonder.

You know what I mean?

It's over Yonder.

Yonder, is it?

Oh, Holy Night.

So so Yonder is going to be one of those songs that were going to sing O, Holy Night at some point in time to help to bid Envy strife and coral seas.

And we're all going to say Yonder together and it's going to be great.

So that's just for free that's just like observations from Pastor Ben that have nothing to do with anything except to get it into the Christmas spirit because some of you will still think it's Thanksgiving season.

You say Mary Thanksgiving and a happy new turkey, something or another.

But here's the thing we go from Thanksgiving.

And then what do we do right after that?

Like the day after.

we shot some people on the same page, we have Thanksgiving and I've got this will chart and it's going to come up here in the screen and it's Thanksgiving and and what we do is we going to be shop

What?

I don't think.

Maybe we just stopped to think about Is that?

Thanksgiving to wear culture.

Practice, is it actually leads into our Christianity very well?

But it's still something I want to say it coops something.

It Co-op something taking something as a good in normative usage and it takes it and gives it a normal different normal normal usage.

We have Thanksgiving.

Co-opted is all I have is wonderful.

Right?

Thanksgiving.

We see the movies, we we see the Thanksgiving parade and everybody says, you know, I'm so thankful.

All I have is wonderful, and we have Chris.

Yes.

All I have is wonderful, but so, but we tweak we could have recognized that.

It's not just all I have is wonderful, but all I have is wonderful and yours.

The next slide is from God. Oh, I haven't forgot it.

And there's a difference because as Americans we like our stuff, I think it's humans.

We like our stuff and especially American.

We like our stuff but then you know, we recognize on Thanksgiving.

We look around and we got our family and this is supposed to be the culmination of like The Human Experience and we go.

There's something missing there, something wrong.

In the season of anticipation begins when, when things will be made better when they will be made new.

It's on Black Friday.

What we have currently is just not enough.

So we go.

When we buy new things, we don't have enough.

We have new things in the hope of all things.

Made new is now guaranteed by the Black Friday ads that show up tired or the week before Thanksgiving.

That's that next slide is that there's the hope of things made new guaranteed by sales.

How do you know, you can get something new and shiny cuz the TV is only $260 and it's this big.

I'm going to get that thing and if I have to fight somebody else for it,

I'm going to show him down yonder.

What they got coming to him.

But the Christian reality that was there in the first place that our culture has co-opted is the Declaration of Hope affirming that what we have now is not good enough, my friend, this is great.

But it's not good enough for me.

This is not what I am living for is, like what Sundays are coming, and then Sundays are coming and then Sundays are coming.

That is just the down payment because one day, it won't be about next Sunday to come and where we can gather together and worship.

It will be every moment of every day is when we gather together as the community of Believers in the actual physical human presence of God Almighty.

In the person of Jesus Christ, I will gather around the Throne of God and we will worship for eternity.

That's what I'm living for.

That's what.

This is not good enough as we instead of just an ad that shows up for Black Friday guaranteeing that we're going to get something new.

We get.

God.

We get God in the person of Jesus Christ.

So this is a declaration of Hope the season of anticipation beginning, we light this first Advent candle.

But now it's not good enough but what we have is hope for a future.

Hope when Christ returns.

And that hope is guaranteed by Jesus.

First had been sold in the weeks leading up to Christmas, but co-opted version is an overindulgent spending to prepare for Christmas day, is in the budget.

That's okay, I've got a few credit cards.

I guess you do this now.

We're going to get gifts and I'm going to gain social standing by giving gift.

I'm going to get some gas is going to be pretty great.

And then I'm going to get some social standing by giving some pretty great gift.

Where'd you get homework?