Sermon Tone Analysis

Merry Christmas,

I have 2 very vivid Christmas memories from my childhood.

Between the ages of 2 and 16, I lived with my parents in a 2-flat in Chicago.

My grand parents owned the building and resided on the 1st floor.

My sister and I along with my parents lived on the 2nd floor.

Back then neighborhoods and even blocks were defined by ethnic heritage and church affiliation.

We lived in the Polish section of the neighborhood known as Back of the Yards.

We were literally in back or to the west of the Chicago Stock Yards.

My mother’s father was a butcher.

Poles celebrate Christmas by observing the Christmas Vigil.

On Christmas Eve, we would gather for an elaborate family dinner.

21 different items were served.

After dinner, the ladies would all gather in the kitchen to wash dishes.

At some point in our dish washing, we would begin to hear noises coming from our apartment.

As they got louder, we would realize that they were foot falls, and my grandmother would ask, “who’s upstairs?”

since we were all in her apartment.

Then someone would answer, “I wonder if it’s Santa?”

And invariably we would strain our ears and be rewarded with a “ho-ho-ho”.

That was our cue to go sneaking up the back stairs to get a glimpse of Santa.

When we crept into our apartment, we were disappointed to see that we had missed him.

Back down the stairs we would trudge with sullen faces only to discover that Grandma’s living room had been transformed into a present wonderland.

What a glorious sight for 2 little girls!

After presents were unwrapped, we would have dessert, play with our toys for a bit, and then head off to Midnight Mass.

The church would be lit by candle light and we would sing Christmas carols.

Altar boys following an incense barrier would parade around the church, and a statue of the baby Jesus would be place in a manger.

My other Christmas memory involves the year I asked Santa for a Chatty Cathy doll.

Chatty Cathy was about 18” tall, had flame red hair and spoke when you pulled a string in her back.

I nagged and nagged and nagged my parents for over 6 months to get me a Chatty Cathy.

They told me if I was a good girl, Santa might bring me one.

Well, about 2 weeks before Christmas, a new doll was advertised on the TV, and for me Chatty Cathy was history.

So I told my parents that I needed to go to Sears really, really, bad -- that’s where Santa had his office – to tell him, I needed to change my order.

It didn’t happen, and on Christmas Eve, 1965 one very disgruntled little girl opened a box containing a Chatty Cathy doll.

I don’t remember ever playing with it.

Interestingly enough that was the same year Charles Schultz released the classic Christmas cartoon, /A Charlie Brown Christmas/.

So after, I rejected this prized doll of my nagging, I saw and heard Charlie Brown express his frustrations over the commercialism displayed at Christmas.

At one point he screams at his friends, “Can anyone tell me what Christmas is all about?”

Little Linus turns to him and says, very matter-of-factly, “I can tell you Charlie Brown”, and walks to the center of the stage and says,

1 And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.

3 And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.

 4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; 5 To be taxed with Mary his wife, being great with child.

 6 And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.

7 And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

 9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. 10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. 12 And this /shall be/ a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, 14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

With that all of Charlie Brown’s friends are silenced as these words of truth convict their selfish hearts.

They adopt the Christmas Spirit, redeem Charlie Brown’s pathetic Christmas tree and sing “Hark the Herald Angel’s Sing.”

Forty years later, Christmas Season 2005, we were confronted with corporate America’s attempt to secularized Christmas.

Huge retail organizations removed the word “Christmas” from their print ads, and ordered their employees to adopt the more politically correct greeting of “Happy Holidays” instead of Merry Christmas.

The Christian community was outraged, and although they didn’t boycott these retailers, they did write letters, and editorials, and bombard talk radio stations enough to make some retailers change their protocol and allow employees to say “Merry Christmas”.

We can look at that, and pat each other on the back, and take credit for putting the reason for the season back in front of eyes of America.

But is a baby in a manger on Christmas enough?

And why are so many people opposed to reason for the season?

And I’m not just talking about non-Christians here.

You’ve seen all the A&E and History Channel documentaries fostering the agenda of debunking Christmas.

Let’s look at the big picture.

Turn with me to Luke 2

*2* In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world.

Caesar Augustus is actually the Emperor Octavian.

Caesar is a title, like Emperor or President.

Augustus is an adjective meaning “supreme”.

Octavian is known as the first and greatest Emperor of Rome.

By ending a century of civil wars he is responsible for ushering in the Pax Romana, which is a time of peace, prosperity, and imperial greatness for Rome.

Rome took a census every fourteen years for both military and tax purposes, and each Jewish male had to return to the city of his ancestor’s to record his name, occupation, property, and family.

While Jews did not have to serve in the Roman army, they did have to pay taxes.

2 (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.)

Here’s where modern historians, begin their arguments over the authenticity of Luke’s account.

Quirinius was governor of Syria in AD 6-7, which is too late for the birth of Jesus.

However, archaeologists have recently discovered a coin with the name Quirinius and an earlier date which suggests either there were 2 Quirinius’.

3 And everyone went to his own town to register.

4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David.

5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.

Now the mode of transportation in those days for long journeys was donkey or foot.

Yesterday, I saw a report on CNN that said archaeologists now believe that the actual site Joseph & Mary traveled to was the village called Bethlehem 5 miles from Nazareth and not the site also called Bethlehem near Jerusalem where the Church of the Nativity is located.

They showed archaeological evidence of a Jewish and later Christian settlement in the first location and suggested that a woman 9 months pregnant could not have made the trip to the second.

6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son.

She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

Wrapping babies in swaddling cloth, sort of like mummies, is a Middle Eastern practice still done today.

It not only kept them warm but was thought to protect their internal organs.

Have you ever wondered why Mary laid Jesus in a manger?

Was there a spiritual significance?

One of my colleagues this week was telling me about an article she read about temple sacrifices.

You will remember that the Passover lamb had to be a year old and without spot or blemish.

When a perfect lamb was born, it could be housed near the temple courtyard and kept safe until the Passover.

So that nothing would contaminate this animal it had its own manger.

In our minds manger is the place where animals eat, like a trough, but in Hebrew the word also means stall, or the place an animal is kept.

Shepherds would take refuge from storms or the cold in caves with manger areas designated for their animals.

In the same way the Passover lamb would have its own manger where the temple priests could check on him.

That the Lamb of God would be placed as a babe in a manger is prophetic in reference to Jesus becoming our once and for all atoning sacrifice.

8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.

9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.

Notice that the angel came to bring his announcement to the shepherds and not the priests.

Why?

In the first place, because the priests wouldn’t believe them.

Wait a minute Lisa, are you telling me that if an angel appeared in the temple and announced to the priests that their long awaited Messiah had been born, they wouldn’t have believed him?

I am.

Remember that there is 400 years between the Old and New Testaments.

Now that doesn’t mean that God wasn’t in communication with Israel.

God told Joshua he would never leave or forsake Israel.