Sermon Tone Analysis

GATHERING

WELCOME: Rob

PRELUDE: Charlie Brown Christmas Music: Current Band

WORD AND RESPONSE

HYMN: “Joy to The World Unspeakable Joy” Current Band

CALL TO WORSHIP: Karen

L: On this night, Christ is born!

P: Now the Savior has appeared!

L: On this night, the heavenly chorus resounds!

P: All creation rejoices!

L: On this night, the church throughout the world joins their cry:

P: Glory to God in the highest!

Alleluia!

ADVENT CANDLE LIGHTING: Durrence Family

PRAYER OF ILLUMINATION: Chris Hester

Open us, O God, to hear again the message of the angels, and to go in heart and mind with the shepherds to Bethlehem to see the glorious redemption you have brought to pass through the Newborn lying in a manger.

Amen.

CHOIR SPECIAL: Do You Hear What I Hear?

Scripture: Garry Glenn

Luke 2:1-20

CHOIR SPECIAL: Do You Hear What I Hear?

Introduction

We have reached the end of this series tonight.

For our guests tonight let me take a second to catch them up.

For the past four weeks our sermons have been wrapped around the Christmas song “Do You Hear What I Hear?”

A song written during the Cuban Missile crisis, October 1962.

It was written during the time when we thought the end of the world could happen at any moment.

I was 6 years old, but I remember it vividly.

The song was written by Noel Regney and Gloria Shayne and is a plea for peace in the midst of chaos and the unbelievably close threat of nuclear war.

Just like then we live in an uncertain world today.

For many this time of the year is not one of joy and wonder, but depression and anxiety, spending too much, drinking too much, eating too much, all contribute to anxiety this time of the year.

Today’s headlines We have a president who’s been impeached and headed to a senate trial, 28 people were wounded in shootings across 3 states, the CEO of Boeing resigned, 2 children are missing in Idaho, and also this morning where a number of civilians died in Syria from bombing in that country’s ongoing civil war.

This is why this series was based on the carol, “Do You Hear What I Hear?”

The song tells the story of the Nativity based on Matthew which we will be talking about each Sunday in Advent.

And it incorporates the annunciation to the shepherds which we will look at on Christmas Eve.

The husband and wife team never performed this song in public, as Gloria Shayne said “Our little song broke us up.

You must realize there was a threat of nuclear war at the time.”

Just like in 1962, or 5BC when we think Jesus was born, we are a people in need of a savior.

A savior to bring us from darkness to light.

Now with that said, let’s take a look at the story of Jesus’ birth according to Luke.

Exegesis

I think we need to spend a moment on how messy and chaotic the events surrounding Jesus birth were according to Luke.

Mary and Joseph were not married yet, they were still betrothed.

It would have taken them a week to walk from Nazareth to Bethlehem as you can see here.

She would not have been riding a donkey, they would have walked.

They may have been by themselves, but most likely they were traveling in a group because it was safer that way.

Mary is in her last weeks of pregnancy, Joseph did not have to bring her! Today doctors do not like Mothers that far along to travel.

Maybe he did not want to miss the birth.

They arrive in Bethlehem and find out that the guest room is full.

Notice I did not say Inn.

There probably wasn’t an Inn in Bethlehem.

In fact there weren’t many so called Inns in Israel.

The Greek word actually means guest room.

What scholars have also discovered is that when Israeli women were going to give birth it was normally done where the animals were, the lower floor of the house.

This birth in the stable/cave was not that unusual and it may have been why they couldn’t stay in the guest room.

In other words they were probably told you can’t do that in there!

But the actual birth was a normal delivery.

Luke only devotes 2 verses 6 & 7 to the actual birth.

Mary most likely was assisted by other women or perhaps even a mid wife.

What is so messy here, is that the Son of God, the King of the universe was born in such an ordinary way.

Mary and Joseph knew Jesus’ Identity.

I wonder if they were surprised that God came into the world as any peasant in Israel would have come into the world?

Then the birth announcement is made to shepherds in the fields.

It is not made to Kings or the religious elite.

It is made to ordinary Shepherds who were not highly thought of and would have been considered unclean under Jewish law!

Luke uses this announcement to the shepherds to make the theological case of what this birth means.

We learn that Jesus is of the royal line of David, he is a savior, he is messiah or Christ, and he is Lord!

Lord was a term usually reserved for the emperor.

Second the heavenly host sing of shalom, a peace that does not mean the absence of conflict, but echoes a world that is whole, like God intended.

The shepherds then are the first visitors that the Holy Family receives.

They tell the family what happened in the fields and all were amazed and Mary treasured these things in her heart.

Application

So what does this event really mean for us?

Well I want to zero in on

Luke 2:9

It says that “the glory of the Lord shone around them.”

Isaiah wrote about the Messiah:

John wrote about the Messiah

John 1:1-5

The glory of the Lord is God’s presence.

Moses wasn’t allowed to look at it.

But it would light his face up so much he had to wear a veil!

God’s glory is the splendor that is Associated with God’s presence.

And it lit up the darkness of that night!

God came into the ordinary world, in an ordinary way, to ordinary shepherds, and to an ordinary couple.

John 1:

This is the same glory in the burning bush, the pillar of fire that lead the Israelites in the desert, the disciples and Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration!

This is the good news of Christmas:

God comes to us in the ordinary.

God seeks us out.God doesn’t care about wealth.

God doesn’t care about status.

God cares about us because we are His children, and he even became a child to lead us to salvation.

It is God’s doing, to be in the ordinary days of our ordinary lives.

When we pick up the kids from school, God is with us.

When we play golf God is with us.

When we go on vacation God is with us.

When we get bad news from the doctor, God is with us.

When we witness or experience suffering and injustice God is with us.

When we bury our loved ones God is with us.

God is with us in the ordinary.