96 Sermon Illustrations on Advent

What a change has come over our society in the past decade. I can remember Christmas shopping for the kids back in the early 80’s, saying “Merry Christmas” to people and having them cheerily respond, “Merry Christmas” in return. Now nobody says “Merry Christmas” at all, and if you say it to them they look frightened or offended. It’s now “Happy Holidays” or else! But what does “Happy Holidays” mean? From all that I can see, it seems to mean “Happy month of forking over buckets of your money to us”. And what holidays are we talking about? Well, first there’s Chanukah, a very minor non-biblical Jewish holiday that was elevated to its current importance in order to compete with Christmas. Then there’s Kwanzaa, a synthetically invented African American holiday that most blacks don’t know about and don’t celebrate. Finally there’s Christmas, a Christian holiday celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ, which most Christians ignore in favor of X-mas, a celebration of modern consumerism and overindulgence. Christmas, though pushed into the background in our culture, is really the inspiration for whatever other celebrations take place in December. Without Christmas the others would soon fade away. (But don’t tell anybody!) “Happy Holidays” is camouflage for Christmas!

Are you tired of “Happy Holidays” and “Xmas”? Why not try Christmas? Here are some suggestions:

• OBSERVE ADVENT. For the four weeks prior to Christmas, step up your devotions, focusing on Christ’s first coming, His coming to us now in Word and Sacrament, and His Second Coming on the Last Day. Use an Advent Wreath, possibly a crèche, some Advent goodies, and the extra worship services at church during the week. Avoid Christmas carols and Christmas decorating too early. Let Advent be Advent.

• THINK DIFFERENTLY ABOUT PRESENTS, ETC. So often we get so involved in the presents and the foods of Christmas that we make them an end in themselves and begin to do them out of obligation. Accustom yourselves to think of the gifts given and the food shared as a celebration of God’s gift of salvation to us through Christ. When a gift given is a token of something greater than itself, that is, Christ’s gift to us, then the giving becomes less an exercise in consumerism and more a lesson that “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20.35).

• ATTEND WORSHIP ON CHRISTMAS EVE AND/OR CHRISTMAS DAY. Making the time to receive the ministry of the Word of God and the Holy Sacrament as the centerpiece of your Christmas observance goes a long way to putting things in their proper perspective. And, when the brightness of the light of God’s love in Christ fills your heart through the Gospel, the lights on our Christmas trees and on our houses seem to shine brighter, too.

• ADD A SPIRITUAL DIMENSION TO YOUR FAMILY CELEBRATIONS. Sing together, not only “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer”, but also specifically religious carols like “Joy to the World”, “Silent Night”, “O Come, All Ye Faithful”, and many others. Read the Christmas Gospel from Luke 2 and talk about it. Say some Christmas prayers and focus your heart’s attention on the wonder that you are the undeserving but beloved object of God’s eternal love, and your salvation is assured through Christ’s atoning death and resurrection. Christmas means that Christ has come into our lost situation and rescued us by His loving sacrifice. Those who believe are placed in a new situation, in which grace, mercy and peace in Christ abound.

It’s not necessary to become spartan, ascetic, pietistical or glum in order to keep Christmas in a spiritual manner. We are not fundamentalists! Rather, when Christ is allowed to be in the center of things, “Xmas” and “Happy Holidays” soon fade into insignificance, and “Christmas” becomes once again “Merry”. Oh, and by the way, have a little fun this Advent, and “Merry Christmas” people every chance you get. A little “Christian subversiveness” is harmless fun, and a little tweak on peoples’ secular sensibilities won’t kill them! Merry Christmas!

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[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #21431]

Amidst all the twinkling lights, decorations, gleeful holiday carols, festive parties, and holiday sales, a more somber spirit of Advent resides. For during the Advent season, we are called into the wilderness with John the Baptist: “Repent! For the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3:2). In Advent, we hear John cry “make ready the way of the Lord, make his paths straight!” And even though celebration is not out of step as we anticipate the coming of Christ, the Advent season also brings focus to our preparation and repentance in light of his coming.

John’s voice, often forgotten in our hurried, holiday preparations, is crucial to our understanding of this season. His is such a crucial message that all four gospel writers include aspects of John’s story. Mark, in particular, begins his gospel this way: “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, BEHOLD, I SEND MY MESSENGER BEFORE YOUR FACE, WHO WILL PREPARE YOUR WAY; THE VOICE OF ONE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS, MAKE READY THE WAY OF THE LORD, MAKE HIS PATHS STRAIGHT” (Mark 1:1-3). The beginning of the gospel is the one who proclaims the Messiah; proclaims his Advent, and proclaims the Advent of his kingdom. Advent, like John the Baptist, calls to us to prepare, to reflect, and to repent in preparation for the coming of the Lord. As we declare Jesus, the Messiah, we prepare our lives to be aligned with his kingdom, and with his rule and reign as our King.

Luke’s gospel continues where Mark begins providing us with the most detailed portrait of John’s wilderness preaching and message. In Luke 3:8-9, John exhorts his audience: “Therefore, bring forth fruits in keeping with repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father,’ for I say to you that God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.’ And the axe is already laid at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” As Luke’s narrative continues, three groups come to John asking him what they should do to prepare for the King and his kingdom, and avoid this terrible and awesome fate. John tells those who have an abundance to share food and clothing with those who have none; he exhorts tax collectors to exercise fair business practices, and he tells soldiers not to take money by force, accuse anyone falsely, and to be content with their wages.

I was surprised, as I read John’s exhortations, at the immense practicality of repentance. To bear good fruit involves how we treat one another, how we use what God has given to us, and our own sense of contentment with what we have been given. This is a timely word for us today, as our culture tempts us to turn this season of repentance into a celebration of materialism, consumption in all its forms, and a reduction of the spirit of giving into simply another opportunity to exercise our purchasing power.

Instead, our Advent preparations should be practical provisions -- bringing forth fruit “in keeping with repentance.” As we repent -- literally understood as “turning around” or “turning toward God” -- we turn away from all that diminishes life, and turn toward the true God, who produces life to the full -- abundantly! The life we receive from God, poured out as blessing for others, bears fruit.

With its focus on preparation and repentance, Advent, in particular, calls us to turn away from all that competes with God for our heart and soul; Advent calls us to get rid of all that distracts us from our proper preparations -- living in the light and expectation of God’s kingdom begun in Jesus, the Messiah -- and bearing fruit as evidence of that kingdom reign.

John’s radically practical message of repentance calls us to embrace God’s kingdom rule, summed up by Jesus in the Great Commandment: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and love your neighbor as yourself.”(2) This message informs all of our Advent preparations. How do we treat one another? Are we generous with what God has given to us? Do we love ourselves more than we love God, and more than we love others? Are we content with what we have?

John’s message of repentance is the “beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ.” And his call to us during Advent is far more than that of a crazy, wild-eyed, disheveled street preacher yelling, “Repent, the end is near!” As I listen again to John’s voice in this season of preparation and repentance, I hear his prophetic call to me; he calls me out of my busyness, my own preoccupation with comfort, and my own self-interested desires. He calls to me to repent and to “bring forth fruits in keeping with repentance.” May we hear his voice through the din of all the other voices calling out to us this season.

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1. See Luke 3:1-14

2. See Mark 12:28-31 and Matthew 22:34-40.

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Copyright © 2007 Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM). Reprinted with permission. "A Slice of Infinity" is a radio ministry of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.

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[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #21688]

Dorothy Rodefeld is known in Madison, Wisconsin, as the “light lady” because of the elaborate Christmas displays she builds each year at her 19th century farmhouse. Last year, however, Dorothy’s nativity scene was robbed.

Among the missing items were a shepherd and a wise man. But it was the loss of baby Jesus and his manger that were particularly painful to the widow Rodefeld. Her grandson had built the manger out of wood salvaged from a granary dating back to the family’s original homestead.

“They pulled the light right out of Jesus,” Rodefeld lamented, explaining how thieves had extricated the Savior from his settings. “That’s the one thing they took that really meant something to me.”

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Source: The Capital Times (12/3/05)

Submitted by Sam O’Neal, St. Charles, Illinois

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[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #29008]

An Australian mining town will always remember the year of the dramatic rescue. News of the mining tragedy shook the small town after an earthquake killed one miner and trapped two others 3000 feet under the ground. For days that would turn into weeks, teams of miners bore through tons of rock; rescuers could only work one at a time on their backs in a cramped rescue tunnel, using hand-held tools to avoid caving. Meanwhile, the two trapped miners huddled in a four foot-tall cage and could only wait for rescuers to break through rock they knew was five times harder than concrete. Five days after the accident, the trapped miners began to hear the sounds of their rescuers. Six days later, the miners were located, contact was made, and hands passed food and hope through a crack in the walls that held them. Fourteen days after the accident, over 300 hours of waiting for rescue, the two miners were freed. “This is the great escape,” said Bill Shorten, national secretary of the Australian Workers Union. “This is the biggest escape from the biggest prison.”(1)

This story is one that fills me with anxiety even as I imagine it, its dramatic ending perhaps all the more vivid for the mining stories this year that did not end the same. I cannot begin to imagine what it would be like to freed after such an ordeal.

Over seventy years ago from a pulpit in London, Dietrich Bonhoeffer described the image of a man trapped after a mining disaster: Deep in the earth, dark as night, the man is cut off and alone. The supply of oxygen is limited. Food, water, and options are scarce; silence and fear are not. He knows his situation, and he can do nothing but wait. “He knows that up there, the people are moving about, the women and children are crying -- but the way to them is blocked. There is no hope.”(2) But what if just then, in the distance, the sounds of tapping are heard -- the sound of knocking, the sound of friends, the sound of deliverance?

This, said Bonhoeffer in December of 1933, is the hope of Advent: the coming of a deliverer, the drawing near of God to humankind, the arrival of Christ our rescuer. Those who are caught in darkness will see a great light. Those struggling in silence will stand up and hear the knocking. A voice is crying out of the wilderness: Who will have ears to hear it?

Advent teaches us how to wait. “Can and should there be anything else more important for us than the hammers and blows of Jesus Christ coming into our lives?”(3) In our waiting, should we not cry out as the first believers did, Come, Lord Jesus! This is the ancient cry of palpable hope -- Maranatha! -- Lord, come quickly! Advent teaches us to wait and watch, and to live expectantly, though we sit in the dark, though we find ourselves impatient. “When these things begin to take place,” instructs Christ, “stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near” (Luke 21:28).

In the days Mary and Joseph, Elizabeth and Zechariah, the people of Israel were living in a period of silence. It had been over 400 years since God had spoken of a coming Redeemer and his forerunner through the prophet Malachi. Malachi called the people again to anticipate and to be prepared for the day that was coming. But in the quiet nights of 400 years even faithful men stumble and doubt.

But listen. In the distance there is knocking. There is the sound of hope drawing near, the sounds of God’s reign in unexpected places. There are the sounds of saints who have gone before us and proclaim their rescuer even in death. There is the sound of a promise: “Because I live, you shall live also” (John 14:19).

The world is still dark and lonely. But in it every day a quiet voice calls out, “I stand at the door and knock.” Christ has come. Christ is here. Christ will come again. Our moment of rescue draws near.

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1. “Trapped Aussie Miners Freed After 2 Weeks,” MSNBC, May 9, 2006.

2. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Christmas Sermons (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2005), 89.

3. Ibid., 96.

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Copyright © 2007 Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM). Reprinted with permission. "A Slice of Infinity" is a radio ministry of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.

Four Advent meditations and a post-Christmas meditation:

THE CANDLES OF ADVENT -

THE FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT: HOPE

INTROIT O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel,

that mourns in lonely exile here, until the Son of God appear.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

VOICE - Today is the first Sunday of Advent, the Sunday of

Hope.

VOICE - Our hope is in God, and in his son Jesus Christ. He is

the one appointed by God to be judge of all things. He

is the one through whom God has promised to save and

redeem his people.

VOICE - We light this candle today to remind us that he is our

hope and the hope of the world. We thank God for the

promises he has made to us and for the light he has

brought into the world.

Light the First Candle

VOICE - Let us pray: O God of Hope, Emmanuel, God with Us -- we

pray you to send your light into our hearts at this time.

Help us to be ready for the day and the hour of Christ's

final appearing. Live in us and help us to live in you.

By the power of the Holy Spirit, transform us so that our

worship, our celebration, our time of preparation, may be

pleasing unto you - both now - and forevermore. Amen.

SONG: A Candle is burning, a flame warm and bright,

a candle of hope in December's dark night.

While angels sing blessing from heaven's starry sky,

our hearts we prepare now for Jesus is nigh.

RETURN TO YOUR SEATS AS SONG IS SUNG

Note - "A Candle is Burning" is by Sandra Dean, 1986.

Music is "Away In A Manger" by James Murray 1887.

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THE CANDLES OF ADVENT -

THE SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT: PEACE

INTROIT O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel,

that mourns in lonely exile here, until the Son of God appear.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

VOICE - Today is the Second Sunday of Advent - the Sunday of Peace.

VOICE - Our peace is found in God and in his son, Jesus Christ.

John the Baptist, and all the prophets remind us, that to

receive peace we must be prepared for it.

VOICE - We light this candle today to remind us that Christ is

the Prince of Peace, the one promised from the beginning

of the world. We thank God for the hope he gives us and

for the peace he bestows.

Light the First and Second Candles

VOICE - Let us pray --- O God of Peace, Emmanuel, we pray you

to send your light into our hearts at this time. Help us

to be ready for the day and the hour of Christ's

appearing. Work in our hearts at this time and help us

prepare ourselves for the peace that he brings - the

inner peace that tells us that we are united with you and

the outer peace which will come when he returns to judge

the world. Bless our worship that it may be pleasing

unto you, and bless us that we may prove to be your

faithful servants. Amen.

SONG: A Candle is burning, a candle of peace,

a candle to signal that conflict must cease:

for Jesus is coming to show us the way;

a message of peace humbly laid in the hay.

RETURN TO YOUR SEATS AS SONG IS SUNG

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THE CANDLES OF ADVENT -

THE THIRD SUNDAY OF ADVENT: WHITE GIFT SUNDAY - JOY

INTROIT O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel,

that mourns in lonely exile here, until the Son of God appear.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

VOICE - Today is the third Sunday of Advent - the Sunday of Joy.

VOICE - Our joy is in God and in his son Jesus Christ. Like

peace, joy is a gift from God. It overtakes us and fills

us when we remember what God has done and what he has

promised to do.

VOICE - We light this candle today to remind us that Christ

came, and is coming, so that all people might have a

rich and abundant life. We thank God for the hope he

gives us, for the peace he bestows, and for the joy he

pours into our hearts.

Light the First, Second, and Third Candle

VOICE - Let us pray -- O God of Joy, Emmanuel, send your light

into our hearts at this time. Help us to be ready for

the time of Christ's appearing. Fix our hearts and our

minds upon those things you have done and those you have

promised to do that we may have the joy you have

promised. As we worship you, strengthen us so that we

may always do your will and so bless you and the world

you have made. Amen.

SONG A candle is burning, a candle of joy.

A candle to welcome brave Mary's new boy.

Our hearts fill with wonder, and eyes light and glow

as joy brightens winter like sunshine on snow.

RETURN TO YOUR SEATS AS SONG IS SUNG

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THE CANDLES OF ADVENT -

THE FOURTH SUNDAY OF ADVENT: LOVE

INTROIT O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel,

that mourns in lonely exile here, until the Son of God appear.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

VOICE - Today is the fourth Sunday of Advent, the Sunday of

Love.

VOICE - Jesus shows us God's perfect love. He is God's perfect

love in human form. Those who believe in him and live in

him, live in love. Love transforms and perfects all

things. It never ends.

VOICE We light this candle today to remind us that God is love.

We thank God for hope he gives us, for the peace he

bestows, for the joy he pours into our hearts, and for

the love that redeems us and shows us the way.

Light the First, Second, Third and Fourth Candle

VOICE - Let us pray -- O God of Love, Emmanuel, send your light

into our hearts at this time. Help us to be ready for

the time of Christ's appearing. Grant that we may so

dwell in him that his perfect love fills our entire

being. Make our worship a time in which we celebrate

your love and are made ready to show that love to the

whole world - both today - and forevermore. Amen.

SONG A candle is burning, a candle of love,

a candle to point us to heaven above,

A baby for Christmas, a wonderful birth,

for Jesus is bringing God's love to our earth.

RETURN TO YOUR SEATS AS SONG IS SUNG

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THE CANDLES OF CHRISTMAS -

THE FIRST SUNDAY AFTER CHRISTMAS

Please come forward as soon as the Call to Worship

concludes (as we sing verse one of "Joy To the World").

Divide the speaking and lighting as you see fit. Do your

parts, light the candle and then sing with us all "Joy To The

World". One of the Candle Lighters will then lead the

congregation in prayer. This is the First Sunday After

Christmas.

Song Joy to the world! The Lord is come:

let earth receive her King!

Let every heart prepare him room,

and heaven and nature sing, and heaven and nature sing,

and heaven, and heaven and nature sing.

VOICE As we light these candles today, we thank God for hope he

gives us, for the peace he bestows, for the joy he pours

into our hearts, and for the love that redeems us and

shows us the way.

VOICE We thank God for his gift of Jesus. We thank him that

thru Christ his light has come into the world and made

it possible for us to see, and in seeing, to rejoice.

His truth, his love, his very self, transforms all who

receive him.

Light the First, Second, Third, Fourth and Christ Candle

VOICE Loving God, Emmanuel, we thank you for being with us -

for sending your Son to walk with us and to lead us.

Grant that the hope, the peace, the joy, and the love of

which we have heard and spoken of throughout Advent may

be fully realized in us as we worship and serve you

through Christ Jesus our Lord, this both now, and in the

new year that comes this night, and forevermore. Amen.

Song Joy to the earth! Our Saviour reigns:

let all their songs employ.

While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains,

repeat the sounding joy, repeat the sounding joy

repeat, repeat the sounding joy.

Continue with Verses 3 and 4 (Voices United 59)

copyright - Rev. Richard J. Fairchild - Spirit Networks, 1994- 2006

Our Advent series was prepared by a group of Christian Reformed pastors and others from five different congregations in and around Listowel, Ontario. This peer mentoring group, which calls itself “The Preaching Group,” is also part of the Sustaining Pastoral Excellence program sponsored by the Christian Reformed Church and funded by the Lilly Foundation.

The Advent series presented here is the result of one project the group worked on as part of its goal to “raise the bar” in the area of sermon preparation and delivery. We found working together in preparation of this series to be a rich blessing. And each congregation represented added its own distinctive flavor, for example, in the artwork that was prepared and displayed.

— Jack DeVries (pastorjack@bethelcrc.com)

Advent is the time that both ends and begins the Christian calendar. So often the focus during Advent is Jesus’ first Advent — his coming as a baby born in Bethlehem. As a preaching group we wanted to focus on Jesus’ second Advent — his soon-expected return. As we discussed what such a series of sermons might look like, we came up with the idea of “expecting,” drawing a parallel to the expecting that a couple does while awaiting the birth of their child. In this way we drew a close parallel between the first and second Advent of Jesus. What to Expect When You’re Expecting (by Arlene Eisenberg) is the title of a popular handbook for parents expecting the birth of a child. We borrowed that title for this series of six sermons. Our plan was to draw on some Scripture passages that compare the second coming of Christ to the pain and joy of childbirth.

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FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT: EXPECT BIRTH PAINS

SCRIPTURE: Matthew 24:1-35

ADVENT CANDLE LIGHTING

Lighting a candle is a simple yet profound act. It is a testimony to the power of light over darkness. When we look at the world around us we can see pain in suffering. But as we light the first candle of Advent we see that the light of one candle shines brightly in the darkness. As we light the candle, we begin our journey to Christmas in anticipation of the day when Christ will return in glory.

[Light one purple candle.]

Today we light the candle of hope. We press forward in our world of struggles and hardship as we anticipate the coming of Jesus Christ, who is our hope now and forever.

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope” (1 Pet. 1:3). In our hope of Christ’s return we find our strength for each new day.

Prayer

Dear God, as we light this candle and begin this new Advent season, shine the light of your hope into our hearts and into our world. Amen.

Song: “Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus” PsH 329, PH 1, RL 183, SFL 122, TH 196, TWC 135

SERMON NOTES

All December long, children look forward to opening gifts. What can they expect to receive this Christmas? Parents expecting the birth of a child go through nine months of eager anticipation — perhaps also nine months of mixed emotions. What can they expect? Will it be a boy or a girl? Will the pregnancy go well? Will the mother feel sick? Will there be complications? Will the baby be healthy?

Jesus promised that he would come again. What can we expect as we expect his second coming? Expect birth pains, says Jesus (Matt. 24:8). Just as a woman experiences pain in childbirth, so too we can expect painful times before Jesus’ promised return. In seven verses (vv. 5-12), Jesus describes seven kinds of painful happenings that will take place before his return: false prophets and messiahs, wars and rumors of war, famine, natural disasters, persecution, people turning away from faith, and the love of many growing cold. Since that time, many Christians have read into the painful sufferings and natural disasters in the world as a direct sign that Jesus’ second coming is just around the corner. But Jesus reminds us that this is just the “beginning of the birth pains.”

A woman who feels birth pains is keenly aware that soon the baby will arrive. So too, as we see and feel the birth pains that precede Jesus’ return, we can be confident that Christ will come again. Jesus points out the lesson of the fig tree: as soon as the twigs get tender and the leaves come out, we know that summer is near, right at the door. And when these painful happenings take place, we know that Christ is at the door.

As we witness the “birth pains” that herald the second coming, we look ahead with eager anticipation to Christ’s promised return. As painful sufferings take place, we see Jesus’ prophetic predictions being fulfilled. Such knowledge enables believers to persevere — in spite of painful suffering. Our love for Christ should not grow cold; rather, we will stand firm to the end (Matt. 24:12-13; Rev. 3:14ff.). After all the birth pains are over, the end will come, and we will see the salvation of our Lord.

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SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT: EXPECT GOD’S PATIENCE

SONG SUGGESTIONS:

“Toda la tierra/All Earth Is Waiting” SNC 93

“Abba, Abba, Hear Us, We Cry” SNC 211

“In Labor All Creation Groans” SNC 270

SCRIPTURE: 2 Peter 3:1-15a

ADVENT CANDLE LIGHTING

Waiting is hard in a fast-paced society. We want the stoplight to change quickly, the grocery line to move fast, and Christmas morning to arrive soon. We forget that before good things happen, preparations must be made.

[Light two purple candles.]

Today we light the candle of peace, knowing that Jesus alone can make us feel at rest in this chaotic world. He calms our hearts as we await his second coming.

In Philippians 4, Paul writes, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” May God grant us peace as wait for Christ’s glorious return.

Prayer

Dear God, give us the gift of Jesus and the Spirit so that our hearts can be calm and peaceful. Help us to know how close you are to us all the time, and help us to show you and your peace to other people too. Amen.

Song: “People in Darkness Are Looking for Light” SFL 119

SERMON NOTES

Second Peter 3 deals with the delay of Jesus’ second coming. The people to whom Peter was writing were experiencing a crisis of faith. Why had Jesus Christ not yet returned as he promised? Many of them were becoming objects of mockery and scorn (vv. 3-4). The threat of some of these Christians falling away from the faith was real. Peter writes to encourage these Christians to persevere, to make their calling and election sure (see 1:5-11).

He reminds them that God’s Word is not only powerful but it can be trusted, and gives them the examples of creation and the flood. He goes on to explain that God’s timetable is not our timetable: “With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day” (3:8). The reason Jesus has not yet returned, says Peter, is because God “is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (v. 9). God’s “patience means salvation” (v. 15). But, he says, Jesus will not always delay. The day of the Lord will be like a thief whom no one expects. When that day comes the present earth and heavens as we know it will be destroyed, and God will usher in the new earth and heaven.

Jesus’ delay is not a time for people to be complacent about trusting and obeying God. God’s patience with us is an urgent call for people to come to repentance. Those who have repented of their sin and who believe in Jesus ought to “make every effort to be found spotless, blameless, and at peace with [God]” (v. 14).

SONG SUGGESTIONS

“My Soul in Stillness Waits” SNC 95

“View the Present Through the Promise” SNC 90

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THIRD SUNDAY OF ADVENT: EXPECT GODLESSNESS

“O Christ! Come Back to Save Your Folk” PsH 330

“O Lord, How Shall I Meet You” PsH 331, PH 11, RL 368, TH 156

“Wait for the Lord” SNC 96

SCRIPTURE: 2 Timothy 3:1-17

ADVENT CANDLE LIGHTING

Jesus is coming; shout for joy! In a world that finds pleasure in the abundance of material possessions, we find our true joy in Jesus Christ. We take joy this Christmas season as we look forward to his glorious return, when he will set us free from this godless age. Joy to the world is the message of the season.

[Light two purple candles and one pink candle.]

Today we light the candle of joy because the good news of Jesus’ birth brings us and all people the greatest joy.

In Luke 2:10, the angel told the shepherds, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ, the Lord.” May we experience the joy of God as we wait for Christ to return.

Prayer

Dear God, give us joy in our hearts now and forever. Help us to tell other people about this joy too. Amen.

Song: “Joy to the World” (st. 1, 3, 4) PsH 337, PH 40, RL 198, TH 195, TWC 146

SERMON NOTES

Expectant mothers often have wild cravings for specific foods. Picture a husband frantically going out to the grocery store to get pickles and ice cream to satisfy his wife’s food cravings. Paul warns his young protégé, Timothy, that in the last days people will have wild cravings for godless living. Paul gives a long list of the terrible things that will happen in the days preceding the return of Christ. People will go from bad to worse (v. 13). They will continue down a path of folly that leads to their ultimate doom and destruction. Many believers will become unfaithful; they will have the form of godliness but deny its power (v. 5). This is as true today as it was in the days of Paul. We live during a time in which we can reasonably expect godlessness in our world, even within our churches. Our hearts are stuffed full of things that don’t belong there. Many will be led astray by false teachings. Those who live a godly life will face persecution (v. 12). In the face of persecution it is most difficult to maintain integrity in the area of godly living. But Paul knew from personal experience that godless living can be avoided: “You knew all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, persecutions, sufferings ... the persecutions I endured” (vv. 10-11). God rescued Paul from being trapped in paths of godlessness. Now Paul reminds us that we too can be thoroughly equipped for every good work. The key is continuing in the teaching of Scripture we learn as children from our parents and throughout our lives from many other sources. Scripture is the agent of change that helps us continue along the path of godly living. Rather than crave the godless things of this sinful world and our sinful flesh, we ought to crave the inspired Word of God.

SONG SUGGESTIONS

“I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light” SNC 77

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FOURTH SUNDAY OF ADVENT: EXPECT SPIRITUAL GROWTH

“Thy Word” SNC 86

“O Word of God Incarnate” PsH 279, PH 327, RL 387, TH 140, TWC 310

SCRIPTURE: Romans 13:8-14

ADVENT CANDLE LIGHTING

Out of darkness light shines. This light points us to the One whose love overcame the darkness of this world and whose love will be our light in the world to come. As we wait for Christ to return, we can see his love grow.

[Light three purple candles and one pink candle.]

Today we light the candle of love because we know that Jesus is love. It is our hope that his church will grow as we share his love with each other.

In Ephesians 4:15-16, Paul writes, When we “speak the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.” May we grow in love as we await Christ’s return.

Prayer

Dear God, we love you because we know that in Jesus you loved us first. As we light this candle, make us love each other more and more, and help us to tell about the love of Jesus to the whole world. Amen.

Song: “O Come, O Come Immanuel” (st. 1, 2, 7) PsH 328, PH 9, RL 184, TH 194, TWC 133

SERMON NOTES

One of the sure signs of expecting a child is growth. By the end of the first trimester the mother might begin to notice the swelling of her womb. This is a sign that the baby is healthy and growing. A good mother does everything she can to make sure that her baby is healthy. She takes proper vitamins, eats healthy food, and refrains from smoking and drinking alcohol.

A growing economy is a healthy economy. A growing plant is a healthy plant. It sprouts new shoots and leaves. You’ll see lots of evidence of fruit (or flowers). Healthy Christians are growing too — growing spiritually. We see signs of health in the fruit we bear. Jesus reminds us that we will recognize a tree by its fruit (Matt. 7:16). A good tree bears good fruit. An evil tree produces evil fruit.

In Romans 13 Paul refers to the present evil age as the night. He points out that “the night is nearly over, the day is almost here” (v. 12). He’s speaking here of the Christian hope that soon Jesus Christ will return. In light of Jesus’ expected return, Paul encourages us to “put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light” (v. 12). Clothed with Jesus Christ we are to act as he would act, with love toward one another (v. 8). Love is the fulfillment of the law. Love is the outward expression of an inner renewal. Since the day of Christ’s return is almost here, we ought to expect Christians to do everything they can to remain healthy and demonstrate spiritual growth evidenced by the good fruit of love for one another.

SONG SUGGESTIONS

“Come, Lord Jesus” SNC 103

“Open Our Eyes” SNC 263

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CHRISTMAS DAY: EXPECT VICTORY

“Not for Tongues of Heaven’s Angels” SNC 275

SCRIPTURE: Revelation 12

ADVENT CANDLE LIGHTING

God’s promise of a redeemer is fulfilled! Christ is born! We have complete victory over death and evil through the birth of Jesus Christ! Eternal victory is ours both now and forever!

[Light all five candles.]

Today we light the Christ candle because Jesus, the light of the World, is born. As this candle burns, we remember that Jesus brings us hope, peace, joy, and love, now and forever. We remember that Jesus is coming again some day and will bring us to his kingdom to enjoy all these good things forever.

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isa. 9:6). Through this child, this son, we have complete victory!

Prayer

Dear God, thank you for sending your Son, Jesus, to our world and for giving us victory over death and evil. Fill us with the power of Jesus, to stand firm against the enemy both now and every day. Help us to live so that others will be able to see Jesus in us. Amen.

Song: “Joy to the World” PsH 337, PH 40, RL 198, TH 195, TWC 146

SERMON NOTES

Bringing a child into the world is a battle. Mothers have to struggle through a labor that can be both painful and humbling. When the virgin Mary brought her child into the world, did she know that it was going to be such a battle? Like all mothers, Mary had to struggle through labor. She had to change her priorities and make sacrifices. But there was a larger battle going on. In Simeon’s words, “a sword would pierce her own soul too” (Luke 2:35). Did Mary know about the spiritual battle that was being fought around her? Did she know that the one thing Satan had been trying to do since he had been cast out of heaven was to prevent the safe entrance of her baby into this world?

Revelation 12 gives us a picture of the spiritual battle that surrounded the birth of Jesus. This is a very different nativity story from the one in Luke 2. There is an intense battle going on between the woman who is giving birth and the red dragon whose purpose is to devour the child.

On Christmas Day we celebrate the fact that on that day Satan did not win the victory. Herod attempted to destroy the Christ child under the pretense of worship. Later he attempted to destroy the child by ordering the murder of all babies under two years old. But Herod failed. So did the dragon. God protected Joseph, Mary, and the baby by directing them safely into the desert to Egypt.

Frustrated by his inability to kill the baby Jesus, the dragon set his sights on all those who believe in Jesus (Rev.12:17). But God promises believers complete victory. The sword pierced Mary’s soul as she saw the life of her son ebb away on the cross. But while Jesus was gone those three days, he completely destroyed the power of the dragon once and for all. We share in the victory of Jesus Christ (v. 10). God will strengthen us against the attacks of Satan through the blood of the Lamb and the Word of our testimony (v. 11). Satan’s days are short (v. 12). Heaven is already preparing for the victory celebration. And the story of redemptive history will end in complete victory.

SONG SUGGESTIONS

“Psalm 98: Sing a New Song to the Lord” SNC 112

“Come and Stand Amazed, You People” PsH 338

“Break Forth, O Beauteous Heavenly Light” PsH 343, PH 26, TWC 158

“Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” PsH 345, PH 31, RL 196, TH 203, TWC 171

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FIRST SUNDAY AFTER CHRISTMAS: EXPECT COMPLETE JOY

SCRIPTURE: John 16:17-24

SERMON NOTES

A wonderful joy takes place when a woman gives birth to a child. During all the months of pregnancy there have been long days of expectation. The weight has at times become burdensome. Feelings of nausea filled many days. The initial birth pains begin. Couples wonder anxiously if the time has come. Then the intense hours of labor. The pain becomes almost unbearable. But as Jesus tells us in John’s gospel, “when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world” (16:21). This is the way it will be for all Jesus’ followers. They will go through a painful time, but once Jesus comes again, their sorrow will turn to joy (v. 20).

John writes about the disciples’ feelings of sorrow and grief. Jesus had just told them that he would leave them “for a little while” — most likely referring to the time when Jesus would be crucified and buried. After a little while the disciples would see him again (v. 19). But the early Christians also saw this referring to Jesus’ going to the Father (vv. 17, 28). Jesus would leave them at his ascension, but in a little while he would return again. In this “short” interval of time, believers will not always have it easy. They will experience pain and suffering. But when a believer sees the Lord again, either at her death or at Christ’s second coming, her sorrow will turn to joy. We will be in that place prepared for us by Jesus (John 14:1-4), a place where there will be no more death, no more sorrow, no more pain, and no more night (Rev. 21:4; 22:5). In the words of Psalm 30:5: “Weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.” When Jesus returns, there will be no more nights — only rejoicing, with a joy that no one can take away (v. 22). Our joy will finally be complete (v. 24).

SONG SUGGESTIONS

“Soon and Very Soon” SNC 106

“Joy to the World!” PsH 337, PH 40, RL 198, TH 195, TWC 146

“The King Shall Come When Morning Dawns” PsH 615, RL 607, TWC 277

EXCERPT

ADVENT CANDLE LIGHTING

We asked student intern Ryan Braam to put together a special selection of readings and prayers that coincide with and reflect the themes for each service to be used during the Advent candle lighting. Families who participated in this part of the liturgy received the following instructions:

• Come up to the Advent wreath during the singing of the final stanza of the song just prior to the Advent lighting part of the service.

• Use the microphone provided by the table so that the congregation will be able to hear.

• Singing of songs proceeds unannounced.

• If more than one person is involved in the candle lighting, let each person do a part: one can do the Bible reading, one can read the words to introduce and light the candle, one can pray, and so on.

• Light the candles where indicated in the program. Pay special attention to how many candles are lit and which color candles are lit.

This banner design is an adaptation (or accompaniment!) of the projection art described on the back cover but is made out of fabric pieces attached to a background of black fabric. Make this banner two-sided to allow for the change from Advent design and colors to Christmas.

FOR FAMILY DEVOTIONS

Consider using this series for your family devotions at least once a week. Make an Advent candle wreath using four candles (one for each week), with a fifth candle in the middle to represent the Christ candle to light on Christmas Day. Read the Advent candle lighting litany appropriate for the week, followed by the prayer (there is no candle lighting for the first Sunday after Christmas). You may then want to read the suggested Scripture text and use the sermon notes as a devotional reading, concluding with one of the suggested songs.

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Issue #73, Author: Jack De Vries. Copyright © 2006, Faith Alive Christian Publications. All rights reserved.

It is a strange story. There were shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel appeared to them, telling them not to be afraid. A baby had been born, and they could find him wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger. To a peasant mother outside of Bethlehem, the Son of God was born.

If I take a step back from the familiar hum of Advent to consider the story we are really waiting for, I am thrown off my usual Christmas kilter. This is not really the innocuous historical narrative I imagine. This is not a tame story. The bright lights and colors of our Christmas pageants can easily paint over the stark scenery of a story that startles all of history. Who understands this God who comes as a child, who steps into our world through a dirty stable and the unlikely arms of an unwed mother?

Yet even long before these strange additions to the story of God among his people, the prophets were asking similar questions. “Who has understood the mind of the LORD?” (Isaiah 40:13). This God who moves among us, touching all of life and history is not the quiet and tame being we often imagine. His ways are not our ways. His stories are not the kind of stories we would write if the telling were up to us. His thoughts are the kind of thoughts that expose deception and shine in darkness, that shatter hearts and rewrite stories.

It is the same with the child born in a stable two thousand years ago. The infant we remember lying peacefully in a manger did not take long to fulfill the words spoken to his young parents: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too” (Luke 2:34-35). Is this the child we are anticipating this Advent?

British author Dorothy Sayers once lamented the manner in which Jesus is often remembered: he is the quiet sage full of wisdom, the safe and peaceful one of history. He is, for all practical purposes, somewhat dull, someone we might be interested in AT A LATER TIME. Yet Sayers writes,

The people who hanged Christ never, to do them justice, accused

him of being a bore -- on the contrary, they thought him too

dynamic to be safe. It has been left for later generations to

muffle up that shattering personality and surround him with an

atmosphere of tedium. We have very efficiently pared the claws

of the Lion of Judah, certified him ‘meek and mild,’ and

recommended him as a fitting household pet for pale curates and

pious old ladies.(1)

Advent is a time of anticipation not for the harmless baby surrounded by lights and presents, but for the dynamic savior who is born into our midst. “Do you want to be delivered?” asked Dietrich Bonhoeffer in an Advent sermon more than 70 years ago. “That is the only really important and decisive question which Advent poses for us. Does there burn within us some lingering longing to know what deliverance really means? If not, what would Advent then mean to us? A bit of sentimentality. A little lifting of the spirit within us? A little kinder mood? But if there is something in this word Advent which we have not yet known, that strangely warms our heart; if we suspect that it could, once more, once more, mean a turning point in our life, a turning to God, to Christ -- why then are we not simply obedient, listening and hearing in our ears the clear call: Your deliverance draws nigh!”(2)

In this season of Advent we remember a strange and drastic story. We anticipate nothing less than the Lion of Judah wrapped in swaddling cloths. We anticipate the coming of a Savior UNHINDERED. Indeed, our deliverance draws nigh.

________

1. Dorothy Sayers, THE WHIMSICAL CHRISTIAN, “The Greatest Drama Ever Staged,” (New York: Collier Books, 1978), 14.

2. DIETRICH BONHOEFFER’S CHRISTMAS SERMONS Edwin Robertson Ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2005), 93.

________

Copyright © 2006 Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM). Reprinted with permission. "A Slice of Infinity" is a radio ministry of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.

Message spotted on a church sign: “Christmas: expectant hush, not last-minute rush.”

Rush we can do. Hush, not so much.

Given a choice between a day of silence and stillness or of noise and distraction, the average American probably would choose the latter –- out of habit if nothing else.

Silence makes many of us uncomfortable, even anxious. So we lunge for the remote or the iPod. Silence encourages reflection, but we are not a reflective people. Silence prepares the heart for prayer, but we’re too busy multi-tasking. Silence enables us to hear the still, small voice of God, but we don’t have the patience to wait for Him to speak.

“Patient waiting is not a strong point in the dominant culture,” observes Christian scholar Ronald P. Byars. “We are a people in a hurry. We are in a hurry for Christmas, too, and so the parties, the feasting, the decorating and the carols begin early.”

But Advent, the month preceding Christmas on the traditional church calendar, teaches us “that some things cannot be rushed,” Byars writes. This season of expectant waiting, he explains, is “directed toward the future. That is no small thing for us who live in a culture that is almost entirely present-oriented, both forgetful of the past and fearful of the future.”

God cannot be rushed. He promised the birth of the Messiah centuries before the actual event. It occurred on a silent and holy night in a little town. No one but the shepherds and a few wise men from the east noticed. With the exception of King Herod, the movers and shakers of the time had no inkling Jesus existed until decades later, when He changed the world forever. They, like us, were too distracted by other things.

Of all the devil’s weapons, one of the most insidious is one of the most mundane: noise. Pointless noise. Endless noise. Cell phone ringtone PDA laptop inbox voicemail pager TV radio video traffic subwoofer leaf blower noise. Sound and fury, signifying nothing.

Static distraction has become a pandemic, spreading globally from technological societies to places that once were quiet. Truly silent places are becoming almost impossible to find. Connectivity is a blessing and a curse: It brings information, education, opportunity -– and the Gospel –- to peoples once imprisoned in ignorance and isolation. It also brings ceaseless noise.

Not just actual, physical noise, but the continuous mental and spiritual static that drowns out the voice of God. He is patient, but He will not compete with lesser things for our attention.

Say what you will about the excesses and eccentricities of Christian hermits through the ages. They have something profound to teach us about silence. The Desert Fathers first retreated to the Egyptian wilderness in the very early centuries of the church. They sought holiness and purity. They sought spiritual renewal. Most of all, they sought the deep stillness of the desert in order to listen to God with undistracted attention and love Him with undivided hearts.

In that respect, they followed the example of Christ, who sought His Father in lonely places and in the silent watches of the night.

If you were quiet, truly quiet, before the Lord for an hour or a day, what might He say? Perhaps He would ask if you love Him. Perhaps He would heal an old hurt. Perhaps He would give you a glimpse of His burning heart for the lost peoples of the world, hungry to be told the story of Jesus.

Perhaps He would say nothing at all. He might just want to spend some quiet time with you, Father and child. He leads us beside still waters to restore our souls. “My soul, wait in silence for God only, for my hope is from Him” (Psalm 62:5).

What, exactly, is your rush? Where are you going that is so important? Do you really need to be hyper-connected while you’re getting there? Did you just speed past the Bethlehem exit on your urgent journey?

MapQuest doesn’t show the way to the stable in Bethlehem. GPS can’t get you there. The destination can be found only by waiting, in silence, like the shepherds on the hills under the stars.

Advent Hymn On 18.12.1707 Charles Wesley was born. On his birthday in Advent, here is one of his greatest hymns about The Birthday.

Let earth and heaven combine,

Angels and men agree,

To praise in songs divine

The incarnate Deity,

Our God contracted to a span,

Incomprehensibly made man.

He laid his glory by,

He wrapped him in our clay;

Unmarked by human eye,

The latent Godhead lay;

Infant of days he here became,

And bore the mild Immanuel’s name.

Unsearchable the love

That has the Saviour brought;

The grace is far above

Or men or angels’ thought:

Suffice for us that God, we know,

Our God, is manifest below.

He deigns in flesh to appear,

Widest extremes to join;

To bring our vileness near,

And make us all divine:

And we the life of God shall know,

For God is manifest below.

Made perfect first in love,

And sanctified by grace,

We shall from earth remove,

And see his glorious face:

His love shall then be fully showed,

And man shall all be lost in God.

The Advent of Humility: Jesus is the reason to stop concentrating on ourselves.

Innumerable Christmas devotionals point out the humble circumstances of Jesus’ birth — among shepherds, in a crude stable, with a feed trough for a bassinet. When Jesus himself tried to summarize why people should take up the yoke of following him, he said it was because he was meek and humble (Matt. 11:29). Seldom, however, do we explore the full implications of how Jesus’ radical humility shapes the way we live our lives every day.

Humility is crucial for Christians. We can only receive Christ through meekness and humility (Matt. 5:3, 5; 18:3-4). Jesus humbled himself and was exalted by God (Phil. 2:8-9); therefore joy and power through humility is the very dynamic of the Christian life (Luke 14:11; 18:14; 1 Pet. 5:5).

The teaching seems simple and obvious. The problem is that it takes great humility to understand humility, and even more to resist the pride that comes so naturally with even a discussion of the subject.

We are on slippery ground because humility cannot be attained directly. Once we become aware of the poison of pride, we begin to notice it all around us. We hear it in the sarcastic, snarky voices in newspaper columns and weblogs. We see it in civic, cultural, and business leaders who never admit weakness or failure. We see it in our neighbors and some friends with their jealousy, self-pity, and boasting.

And so we vow not to talk or act like that. If we then notice “a humble turn of mind” in ourselves, we immediately become smug — but that is pride in our humility. If we catch ourselves doing that we will be particularly impressed with how nuanced and subtle we have become. Humility is so shy. If you begin talking about it, it leaves. To even ask the question, “Am I humble?” is to not be so. Examining your own heart, even for pride, often leads to being proud about your diligence and circumspection.

Christian humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less, as C. S. Lewis so memorably said. It is to be no longer always noticing yourself and how you are doing and how you are being treated. It is “blessed self-forgetfulness.”

Humility is a byproduct of belief in the gospel of Christ. In the gospel, we have a confidence not based in our performance but in the love of God in Christ (Rom. 3:22-24). This frees us from having to always be looking at ourselves. Our sin was so great, nothing less than the death of Jesus could save us. He had to die for us. But his love for us was so great, Jesus was glad to die for us.

Grace, Not Goodness

We are on slippery ground when we discuss humility, because religion and morality inhibit humility. It is common in the evangelical community to talk about one’s worldview — a set of basic beliefs and commitments that shape the way we live in every particular. Others prefer the term “narrative identity.” This is a set of answers to the questions, “Who am I? What is my life all about? What am I here for? What are the main barriers keeping me from fulfillment? How can I deal with those barriers?”

There are two basic narrative identities at work among professing Christians. The first is what I will call the moral-performance narrative identity. These are people who in their heart of hearts say, I obey; therefore I am accepted by God. The second is what I will call the grace narrative identity. This basic operating principle is, I am accepted by God through Christ; therefore I obey.

People living their lives on the basis of these two different principles may superficially look alike. They may sit right beside one another in the church pew, both striving to obey the law of God, to pray, to give money generously, to be good family members. But they are doing so out of radically different motives, in radically different spirits, resulting in radically different personal characters.

When persons living in the moral-performance narrative are criticized, they are furious or devastated because they cannot tolerate threats to their self-image of being a “good person.”

But in the gospel our identity is not built on such an image, and we have the emotional ballast to handle criticism without attacking back. When people living in the moral-performance narrative base their self-worth on being hard working or theologically sound, then they must look down on those whom they perceive to be lazy or theologically weak.

But those who understand the gospel cannot possibly look down on anyone, since they were saved by sheer grace, not by their perfect doctrine or strong moral character.

The Stench of Moralism

Another mark of the moral-performance narrative is a constant need to find fault, win arguments, and prove that all opponents are not just mistaken but dishonest sellouts. However, when the gospel is deeply grasped, our need to win arguments is removed, and our language becomes gracious. We don’t have to ridicule our opponents, but instead we can engage them respectfully.

People who live in the moral-performance narrative use sarcastic, self-righteous putdown humor, or have no sense of humor at all. Lewis speaks of “the unsmiling concentration upon Self, which is the mark of hell.” The gospel, however, creates a gentle sense of irony. We find a lot to laugh at, starting with our own weaknesses. They don’t threaten us anymore because our ultimate worth is not based on our record or performance.

Martin Luther had the basic insight that moralism is the default mode of the human heart. Even Christians who believe the gospel of grace on one level can continue to operate as if they have been saved by their works. In “The Great Sin” in Mere Christianity, Lewis writes, “If we find that our religious life is making us feel that we are good — above all, that we are better than someone else — I think we may be sure that we are being acted on, not by God, but by the Devil.”

Gracious, self-forgetful humility should be one of the primary things that distinguishes Christian believers from the many other types of moral, decent people in the world. But I think it is fair to say that humility, which is a key differentiating mark of the Christian, is largely missing in the church. Nonbelievers, detecting the stench of sanctimony, turn away.

Some will say, “Phariseeism and moralism are not our culture’s big problems right now. Our problems are license and antinomianism. There is no need to talk about grace all the time to postmodern people.” But postmodern people have been rejecting Christianity for years, thinking that it was indistinguishable from moralism. Only if you show them there’s a difference — that what they rejected wasn’t real Christianity — will they even begin to listen again.

Get Your Fresh Humility Here

This is the place where the author is supposed to come up with practical solutions. I don’t have any. Here’s why.

First, the problem is too big for practical solutions. The wing of the evangelical church that is most concerned about the loss of truth and about compromise is actually infamous in our culture for its self-righteousness and pride. However, there are many in our circles who, in reaction to what they perceive as arrogance, are backing away from many of the classic Protestant doctrines (such as Forensic Justification and Substitutionary Atonement) that are crucial and irreplaceable — as well as the best possible resources for humility.

Second, directly talking about practical ways to become humble, either as individuals or as communities, will always backfire. I have said that major wings of the evangelical church are wrong. So who is left? Me? Am I beginning to think only we few, we happy few, have achieved the balance that the church so needs? I think I hear Wormwood whispering in my ear, “Yes, only you can really see things clearly.”

I do hope to clarify, or I wouldn’t have written on the topic at all. But there is no way to begin telling people how to become humble without destroying what fragments of humility they may already possess.

Third, humility is only achieved as a byproduct of understanding, believing, and marveling in the gospel of grace. But the gospel doesn’t change us in a mechanical way. Recently I heard a sociologist say that for the most part, the frameworks of meaning by which we navigate our lives are so deeply embedded in us that they operate “pre-reflectively.” They don’t exist only as a list of propositions, but also as themes, motives, and attitudes. When we listen to the gospel preached or meditate on it in the Scriptures, we are driving it so deeply into our hearts, imaginations, and thinking that we begin to instinctively “live out” the gospel.

So let us preach grace till humility just starts to grow in us.

________

Tim Keller is pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, New York, and author of The Reason for God.

Copyright © 2008 Christianity Today.

*

[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #4818]

Ah, Christmas! The most wonderful time of the year. A time to gather with family and friends, and, with a smile on our faces, pretend we aren’t quietly measuring who received the best present and which relative really, really needs to stop drinking. A time to hang tinsel and baubles from the tree, and a time to hang up our hopes of losing that last 10 pounds this year. Such a joyous season!

The real point here is that Christmas is what we make of it. For Christians, however, there are some very specific things you can’t do if you want to actually honor and follow the person we celebrate this season. So, I give you my “10 Things You Can’t Do AT CHRISTMAS While Following Jesus.” As with my other “10 Things” lists, this is not intended to be a complete list, but it is a pretty good start.

10) Celebrate Consumeristmas — For many folks, Christmas starts standing in line on Thanksgiving Day. ‘Tis the season for mass consumerism. Regardless of where you think it began, Christmas has slowly drifted into the bog of consumer madness. Like frogs in a pot of slowly boiling water, we never saw it coming. For Christians, this is particularly problematic because the guy we are celebrating this time of year told us that collecting stuff here on Earth is not the way to follow him.

9) Forget Those Without Food — Jesus once said that when we feed the hungry we are feeding him. Anyone want to guess what it means when we ignore the hungry? How about ignoring the hungry as we scrape the leftover Christmas ham from our plates into the trash? Maybe we need to change the name of the season to Gluttonousmas? Too many presents, too much food, too little consideration for those in need.

8) Forget Those Without Shelter — No room at the inn. One of the key moments in the story Christians celebrate is the moment when Jesus was almost born in the streets of Bethlehem. Our need to clean up the Christmas story assumes that the innkeeper told them to use the manger but the Bible says no such thing. There was no room at the inn, leaving Mary to place her newborn child in a smelly feeding trough. For that night they were without shelter. Throughout his life Jesus would spend his ministry with no place to lay his head. This time of year we celebrate a homeless man. Do our actions, do the places we place our money honor that?

7) Forget About Immigrants — We three kings from Orient are. Besides sounding like Yoda wrote a Christmas carol, there are a number of things messed up about that line. We don’t actually know how many there were. They were magi, not kings. We also do not know where they were really from other than “from the East.” What we do know is they were foreigners and their revelation of the real king’s plans to kill all newborn boys to put an end to Jesus turned Jesus’ family into immigrants in Egypt. Our Christmas story is replete with images of people journeying to new lands. Christmas should cause Christians to recommit to embracing immigrants.

6) Miss the Message About Resisting Abusive Power — Mary and Joseph and their family had to flee their homeland because King Herod strong-handedly used his power to squash out what he saw as a threat to his power. I can guarantee you two things; One, in the house where Jesus grew up, the narrative of why they had to flee to Egypt and of the senseless deaths imposed on other families by the powerful was a story that was told time and time again. Two, the focus on abuse of power in Jesus’ teaching and his constant willingness to confront it was no accident. Christmas should cause Christians to recommit to confronting those who abuse power.

5) Forget Those Without Presents — If you have two coats, give one away. In announcing the coming of Jesus, John the Baptist told us what God was asking of us. Coats were just an example – a placeholder if you will. If you have two Christmas presents, give one away.

4) Insist Your Religious Celebration Rule Them All — This time of year far too many Christians remind me of Gollum and his Precious. (A Lord of the Rings shout out in a Christian Christmas post! C’mon Peter Jackson, give me some promo love!) One holiday to rule them all: “We nee-eeds it. They stole it from us!” Never mind that Jesus was Jewish or that there is a list of other celebrations that occur this time of year, there’s a certain cultural privilege in the air that seems so very un-Christian to me. You can just about bet that the folks calling out for the dominance of Christmas would be singing a new song if Judaism were the dominant religious culture and this time of year radio stations across the land played Chanukah songs. Well, metaphorically they would be singing a new song — maybe a few even literally.

3) Get Mad About “Happy Holidays” — On a related note, you know what “holiday” is short for, right? Holy day. Do you really have a problem with people calling Christmas a holy day?

2) Think That It Is Actually Jesus’ Birthday — Um. So, dang, this is hard and I’m really sorry to be the one telling you. Um, let’s see. Remember how when you were growing up the Sunday school teacher told you it was Jesus’ birthday? Yeah. Well, um ... they lied. Yeah. Sorry about that. We don’t actually know when Jesus was born. It was probably in the spring or summer because “the shepherds watched their flocks by night” — something that definitely didn’t happen in the winter.

1) Confuse the Religious Observance With the Secular Holiday — It may be that Dec. 25 was picked as the date to celebrate Jesus’ birth to compete with or even to adopt the followers of the pagan celebration of Saturnalia, which included decorating with evergreens, gift giving and parties. (Hmmm, why does that seem so familiar?) I bring this up to make a simple point; A lot of our “War on Christmas” problems would rightfully go away if we simply acknowledged that there are two celebrations of Christmas each year. One is religious and one is not. Most of this article actually points to the issues that happen when we conflate them. So, let’s stop doing it.

________

Mark Sandlin currently serves as the minister at Vandalia Presbyterian Church in Greensboro, NC.

In the classic holiday movie “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation,” Clark Griswold labors long and hard in the cold Chicago night, trying to string 250 strands of lights on his house. He endures defective bulbs, a fall from the roof and taunting neighbors. Finally, when the 250,000 bulbs illumine the entire metroplex, Clark is justifiably proud. Most of his family stands shivering in the yard, offering words of praise and congratulations. But his father-in-law, ever the critic, mumbles, “The little lights aren’t twinkling, Clark.”

We all have that person in our lives, the one we can never please or do enough for, the one who always finds fault and invariably withholds a word of blessing. But before we judge others, we must acknowledge the nasty sludge gurgling up out of our own dark souls – complaint, criticism, gossip and hateful, hasty judgmentalism.

Perhaps Advent is a great time to notice how much of the Good News of Jesus Christ is couched in words of blessing. Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham, a promise that the great patriarch would receive a blessing and be a blessing (Gen. 12:2-3). When Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, was finally able to speak after a God-imposed period of silence, the first words out of his mouth were words of blessing (Luke 1:68). A few months later, the aged prophet Simeon took baby Jesus in his arms and blessed Mary, Joseph and the infant (Luke 2:34).

We have forgotten (or never knew) three things: (1) We all desperately hunger for a blessing. (2) We all possess untapped power to bless others. (3) Most of us underestimate our own capacity to grow, to become people who bless others instead of people who curse them.

Brain research reveals that negative messages resonate with us because we are genetically predisposed toward them. From an evolutionary perspective, our brains are hardwired to be scanners, to sniff out the doubtful, the dangerous or the deadly. Research also reports, however, that our brains can be rewired to see the positive, to speak and act our way into habits of blessing. (See, for example, the work of Phyllis Watts on The Science of Countering Anti-Muslim Sentiment. [Kerux HolwickID #66111])

A year ago I preached a sermon on the daily choice of gratitude. Though I had long forgotten the sermon, a woman in my congregation had not. For an entire year, she has practiced daily gratitude, writing notes of appreciation and finding various ways to bless others. She recently reported to me that she now sees her own life more positively. In other words, the “blesser” was blessed.

In many churches the benediction may be the most underrated and underused element of the worship service. Sadly, many pastors use this concluding prayer as a place to dump neglected announcements: “Dear God, bless the offering for hurricane relief which we are receiving at the doors as people leave this morning,” or “Lord, bless the meal we will share downstairs in a few minutes, with the line forming at the south end of the fellowship hall.” Some pastors use the benediction to recap the sermon, in case anyone was sleeping: “Dear Heavenly Father, dismiss us with the assurance that Jesus purifies, protects, provides and perfects.”

Many years ago I began paying attention to the last words heard by my congregation before they departed the worship space. No matter how great or poor the music or whether the sermon struck fire, a carefully prepared benediction can find its way into people’s ears and hearts and become God’s good word (bene=good and diction=word).

All week long the people in our churches are brutalized by words which attack them, devalue them and challenge their core worth. The 15-year-old, told her body shape is not acceptable; the middle-aged man, informed that his skill set no longer meets the company’s needs; the memory care patient, ignored, alone and invisible – these souls are crying out for the healing balm of a blessing.

Words matter. Words can cut or heal (James 3:10). No matter what else went right or wrong in a worship service, I want the last thing my people hear to be good news: “God loves you. You are so special to God and us. You matter and possess infinite worth.”

No wonder Charles Dickens, in his immortal story, A Christmas Carol, allows Tiny Tim to have the final word. It’s a word we all need and a word which costs us nothing to share. “God bless us, every one!”

”For a child will be born for us ... he will be named ... Prince of Peace.” Isaiah 9:6

“Don’t assume that I came to bring peace.” Matthew 10:34-35

For those celebrating Advent, this week marks a focus on peace. It’s a fitting theme of reflection at Christmastime – or anytime, really – for Christians.

Peace is a fruit of the Spirit, and Jesus was, and is, full of the Spirit. The Messianic prophecy found in Isaiah 9:6 calls Jesus the Prince of Peace, and Christ Himself said, “blessed are the peacemakers.” Given the premium Scripture places on peace, it’s no wonder Christmas hymns and decor are filled with its references, or that peace is one of the most searched-for words in the Bible this time of year.

It’s somewhat shocking, therefore, to learn that when the expected Messiah appeared on earth, He told His disciples quite plainly that He did not come to bring peace, but rather a sword (Matthew 10:34-35). According to Jesus’ own words, He wants us to assume He ushered in sharp division at His first coming.

This beckons the questions: How should we think about peace at Christmas? As we reconcile these passages, what thoughts should be going through our heads as we sing familiar yuletide tunes of “peace on earth, goodwill to men”? Here are some thoughts to help us orient our perspective on peace this Christmas.

How Christ brings peace

Understanding the distinction between Christ’s first and second advents (i.e., His first and second comings) is the key to making sense of the peace He brings. Christ wept for the residents of Jerusalem who missed “what would bring peace” when they expected the Messiah to immediately bring physical deliverance and earthly shalom (Luke 19:41).

While Jesus will usher in eternal peace for His people at His second coming, the primary purpose of His first advent was to bring peace between God and sinners. Romans 4:25-5:1 explains that this kind of peace is rooted in Christ’s death and resurrection: “He was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification. Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

The sacrificial death of Christ transformed God’s enemies who were exposed to His wrath into God’s children who are sheltered by His love. This is why the song “O Holy Night” contains the lyric, “His law is love, and His gospel is peace.” It’s also why we can joyfully sing Christmas songs celebrating peace while news headlines describe a world filled with anything but.

How Christ brings a sword

But as much as the Gospel brings peace between God and sinners, it also brings division between those aligned with Jesus and those who reject Him. This separation is sharp enough to cut through the closest of family ties, even causing rifts, sometimes, between members of one’s own household (Matthew 10:35-39).

Christ’s promise of bringing a sword isn’t to cause unnecessary conflict. Indeed, Christians are supposed to live at peace with everyone “as far as it depends on you” (Romans 12:18). In pursuing this peace, however, Christians are also promised a life marked by necessary tension, because the kingdom of the world is at war with the kingdom of God.

This tension is why Jesus can say in the same sermon “blessed are the peacemakers” and “you are blessed when they insult you, persecute you, and say every kind of evil against you because of me” (Matthew 5:9-11). Peace with Christ in the period of waiting between His first and second comings always creates uncomfortable conflict with the world.

Living between two advents

Advent is a season of anticipation. A mistake this time of year would be to get swept away expecting the “spirit of Christmas” to solve all our problems. This vague notion that relies on nostalgia and wistful intentions to do good usually dissolves right around the time that New Year’s resolutions begin to lose their luster.

By contrast, Christians anticipate something much more solid that’s brought to remembrance through the actual Spirit of Christmas. This is the Gospel which points to Jesus’ first arrival that brought peace with God and division with the world. This is a great season to also foster anticipation for Christ’s second coming which will usher in eternal peace in a resurrected world with a resurrected people worshiping the promised King.

As you reflect on peace this Christmas, pause to consider the richness of the peace your spiritual adoption brings and the calling to courageously embrace the temporary battle that accompanies it as we await Jesus’ return.

1. Lift up your heads, ye mighty gates:

Behold the King of glory waits!

The King of kings is drawing near,

The Saviour of the world is here.

2. O blest the land, the city blest,

Where Christ the ruler is confessed!

O happy hearts and happy homes

To whom this King of triumph comes!

3. Fling wide the portals of your heart:

Make it a temple, set apart

From earthly use for heav’n’s employ,

Adorned with prayer and love and joy.

4. Redeemer, come! I open wide

My heart to Thee: here, Lord, abide!

Let me Thy inner presence feel:

Thy grace and love in me reveal.

5. So come, my Sov’reign, enter in!

Let new and nobler life begin!

Thy Holy Spirit guide us on,

Until the glorious crown be won.

[Tune: “Waltham” or “Duke Street”]

*

As presented on the First Sunday of Advent, 1996. Prepared for Community Church of Fairfield and Hanover Prebyterian Church by the Rev. Denzel Nonhof copyright 1997.

The Rev. Denzel Nonhof

HC 3, Box 3580

Shell Knob, Missouri 65747-9114

This material can be used without permission when used in the local church. No permission is given to reprint any of this material for profit.

------- preparation ------

AN ADVENT MOBILE: Needed

1)A mobile with a Star of David, a descending Dove, an Alpha and Omega, an Angel with a Trumpet, and the Babe in a Manger.

2)Before the service, someone needs to hand the mobile securely from the ceiling in the Sanctuary.

THE MEANING OF ADVENT: Needed

1)Wreath holder already in place in front of the sanctuary.

2)Basket to hold items.

3)One Advent Wreath.

4)Three Purple candles.

5)One Rose candles.

6)One White Christ candle.

7)Holly, mistletoe, etc. for the decoration of the wreath.

8)A lighter.

PLACING OF THE EVERGREENS: Needed

1)Two people to put evergreen in the windows.

2)Two people to hold the basket for the two who are placing the evergreens.

3)Two baskets.

4)Enough evergreens for the windows and around the Bible in front of the sanctuary.

5)Tie bows and ornaments for accents in the greenery.

THE LEGEND OF THE CHRISTMAS TREE: Needed

1)Christmas tree assembled ahead of time, with lights, star and garland.

2)Gold or white tree skirt already in place.

3)Ornaments.

4)One person to help people down the stairs, (if needed)

5)One person to hand people an ornament.

6)One person to stand near the tree to provide assistance to smaller children to hand ornaments on the tree, or help place ornaments on the higher branches.

THE LEGEND OF THE POINSETTIA: Needed

1)Poinsettias in red and white, foiled in gold, about 25 in all. These will be stored in a cool place until they are placed in the sanctuary.

2)Members of the Sunday School classes to assist in placing the poinsettias throughout the sanctuary.

3)Plastic plant holders with red or white dots so the “placers” can locate the correct color and location to place their poinsettia. These plastic holders must be in place the day before. There should be enough poinsettias to be impressive and they are purchased by the congregation and the memorials are printed in the bulletin. After the “placers” have positioned all the poinsettias, the people should return to their seats.

SAINT NICHOLAS: Needed:

1)One man dressed in an old robe and stocking-style hat.

2)One small boy to walk around with Saint Nicholas.

3)Burlap bag with potatoes and boxes of raisins to be handed out.

4)An old robe and stocking hat for Saint Nicholas to wear.

THE SCRIPTURES: Needed

1)Sculpted Nativity set.

2)Blue, green, white, or gold cloth draped in front of the Bible. Greenery and poinsettias will already be in place.

CANDLE LIGHTING: Needed

1)Two children to be the candle lighters, and two teenagers or women to lift the hurricane candle glasses to light the candles. It would be a good idea if the two assistants have a lighter in case the acolytes forget and extinguish their candle lighters.

2)One person to turn up the lights when each hymn begins.

CANDY CANES: Needed

1)Candy canes in sufficient quantity that everyone who attends worship can have one to take home.

2)Baskets to put the candy canes into.

3)Two people to distribute candy canes at the door of the church.

--- Service ---

THE MEANING OF ADVENT

By the prophet Isaiah it stands written:

“Here is my herald whom I send and he will prepare your way.”

Prepare the way. Prepare the heart and mind. Let everyone stand silent. Let the stars and moon cease to move. Let the leaves of the trees and the tall browning grass cease to rustle in the wind. With expectant hush, and long awaiting yearning, we herald the coming of the long awaited Christ Child, the coming of the infant to Bethlehem.

Advent. A Latin word for “Coming.” Prepare the way. Prepare the heart to receive. Prepare the way. The Christ is coming.

Let us prepare for the advent, the coming of the Christ Child. On this first Sunday of Advent, this first of four Sabbaths, let us prepare with repentance. Let us prepare with hope. Let us prepare with faith. For the light will come into this world, as God has promised.

The Christ Child will come into the Bethlehem stable. The Christ Child will come into the world, into every life that waits, and into every hopeful heart. The Messiah comes to bring the Christmas to every waiting believer. Let us now prepare to receive Him.

Let us now begin our service of preparation. Come let us begin - our expectant waiting, for Christ, the Messiah. We acknowledge the prophesies and celebrate the coming with renewal of traditions, with remembered worship, with reverent waiting.

There are many symbols of waiting, of preparation. There are many practiced customs to hail the Advent, the Coming.

Foremost among the symbols is the Wreath of Coming. The circle of the Wreath has no end. A wreath is like the Eternal with no end and no beginning.

A circle of evergreen, a circle of meaning, a symbol of that which is as eternal as God, as victorious as the coming Christ, and as everlasting as the promises.

The Advent Wreath is a symbol of hope, a symbol of four Sabbaths, four Sabbaths of waiting.

Four candles light the wreath. Three are purple. Each purple candle is a symbol of waiting; repentant waiting, a symbol of our preparation, longing, and waiting. One for each of three Sabbaths of repentant preparation.

On the third Sunday of Advent, the rose candle is set aglow to symbolize hope; deep longing, fervent expecting hope rooted in promises made long ago.

The center candle is white. Pure symbolic white. Lighted when the Christ is come.

The wreath is made with carefully chosen materials, each a symbol of the Christ. Palm leaves symbolize the Peace he extolled. Palms for the Prince of Peace. Holly is used to symbolize the crucified Christ. Legend tells us holly was used to fashion the crown of thorns for the head of the crucified Christ. Legend has it that the berries were yellow until stained red by His blood.

Mistletoe symbolizes Christ the everlasting. Ancient Druids noted when all other trees were bare, Mistletoe was green. Thus it came to be in Christian legend a symbol of eternity; Christ the Everlasting, Christ the Eternal.

So in the wreath, we symbolized the coming of Christ, the Victorious Christ, the Prince of Peace; Christ, the Eternal; Christ, the Revelation of God.

He comes! Let us Prepare for His coming.

PLEASE STAND and sing the first verse of our Advent Hymn: “Oh Come, Oh, Come, Emmanuel.” 123/542

THE NATIVITY MOBILE (this could also be a series of banners hung during Advent)

STAR OF DAVID

At the top of the mobile is the Star of David.

God is acknowledged to be the Creator of all stars, planets, and constellations. As well as knowing their names and numbers, Biblical writers knew many of the constellations. The Lord asked Job, “Can you bind the chains of Pleiades, or loose the cords of Orion?”

Individual stars are mentioned. Probably the most famous and intriguing of all the stars mentioned in Scripture is the star of Bethlehem, told of in Matthew 2. Many theories have been posited regarding its identity. Scripture does not name the star. It is one of many miracles that attest to the power of our God and is similar to the pillar of fire used to demonstrate God's presence and might to the children of Israel as they made their way to the land of Canaan. In the final book of the Bible the Lord Jesus is called “the bright and morning star.”

The star we have is a six-pointed star, commonly called the star of David. God promised David that his throne should stand forever. In Jesus Christ, God fulfills this promise. Let us ever remember that Jesus was Jewish. Jesus was born a Jew to fulfill the law in perfect obedience.

DOVE

The term “dove” is applied rather loosely to many smaller species of pigeon. The first mention of the dove in the Bible occurs in Genesis 8:8- 12. Noah released a dove from the ark to determine if the flood waters had subsided from the earth.

All four Gospels describe the Spirit of God descending like a dove upon Jesus after His baptism. This familiar bird with all its rich associations was chosen to symbolize God's Spirit.

The term “turtledove” also is applied to any of the smaller varieties of pigeon. The turtledove played a significant sacrificial role in the Bible. For those who could not afford a lamb, the law prescribed that two turtle-doves or pigeons be offered for the sacrifice of purification after childbearing. Mary brought such an offering after the birth of Christ.

The dove in the mobile is placed there to remind us of the work of the Holy Spirit of God. It was by the Spirit that Mary became pregnant. The Spirit came upon Jesus at his baptism and by the Spirit of God, Jesus could do miracles. This Spirit, God and Jesus Christ gives to those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. We are Christians only because we are anointed with the Spirit of the Lord.

ALPHA AND OMEGA

The ALPHA AND OMEGA are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet and are used in Revelation to describe God or Christ. The Alpha looks like our letter “A,” while the Omega has the appearance of a horseshoe on end. “Alpha and Omega” refers to God's sovereignty and eternal nature. God and Christ are “the beginning and the end, the first and last.” Thus, they control all history and all humans of all generations.

He who is beyond all time entered time. At Christmas it is appropriate to remember that Jesus came to give us eternal life. This is symbolized by the holly which is green and has berries of red. Life eternal is symbolized by the green, and the red berries remind us of how he gave his life on the cross for our salvation.

ANGEL

The term “angel” is derived from the Greek word angelos which means “messenger.” Angelos and the Hebrew equivalent, malak (which also means “messenger”), are the two most common terms used to describe this class of beings in the Bible. In general, in texts where an angel appears, the task of the angel is to convey the message or do the will of the God who sent him. Since the focus of the text is on the message, the messenger is rarely described in detail.

The angel's function as messenger or agent of God is acted out in proclamation, revealing the will of God and/or announcing key events. An angel announced to Joseph that Mary would have a child. Mary received a special messenger who told her that she would have a son and name him Jesus because he would save the people from their sins. At the end of time, the trumpet of the Lord shall sound and the dead in Christ shall rise first.

Allow God to use this mobile to remind you we await the coming of the angels of the Lord. They who sang glory to God in this highest when Jesus was born, shall also escort us into heaven.

THE BABE IN THE MANGER

A Manger is a feeding trough used for cattle, sheep, donkeys, or horses. Archaeologists have discovered stone mangers in the horse stables of Ahab at Megiddo. They were cut out of limestone and were approximately three feet long, eighteen inches wide, and two feet deep. Other ancient mangers were made of masonry. Many Palestinian homes consisted of one large room which contained an elevated section and a lower section. The elevated section was the family's living quarters, while the lower section housed the family's animals. Usually a manger, in the form of a masonry box or a stone niche, was located in the lower section. Mangers were also put in cave stables or other stalls. The manger referred to in Luke 2:16 may have been in a cave stable or other shelter. There Jesus was laid to sleep after his birth.

What wondrous love is this that God should come to live among us, to be born as a human being, to experience all which we have experienced? What wondrous love is this which came down from heaven? This love of God in Jesus Christ is unique in all the worlds, and when we celebrate the birthday of Jesus, the love of God comes into us in a unique and special way.

SPECIAL MUSIC: What Wondrous Love Is This #177

PLACING THE EVERGREENS

When all the earth is brown, when the leaves have departed the trees; Evergreens stand in lonely vigil until the earth again is green.

Evergreens shout to us about the hoped for coming of green again. Evergreens stand ever ready to remind us of joyous hope. The joyous reality of the eternal presence of the Christ Child; the eternal presence in all the world.

Legend tells us that long ago, the evergreens were not forever colored with verdant leaves. Before the birth of the Eternal One, before the coming, the evergreen was bare like other trees around.

Let us begin this legend with the recorded event written in Scripture and recorded by Matthew. The Gospel writer says,

An angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. And the angel said to him: “Rise up and take the Infant Jesus and his mother and escape with them to Egypt. Stay in Egypt until I bid you return. You are no longer safe. Go, for Herod sends his soldiers to seek out the Child and destroy Him.” So Mary and Joseph and their Infant Child left the warmth and security of their land and journeyed into Egypt.

Hastily, they gathered their meager belongings. Into the dark of night they stole away. Escape, they must, the jealous wrath of Herod and his men. Escape, they must, from the death decree handed down by Herod.

No word could be said of their hasty departure; no notice of a planned destination. Friends and family could not know of their going, lest they too come under the decree of death.

Over rocky hills and dusty roads, they traveled wearily; Mary and the Infant on the back of a donkey; Joseph, alert and watchful, walking beside them.

With heavy saddened hearts and fearful weary bodies, they made their way all night long and into the following long day.

Mid-afternoon, dust in the distance behind them came. Fast riding soldiers came, soldiers sent from Herod, sent to carry out Herod's dreadful mission.

Where could they hide? Where could the Holy Family find protection? The hillside was barren, offering no shield.

Quickly, a frightened Joseph guided Mary and her child into a clump of cedars on a hill. Immediately, the bare cedar twigs greened with color, thickened with growth to shield the Holy Family.

The white berries of the cedar tree turned to sapphire blue to match the robe that Mary wore that day. So Mary, mother of Jesus in a robe of sapphire blue could blend with cedar trees, and go unnoticed by passing, hunting soldiers.

Past the Holy family, went the band of Herod's men; never seeing, never knowing Mary, Joseph, and Infant Jesus were safely sheltered in a clump of green cedars with berries of sapphire blue.

Since that day, cedars and plants like them have never shed their leaves; never lost their green; for they sheltered the Holy Family. Forever green, to honor the day they received the Infant Christ Child.

Evergreen, everlasting, eternal, green branches are a part of our preparation, our waiting: a symbol of hope, a symbol of eternity, a reminder of love received. Evergreen is a symbol of the eternal promise of renewal, a symbol of the eternal and everlasting God.

STAND WITH ME to sing the first and third verses of our hymn: Hark the Herald Angels Sing. 133/537

THE LEGEND OF THE CHRISTMAS TREE

During this reading, we invite you to come forward and place an ornament on our Christmas Tree.

The Christmas Tree is widely used in our celebration of Christmas.

Green trees, blue trees, frosty snow-covered trees, inside a warm room. Lighted trees, living trees, all are trees of Christmas.

Our use of Christmas trees is so widespread, we have forgotten the beginning. Hear the legend of the first Christmas Tree.

Seven hundred years after the birth of Christ, Pope Gregory wanted to send a Christian missionary to the pagan tribes of Northern Germany. He called on Winfred of England (later known as Saint Boniface) to go to Germany for a three-year period to teach Christian ways to the pagan tribes who lived there. One day, as Winfred was traveling among the people there, he came upon a gathering for a pagan ceremony in the forest. With the ritual about to take place, the spirit of the forest was being worshiped with a human sacrifice. The usual ceremony involved the blood of an innocent child sprinkled around an oak tree to please the god of the forest. Winfred begged that the ceremony be stopped, but his words were ignored. In a desperate act to stop the ritual, Winfred grabbed the ceremonial ax and cut down the oak tree. The people were furious, but their anger turned to amazement as they saw a small fir tree spring up to replace the fallen oak.

A shaft of light caused each twig on the fir tree to glisten and the people listened and believed when Winfred told them the tree was a symbol of the birth of life through Christ.

Thus, began the custom among German people of using a fir tree as a symbol to acknowledge the birth of Christ.

It was another seven hundred years before Martin Luther put lighted candles on his tree to recapture the glistening twigs of the tree in the forest which Winfred had seen. He also topped his tree with a star to commemorate that star which was in the Bethlehem sky as recorded in scriptures:

“Behold, there came wise-men from the East to Jerusalem, saying, 'Where is He that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the East and we have come to worship Him.'“

Green trees, blue trees, frosty snow-covered trees, lighted trees, living trees; all are trees of Christmas.

THE LEGEND OF THE POINSETTIA

In the past two hundred years, a new element has found its place in our Christmas celebration. It is from the Christian practices and symbols in Mexico that we have adopted this tradition.

In the very early part of the 19th century, an American who served the United States as an ambassador, spent a tour of duty in Mexico. He admired the dramatic beauty of the bright red poinsettia that grew rooftop high and bloomed profusely at Christmas. He was awed when Mexican Christians told him why the bright red poinsettias were a part of their celebration of the birth and life of Christ.

In Mexico, the story goes like this: The Bethlehem star shone over the manger where Jesus was born. Its light so bright the earth responded, reflecting that star light, receiving that star light, mirroring that star light with a beautiful flower. Star shaped, radiant shaped, pure white petals, golden star centers. In Mexican lore, it was always the Flower of the Holy Night.

It grew on earth as a creation to glorify and commemorate that Holy Night “For the stars shout forth the glory of God.” Then came the tragic day when Jesus dies on the cross and the blossoms changed. Pure white petals remembered the sacrifice of the Christ born when the star was over Bethlehem.

Flower of the Holy Night, star shaped, radiant shaped, blood red petals, star flowers for the Holy Night. Now, everywhere, on cards and on trees, in churches and in our homes, the poinsettia takes its place; reminding us of a Holy Night, pointing to a Good Friday.

(The Section for Santa Claus can be inserted here.

See Appendix)

THE SCRIPTURES (ADAPTED FROM LUKE AND JOHN)

In the beginning was the Word.

In the very beginning was only the Word and the Word became the presence of God and came to live among the people of the earth. Hear the story of the birth of the Word - made living flesh as it has been told by those who followed the Word.

The coming of the Messiah had long been prophesied. And there were many who longed for His coming.

For the people of God were oppressed and the land was troubled with hunger and slavery and cruelty and oppression.

And fear hovered over God's people.

Emperor Augustus ruled the Roman Empire with a cruel hand and Quirinius, the governor of Syria, was a tool of the Roman tyranny.

More taxes were needed, more taxes to support the Roman rulers.

So the decree went out that a new census would be taken, and everyone must go back to his birthplace to be counted for tax purposes. For this purpose, everyone made his way to his own town. So Joseph went up to Judea from the town of Nazareth in Galilee, to be registered at the city of David, called Bethlehem, because he was of the house of David by descent.

And with him went Mary who was betrothed to him. She was expecting a child.

And while they were there, the time came for her child to be born, and she gave birth to a son, her firstborn. She wrapped him 'round, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them to lodge in the inn. No room for a child in the inn.

Now in this same district there were shepherds out in the field - keeping watch through the night over their flock. When suddenly there stood before them an angel of the Lord - and the splendor of the Lord shone 'round them. They were struck with terror!

But the angel said, “Do not be afraid. I have good news for you. There is great joy coming to the whole people. Today, in the city of David, a deliverer has been born to you; the Messiah, the Lord. And this is your sign; you will find a baby lying in a manger, wrapped in swaddling.”

All at once, there was with the angel, a great multitude of angels singing the praises of God.

“Glory to God on high - and on earth, His peace and good will to all people!”

After the angels had left them and gone into the heaven - the shepherds said to one another, “Come, we must go straight to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.”

So they went with all speed, they found their way to Mary and Joseph, ... and the baby lying in a manger. When they saw him, they recounted what they had been told about this child. And all who heard were astonished at what the shepherds said. But, Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them.

Ponder we also over the birth of Jesus, For the Bread of Life is the Word- Made-Flesh. Born again is the nurture of life, the Bread upon which all may feast.

WE STAND NOW to sing the first and second verses of Silent Night, Holy Night! 147/530

LIGHTING THE CANDLES

The birth of Jesus and the life He lived brought many changes to the world. The life He lived, the truths He taught, the example He gave, the love He generated; His life, His teachings, His truth. These are the guide posts for all.

We symbolize these truths, by the use of two candles. One candle to symbolize the life He lived; the example he gave, the wholeness of His life, words, and deeds. One candle, a constant symbol of the human life Jesus lived. The flame reminds us of his teachings, the truths He shared, the Parables He told, the Wisdom he gave. One candle reminds us of the man, Jesus.

The other candle reminds us that Jesus is the second person of the Trinity. He was with the Father in the Beginning. He is Very God of Very God. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Jesus came from God, dwelt among human beings, giving his life for the sins of the world, to be resurrected on the third day. Jesus ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father. The second candle reminds us that Jesus is God.

These two candles stand as symbols of Jesus the Christ, whose coming brought hope to human kind in the life and teachings of Jesus. He brought hope to the world. As these candles give their light for others to see, may we bear the light of Christ to others. As light comes from Christ and so travels throughout the world, so light is taken from the candles which always remind us of Jesus, son of Mary and son of God. We carry the light, that others may bear the light.

Amen! Jesus, light of the world. Jesus, the truth of the world. Jesus, the life in the world. Jesus, the light of all lights!

STAND TO SING our hymn of Gladness: “Joy to the World”

THE STORY OF THE CANDY CANE

A CANDYMAKER'S WITNESS

A Candymaker in Indiana wanted to make a candy that would be a witness, so he made the Christmas Candy Cane. He incorporated several symbols for the birth, ministry, and death of Jesus Christ.

He began with a stick of pure white, hard candy. White symbolizes the Virgin birth and the sinless nature of Jesus, and hardness symbolizes the Solid Rock, the foundation of the Church, and firmness of the promises of God.

The candymaker made the candy in the form of a “J” to represent the precious name of Jesus, who came to earth as our Savior. It could also represent the staff of the “Good Shepherd” with which He reaches down into the ditches of the world to lift out the fallen lambs who, like all sheep, have gone astray.

Thinking that the candy was somewhat plain, the candymaker stained it with red stripes. He used three small stripes to show the stripes of the scourging Jesus received by which we are healed. The large red stripe was for the blood shed by Christ on the cross so that we could have the promise of eternal life.

Unfortunately, the candy became known as a Candy Cane a meaningless decoration seen at Christmas time. But the meaning is still there for those who “have eyes to see and ears to hear.” I pray that this symbol will again be used to witness To The Wonder of Jesus and His Great Love that came down at Christmas and remains the ultimate and dominant force in the universe today.

end see below for appendix --- end

AN APPENDIX FOR SAINT NICHOLAS: This may be included after the Poinsettia Section, but another section or two sections must be omitted to make room for it.

For many Americans, Christmas is Santa Clause, that jolly old elf. But, Is Christmas, Santa Claus? Does Santa Claus belong?

He has many names: Santa Claus, Kris Kringle, Father Christmas, St. Nick, Saint Nicholas.

Once upon a time, there was a real Saint Nicholas. Saint Nicholas, the most human of the early Saints. Saint Nicholas, remote, elusive, mystical, reflecting the hopes and needs of people since earliest time.

Born in the area where Jesus was born, Nicholas became bishop of Myra while still a young man. The stories of his deeds are factual from records of the fourth and fifth centuries.

He calmed a stormy sea and became the patron saint of sailors. He saved three boys from death and became the patron saint of children. He gave a dowry to three young women and became the patron said of the poor.

He convinced the captain of three grain ships to give part of their cargo to the poor. They gave and gave to feed the hungry, but their ships remained full. He became the patron saint of the hungry.

He became the symbol of giving. Giving to those in need, sharing with others, a symbol of human longing and fulfillment of human need.

The tradition of giving and sharing was kept alive by those who remembered Saint Nicholas. From father to son, from sailor to shopkeeper, from priest to alter boy, the story was told.

Then - Santa Claus is real. He's not just American, created by Madison Avenue, packaged and marketed along with Christmas merchandise.

Santa Claus, as we know him, was revived in Holland in 1508, on December 6, the anniversary of the birth of Saint Nicholas, Bishop of Myra. The Dutch were at war with Spain; fighting a long hard war for their independence. The Spanish blocked their seaports and destroyed their fields. The people were hungry, the people were starving, a terrible famine was over the land.

Bishop Nicholas, Bishop of Spain, came to Holland on a boat. Leavening his boat at the dock, he rode over the countryside on a white horse, directing his Moorish servants to give potatoes to the people. He gave potatoes to the starving Dutch. He gave figs and raisins to the children.

In the Dutch language, Saint Nicholas is Sinterklass (pronounced, “Center-Claws”) Each year since that day, December 6 is Sinterklass Day; a day for giving, to meet all human needs. A day when Sinterklass comes again on a boat from Spain; and rides his white horse to every home with embellished potatoes and gifts, simple, but rich in symbolism. Dutch settlers came to our shore. With them came Sinterklass, who has grown with the years.

Changing with the years, Santa Claus now comes with reindeer. Santa Claus, of the North Pole; Santa Claus, a secular elf, a jovial, jolly, St. Nick. But the symbols of giving, giving to the needy, giving of self where there is want is the true meaning of Santa Claus.

Saint Nicholas, from Myra, to Spain, to Holland, to America, every Christmas for seventeen hundred years. The spirit of Saint Nicholas lives when we give, give of ourselves, giving to meet to the needs of other.

copyright - Rev. Denzel Nonhof copyright © 1997.

Kir Shalom - Rev. Richard J. Fairchild 1997

use only with proper acknowledgement

*

THE GOSPEL OF CHRISTMAS - The word “gospel”(EUANGELION Gk.) means “good news,” as in the “good tidings of great joy” that was proclaimed by an angel of the Lord to the shepherds tending their flock on that first Christmas: “For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:11) This time of year, we read this verse in our church bulletins and Christmas cards, and we hear it often on television seasonal programming like A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS. Perhaps the words have become so familiar that we gloss over their meaning and importance. We first notice that God sent His angel with the announcement about the birth of Jesus not to the kings and rulers of the day, but to shepherds out in the fields, the common working man. Secondly, it is an amazing truth of God’s love for all people that Jesus was “born to you.” We give gifts to others at Christmas as representative of the greatest gift the world has ever received, the only begotten Son of God. It is by receiving God’s gift of Jesus by faith in Him as personal Savior and Lord that results in our becoming God’s children; being spiritually born as an adopted son or daughter and securing our eternal destiny with Him forever in heaven from that moment of saving faith. (John 1:12-13, ch. 3) Which brings us to the three titles ascribed to Jesus by the angel: “SAVIOR, CHRIST, and LORD.” These titles are very important in understanding the Person and Work of Jesus, for again, it is by believing in Jesus for Who He is and by trusting in His atoning work on the cross that we are saved from sin, hell and the devil. The penalty for sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus the Christ. (Rom. 6:23)

Jesus is the “CHRIST,” which is the Greek, or New Testament translation, of the Hebrew, or Old Testament word, “Messiah,” meaning ‘Anointed One.” Jesus is the Messiah, the Deliverer promised by God to the Jewish nation. (The Jews however, were looking for a political deliverer, rather than a spiritual one, so they, like all who do not believe, did not and do not recognize Jesus as the Christ, John. 1:11). Seven hundred years before the birth of Jesus, the prophet Isaiah, under divine inspiration, wrote these words which also often appear on our Christmas cards: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.” (Isaiah 7:14) In Matthew 1:23 we read that “Immanuel” means “God with us.” Here we have the real meaning of Christmas, what theologians term the “incarnation,” which is the second Person of the Godhead breaking into human history as a baby born in “the city of David” (Bethlehem as foretold by the prophet Micah, 5:2). Fully human, yet fully divine, the incarnation is a biblical truth that our finite minds can not completely understand. Yet, the testimony of Father, Son and Holy Spirit show Jesus to be God in human flesh: “The Word became flesh...” (John 1:14) He is “LORD” as the angel called Him. Believing that Jesus Christ is God is mandatory for the forgiveness of sins. (John 8:24)

The Christmas narrative in the Bible confirms that the babe in the manger was God in human flesh by the fact that He was born of a virgin. This means that Jesus, being God, is the sinless “SAVIOR.” By the virgin birth in His incarnation He did not have the sin nature of man which is passed on to every human being since the fall of man into sin in the Garden of Eden. God decreed that the penalty for sin is death: spiritual, physical and eternal (Gen. 2:17), but in His amazing love for us He also announced the coming Savior from sin to be born of a virgin (Gen. 3:15). Every person is born in a “lost” condition; physically alive, but spiritually dead and destined for an eternity separated from God in hell. All people are sinners; by nature, thought and deed. We’re not sinners because we sin; we sin because we’re sinners, that’s who we are. God’s requirement for heaven is sinless perfection and we all fall woefully short. Being a good person, doing good works, giving money to church or charity, being a church member, being baptized, performing religious ritual or sacraments, trying to obey the Ten Commandments - none of these result in the forgiveness of sins. That’s why Jesus came: to live the sinless, righteous life that we cannot, and to take our place on the cross, shedding His blood to pay the full penalty for all our sin. The shedding of blood is required by God for the forgiveness of sin. The penalty for sin is death so an unbloody sacrifice is worthless. (Heb. 9:22) God justifies, declares righteous, sinners at the moment of saving faith in the shed blood of Jesus. (Rom 5:9)

Salvation is by God’s grace alone, His unmerited favor upon undeserving sinners. When we turn from our sinfulness towards holy God, placing our faith solely upon Jesus; not relying on anything we could do but trusting in His all-sufficient, one time for all time atoning sacrifice on the cross 2,000 years ago, God imputes, or credits, the righteousness of Jesus to us. (2 Cor. 5:21) At the moment of saving faith, we are justified, or declared righteous in His sight so He no longer sees us as sinners, but as saints clothed in the righteousness of His dear Son. (Rom. 3) This is the gospel of Christmas and the gospel of God: that God became a man in the Person of Jesus Christ to live the holy life we cannot and to die in our place on the cross, paying the full penalty for all our sins, to be buried and rise again, to ascend to the Father’s right hand until the time of the Gentiles be fulfilled when He will come again in great power and glory.

THE MESSAGE OF CHRISTMAS IS THAT JESUS CAME TO EARTH TO MAKE THE WAY FOR MAN TO GO TO HEAVEN. “I am the way...” (Jn. 14:6) “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.” (Acts 16:31) True faith removes all human works (Rom. 4:5) and gives God all the glory. Saving faith is trusting Jesus alone for our salvation, not trusting in Jesus plus our good works, a church, a human authority, sacraments, Mary, etc., but trusting completely on Jesus the only Mediator, for there is no other (1 Tim. 2:5), and His finished, all sufficient atoning sacrifice which need not be, nor can be re-presented. “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life, he who does not believe in the Son shall not see life.” (John 3:36) Believers in Jesus have blessed assurance of eternal life and a heavenly home. (1 Jn. 5:13)

Theme: Jesus brings us the gift of love. ( Fourth Sunday of Advent)

Object: A toy Santa, if you choose, but none is really needed.

Scripture: She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. Matthew 1:21 (NIV)

________

One morning last week a tune started going through my mind. As you might imagine, that is not unusual. I love music, so I often wake up in the morning with a song on my mind and I often go to bed at night with a song on my mind. This particular morning was different. I woke up with the tune “Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town” running through my mind, but the words that came to my mind were not the usual words to the song. Here are the words that came to my mind.

Wipe away your tears, get rid of your fears;

Here's the best news you've heard in years!

Jesus Christ is coming to town.

He's makin' a list in the Book of Life,

That'll be the end of your trouble and strife!

Jesus Christ is comin' to town.

He loves you when you're sleepin',

He loves you when you're awake;

He loves you when you're bad or good,

But be good for Jesus' sake!

Now put on a smile, get rid of that frown,

Spread the “Good News” all around;

Jesus Christ is comin' to town.

At this time of year, many people are thinking about Santa Claus coming to town and thinking about all of the great gifts that Santa will bring them. But the real reason for this season is the celebration of Jesus Christ's coming -- and he brings us the greatest gift of all. He brings the gift of God's love. The Bible says, “But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.” Yes, he loves us when we're bad or good, what a great love that is!

Today, we light the fourth candle on the Advent wreath. It is the candle of love. It reminds us that God loved us so much that he sent his Son to save us.

Dear Lord, we thank you for your great love. We thank you that you showed us that love by sending your son, Jesus, to save us. Amen.

At the outset of the Christmas season a few Sundays ago, I was preparing to teach a Sunday School class in a series from Revelation on Jesus as a conquering Warrior Messiah, dripped in blood and destroying His enemies. Somehow it seemed a little inappropriate for this time of year.

Shouldn't I take a break from the Apocalypse to highlight the little Lord Jesus asleep on the hay? Isn't there something kind of, well, unseasonable about teaching, at this time of year, about a Christ who bears a sword and a cosmic entourage, who prepares His people a messianic banquet and then prepares for the birds a banquet of the flesh and blood of His enemies (Revelation 19:17-19)? It is hard to imagine Tiny Tim exclaiming, “God bless us every one,” after hearing my lesson on southern-fried Gog and Magog.

But my discomfort only revealed to me how much my Christmas imagery is more shaped by Currier and Ives than by apostles and prophets.

The infant Jesus is not as conspicuous in American pop culture as He once was. Claymation Burl Ives is a little more palatable to contemporary religious pluralism. But the baby Jesus still exists in the American Christian subculture as a kind of non-threatening mascot for everything warm and sentimental about the holiday season. The only problem with this is that the Bible doesn't present the baby Jesus as warm or sentimental at all. As a matter of fact, the sentimental Jesus of the Christmas season often chills our evangelistic fervor because we forget that the Bethlehem event is the exact opposite of blessing the good feelings of contemporary American culture.

The virgin birth prophesied in Isaiah is a sign, the prophet tells us, of God defeating His enemies and restoring His kingship (Isaiah 7:10-25). The young Galilean couple travel to Bethlehem, it must be remembered, because from that city of David will come a Conqueror who will drive back the Assyrians and shepherd the people of Israel (Micah 5:1-6). That's why the angel tells Mary not just that she will bear a holy Child but that he will sit on the throne of His father David (Luke 1:32-33), a throne it must be remembered that came through the severed head and bloody foreskins of not a few Philistines. This is also why Herod didn't greet the oracles of the Magi with a hearty “season's greetings,” but with a bloody threat to root out this threat to his kingship (Matt 2). And all of this is rooted in an ancient promise that the son of the woman would crush the head of the serpent of Eden (Genesis 3:15).

We must remember the infancy of Jesus. We must cherish in our hearts that He took on flesh and blood for us, that He bore our humanity in all of its fullness, even in the dependencies of a baby in a feeding box. But we must never allow this baby to be defined as non-threatening. Indeed, the shadow of Bethlehem threatens the frenzied buying of our consumeristic Christmas season. We must remember that ultimately we will not coo over Him in a cradle beneath us, but give an account to Him as our sovereign Judge and give glory to Him as our sovereign King. We must remember that our love for family and friends and Christmas includes our responsibility to plead with them to be found in Christ before the great and terrible day of the Lord.

I suppose that's why I decided against taking a break from Revelation this season. The young virgin Mary, after all, set the tone for our Christmas thoughts when she reflected on the angel's announcement of the birth of Jesus. She sang of God's mercy to His people, of His faithfulness to His covenant promises. And then she sang also of the fact that, in this fetal Incarnate One within her, God “has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; he has brought down the mighty from their thrones, and exalted those of humble estate; he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent empty away” (Luke 1:51-53 ESV).

With Bethlehem before her, Mary also had Armageddon on her mind. So should we.

*

Sermon in series "What We Bring To Christmas," #1. Luke 2:1,4-7

LOVE PREPARED THE WAY

=====================

I. Preparing for Christmas.

A. The annual shopping preparations.

B. Christmas involved many characters.

II. How God prepared for Christmas.

A. He began before creation itself.

B. Prophets and their message.

C. Political environment of the first century was ready.

III. How Mary and Joseph prepared for Christmas.

A. God prefers to work through humble people.

B. Mary and Joseph didn't know there would be a Christmas.

C. God chose them for a special reason.

IV. God uses those who are available for him.

V. How you can be prepared for Christmas.

A. Believe in the Lord Jesus.

B. Use this holiday to glorify him.

You can’t escape them.

There are 12 Days of Christmas contests on the radio, 12 Days of Christmas sales at the mall, 12 Days of Christmas charity drives and of course, that very long song.

Most people (in America, at least) seem to assume that these infamous 12 days describe those leading up to Christmas Day, as evidenced by the aforementioned contests and sales.

And yet it is actually that very factor — the American marketing machine — that has led to this erroneous labeling of Dec. 14-25 as the Twelve Days of Christmas. For retail business, Dec. 25 marks the end of the Christmas season.

However, in Christian tradition, the Twelve Days actually refer to the celebration of Christ’s nativity — also called “Christmastide” — between Christmas (Dec. 25) and Epiphany (Jan. 6), the day that celebrates the visit of the Magi. For this reason, the evening of Jan. 5 is called “Twelfth Night,” made famous by William Shakespeare’s play of that title.

The days preceding Christmas — four weeks to be exact — are more traditionally referred to as Advent, the time in which Christians anticipate both the first and Second Comings of Jesus to earth. In the tradition, Christians don’t actually celebrate (or sing about) Christ’s birth until Christmas Eve, and then they continue to sing about and celebrate the Nativity for the Twelve Festival Days of the season.

There is no biblical mandate to celebrate the Church year, and if someone chooses not to follow the traditional Church calendar, I certainly respect that. Yet utilizing this historic Christian practice can be a great blessing for individual Christians, families and churches alike.

Delaying the celebration with four weeks of yearning makes our focus on the incarnation even more sweet. These weeks of Advent remind us of the reality of sin and desperate need of salvation. They place within our hearts anticipation of not only the first coming of Christ but also His Second Coming.

They allow us not to escape from the realities of pain and sin around us, but to acknowledge them and direct our longing to the only real solution — the incarnate Son of God. As is true of the Book of Psalms, joy and praise become deeper when they are preceded by lament.

And then, with a preparatory period of longing complete, the joyous celebration of Christmas can fill our hearts with a delight and thankfulness made even more stark against the backdrop of longing. The darkness turns to light, lament becomes praise, and longing changes to reality.

Especially at the end of a year that for most has been filled with anxiety, pain, sickness and even death, use these four weeks leading up to Christmas as a time to cry out to God with longing in your heart for the soon coming again of our Savior.

Then rejoice for 12 days in the reality of His first coming, continuing to anticipate His Second Coming, a time in which sin and sorrow will no longer grow, when His blessings will flow “far as the curse is found.”

May that day come quickly! O come, O come, Immanuel!

In the process of moving and reorganizing some bookshelves recently, I recovered something long out of place. A small Nativity scene carved out of olive wood had been inadvertently left behind from last year's Christmas. Holding it in my hand, I cowered at the thought of digging through boxes in the garage long buried by post-Christmas storage. At this point, it seemed better to be two months early in setting it up than 10 months late in packing it away. I decided to keep the carving out.

Strangely enough, my decision then coincided with a friend's mentioning of a good Christmas quote. Advent was suddenly all around me. In a Christmas sermon given December 2, 1928, Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, “The celebration of Advent is possible only to those who are troubled in soul, who know themselves to be poor and imperfect, who look forward to something greater to come. For these, it is enough to wait in humble fear until the Holy One himself comes down to us, God in the child in the manger. God comes. The Lord Jesus comes. Christmas comes. Christians rejoice!” To be early with my Nativity scene suddenly seemed a wise, but convicting thought. I had kept it up for the sake of convenience, what about the sake of remembering? If Advent reminds us that we are waiting in December, what reminds us that we are waiting in October?

The story of the Nativity, though beautiful and familiar, though admittedly far-reaching, is as easily put out of our minds as Christmas decorations are put in boxes. On this side of the calendar, a carved Nativity scene looks amiss. Sitting on my mantle, it seems somehow away from home, far from lights and greenery. But looking at it with thoughts of Advent near, I am struck by the irony that “far away from home” is often my sentiment amidst the lights and greens and sounds of Christmas.

Bonhoeffer continues, “When once again Christmas comes and we hear the familiar carols and sing the Christmas hymns, something happens to us... The hardest heart is softened. We recall our own childhood. We feel again how we then felt, especially if we were separated from a mother. A kind of homesickness comes over us for past times, distant places, and yes, a blessed longing for a world without violence or hardness of heart. But there is something more-a longing for the safe lodging of the everlasting Father. And that leads our thoughts to the curse of homelessness which hangs heavily over the world.”

Unlike any other month, December weighs on my heart the reality of my own homelessness. In the cold and in the hymns, I remember that I am troubled in soul and looking for something greater; I remember that I am poor and imperfect and out of place, and I hear again the gentle knock at the door. Like the Nativity scene on my mantle, I am a stranger in a foreign country, but I have been invited home. Advent is about waiting for the one who embraced homelessness to show us home. It is not December that reminds us we are homeless but the Nativity of God, the Incarnation of Christ. And each day is touched by the promise that God came near, and that Christ will again come breaking through, into our world, into our homelessness, into our sin, and into our death.

In his sermon on Advent, Dietrich Bonhoeffer offered a prayer worth praying in October. “Lord Jesus, come yourself, and dwell with us, be human as we are, and overcome what overwhelms us. Come into the midst of my evil, come close to my unfaithfulness. Share my sin, which I hate and which I cannot leave. Be my brother, Thou Holy God. Be my brother in the kingdom of evil and suffering and death. Come with me in my death, come with me in my suffering, come with me as I struggle with evil. And make me holy and pure, despite my sin and death.” Every day, despite its location on the calendar, a still, small voice answers our cry persuasively, “I stand at the door and knock” (Rev. 3:20).

________

Copyright © 2005 Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM). Reprinted with permission. "A Slice of Infinity" is a radio ministry of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.

*

You can’t escape them.

There are 12 Days of Christmas contests on the radio, 12 Days of Christmas sales at the mall, 12 Days of Christmas charity drives and of course, that very long song.

Most people (in America, at least) seem to assume that these infamous 12 days describe those leading up to Christmas Day, as evidenced by the aforementioned contests and sales.

And yet it is actually that very factor — the American marketing machine — that has led to this erroneous labeling of Dec. 14-25 as the Twelve Days of Christmas. For retail business, Dec. 25 marks the end of the Christmas season.

However, in Christian tradition, the Twelve Days actually refer to the celebration of Christ’s nativity — also called “Christmastide” — between Christmas (Dec. 25) and Epiphany (Jan. 6), the day that celebrates the visit of the Magi. For this reason, the evening of Jan. 5 is called “Twelfth Night,” made famous by William Shakespeare’s play of that title.

The days preceding Christmas — four weeks to be exact — are more traditionally referred to as Advent, the time in which Christians anticipate both the first and Second Comings of Jesus to earth. In the tradition, Christians don’t actually celebrate (or sing about) Christ’s birth until Christmas Eve, and then they continue to sing about and celebrate the Nativity for the Twelve Festival Days of the season.

There is no biblical mandate to celebrate the Church year, and if someone chooses not to follow the traditional Church calendar, I certainly respect that. Yet utilizing this historic Christian practice can be a great blessing for individual Christians, families and churches alike.

Delaying the celebration with four weeks of yearning makes our focus on the incarnation even more sweet. These weeks of Advent remind us of the reality of sin and desperate need of salvation. They place within our hearts anticipation of not only the first coming of Christ but also His Second Coming.

They allow us not to escape from the realities of pain and sin around us, but to acknowledge them and direct our longing to the only real solution — the incarnate Son of God. As is true of the Book of Psalms, joy and praise become deeper when they are preceded by lament.

And then, with a preparatory period of longing complete, the joyous celebration of Christmas can fill our hearts with a delight and thankfulness made even more stark against the backdrop of longing. The darkness turns to light, lament becomes praise, and longing changes to reality.

Especially at the end of a year that for most has been filled with anxiety, pain, sickness and even death, use these four weeks leading up to Christmas as a time to cry out to God with longing in your heart for the soon coming again of our Savior.

Then rejoice for 12 days in the reality of His first coming, continuing to anticipate His Second Coming, a time in which sin and sorrow will no longer grow, when His blessings will flow “far as the curse is found.”

May that day come quickly! O come, O come, Immanuel!

What is time? Time is the measurement of motion through space.

A day is the revolution of the earth.

A month is the revolution of the moon around the earth.

A year is the revolution of the earth around the sun.

But time as such is without any apparent meaning. Just a spinning planet with an orbiting moon orbiting a star ... repeating the process for the past four and a half billion years.

To give time meaning we need a story. Without a story time is pointless and nihilism beckons. (I am of the opinion that the violence that goes under the guise of Islamic terrorism is more likely a form of nihilist rage disguised in religious robes ... but that is another subject.)

For almost two thousand years the church has had the wisdom and creativity to mark time by the gospel story of Jesus. This is time made sacred. Thus the church calendar.

Advent anticipates the coming of Messiah.

Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus.

Epiphany remembers the revelation of Christ to Gentiles.

Lent is the solemn journey to the cross.

Easter is the celebration of the resurrection.

Pentecost marks the birth of the church.

Ordinary Time (or Kingdom Time) leads us through the year and back to Advent.

How we tell time determines who we are. If you expect fireworks on the fourth day of the seventh month you are an American. Calendar creates culture.

The Greek calendar told the Greek story.

The Roman calendar told the Roman story.

The American calendar tells the American story.

The Jewish calendar tells the Jewish story.

The Christian calendar tells the Christian story.

The Islamic calendar tells the Islamic story.

The Secular calendar says there is no story — only politics and commerce.

I make a big deal about the church calendar because I want my life and the lives of my children and grandchildren to be formed by the gospel story of Jesus. To reduce the Christian calendar to a day for Christmas (a day when we don’t go to church) and a single Sunday for Easter is an almost total capitulation to secularism.

The fact that we are far more formed by the Fourth of July than by Trinity Sunday is ample evidence of our de facto secularism. The sad truth is that most Christians (myself included) are really secularists trying in varying degrees not to be secularists. If we hope to successfully swim against the overwhelming tide of secularism we need to return to the Great Tradition. For me the door back into the Great Tradition was the church calendar. The church calendar was the wardrobe that led me into the Narnia of the lost sacred.

So at our church you can be sure we will be doing all we can to emphasize the four weeks of Advent and the twelve days of Christmas that lead to Epiphany, Ash Wednesday, Lent, Holy Week, Easter, and Pentecost. We believe the Jesus story is the true story that saves the world. We believe this so deeply that it’s how we tell time.

Today is not Black Friday. Today is the Friday before Advent.