For the first Sunday after Christmas (December 28, 2014), we had a hymnsing Sunday, and I tried something a little different for the sermon. I used the lectionary texts, but instead of doing all the readings and then a sermon, I split apart the sermon and gave four mini-sermons, or “sermon moments.” Enjoy!
Sermon Moment 1
Isaiah 61:10-62:3
As you probably noticed, I want to try something a little different today, and do a few sort of “sermon moments” between the readings and hymns, instead of one longer sermon.
We’ll start with this Isaiah reading. What we just heard is a beautiful promise from God to restore Jerusalem and the people of Zion to glory, to make Israel a crown of beauty in the hand of God. The problem, is that after the prophet said this, it didn’t really happen. Israel was restored from exile, but they weren’t all that much of a nation. They were conquered, rebelled, and were conquered again, so by the time we get to the Nativity story we heard on Christmas Eve, Israel is ruled by the Romans – hence the Roman Emperor Augustus calling for a tax and census.
But God is faithful to God’s promises, even when there doesn’t seem to be any evidence, and we know that God comes in unexpected ways. In the Christmas story, that’s exactly what happens. Jesus comes to proclaim the kingdom of God, but not in the way people expected.
This hymn talks about God coming, not as a conquering hero, but veiled in flesh, offspring of a virgin’s womb. Let’s sing, #270 – Hark the Herald Angels Sing.
Sermon Moment 2
Psalm 148
Isn’t that a great Psalm? Praise the Lord, son and moon, stars, and heavens, young men and women alike, old and young together. Praise the Lord!
It’s all about God’s majesty, about the awesome things God has done, about God’s faithfulness to God’s people. During this Christmas season, we focus on God’s power somewhere we don’t expect it. We’re still praising God, but in addition to praising God for the power and majesty of God’s creation, we also praise God for doing something new, something unexpected, for coming in an unexpected, new way, for the Word made flesh as a little child, for the sake of the world.
Take a look at this video clip. I think it captures some of that sense of wonder.
As I was preparing for today, I read a book Kristine gave me, with some of the stories behind Christmas carols. Our next song was written by Isaac Watts in the early 1700’s, and the chapter on him says, “Like most young people, Watts found church music of the period to be uninspired and monotonous. He saw no joy or emotion in the standards sung by choirs and congregations. His father, never one to stand on tradition, challenged his son to come up with something better. His challenge initiated a creative burst that would not end until Isaac had composed more than six hundred hymns.”
One of his most famous is number 267, Joy to the World. We sing together, in praise of God coming in a new way.
Sermon Moment 3
Galatians 4:4-7
Today’s worship service is about two things. It’s about the rejoicing at the miracle of Christmas, at the incredible news that God has come to be with us. Christmas isn’t just one day, it’s a whole season in the church. 12 days of rejoicing at this miracle. But on this day, even as we celebrate Christmas and sing carols, we look ahead to the rest of the story. In a little while, we’ll celebrate communion, the Lord’s Supper, remembering when Jesus took bread and wine, declared that it was his body and blood, and gave it for us, on the night in which he was betrayed.
This reading from Paul’s letter to the church in Galatia helps us take a step back, to think about why Jesus came. God’s Son came to redeem those under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children. Because God adopts us as children, we are no longer under the law, bound to our sins, to our selfishness. The Word has come to dwell with us, and Jesus has freed us from our sins. God has adopted us as children. You are a child of God. Christmas matters because God freed us.
This next song does a great job of picking up on the tension between the little baby we’re celebrating and the reality of his coming to die. And most importantly, the miracle that Christ came for poor, ordinary people, like you and like I.
You can find the words and music on the back side of the Psalm insert in your bulletin. Let’s sing together, I Wonder as I Wander.
Sermon Moment 4
Luke 2:22-40
This gospel reading comes immediately after the familiar Christmas story from Luke, and it’s one of very few stories about Jesus’ childhood.
There’s this story, the arrival of the magi, the flight from Herod to refuge in Egypt, and Jesus in the Temple as a twelve year old, and that’s really all we hear about Jesus growing up.
It’s fun to wonder, though, isn’t it? What would it have been like to raise a child who you knew was the Son of God? There are some stories that speculate about that, like from a book called the Infancy Gospel of Thomas. It’s not part of the Bible, and we don’t believe it’s inspired by God like the four gospels in the Bible are, but it does have some fun stories, like a five year old Jesus sculpting twelve sparrows out of clay, then clapping his hands and making them come alive.
I believe that’s what the third verse in the song we just sang refers to, how if Jesus had wanted for any wee thing, a star in the sky or a bird on the wing, or all of God’s angels in heaven for to sing, he surely could have had it, ‘cause he was the king.
Of course, we don’t know anything to say Jesus did anything like that, but it’s kind of fun to think about. There’s this constant tension between Jesus being a fully human person, with all the limitations of a human, yet also being God, and having the ability to do miraculous things. That comes up again when the adult Jesus is in the wilderness and is tempted by Satan to do things like jump off of the peak of the temple.
In the story about Jesus as a baby that we just read from Luke’s Gospel – which is actually in the Bible – we meet two characters that we don’t hear much about, Simeon and Anna. Simeon’s not a priest, he’s just a faithful, devout man. We don’t know much about Anna, but she’s described as an elderly, widowed prophet, faithfully living in the temple and constantly worshipping God.
Simeon and Anna recognize the child, Jesus, in a way no one else seems to. The Spirit reveals to them who the child really is, the Messiah, the one they have been waiting for. Simeon tells Mary what she should already know, about how special this child is and will be. Anna recognizes that this child is the way God will redeem Israel, and tells others about him.
Our next hymn is “What Child is This.” It’s one of my favorites, because it again is about Jesus’ identity. We see this baby lying in a manger, this child being faithfully presented at the temple by his parents, apparently ordinary, but we know he’s not just an ordinary child. Anna and Simeon recognize him as the one they’ve been waiting for. We recognize him as the One sent for us.
This song talks about the child sleeping in Mary’s lap, but recognizes that Christmas points to Good Friday and Easter. Pay attention when we get to verse 2. Nails, spear shall pierce him through, the cross be borne for me, for you. Hail, hail the Word made flesh, the babe, the Son of Mary.
Like Simeon prophesied, the baby in the manger doesn’t stay there. God comes to us, as the word made flesh, to change the world, and to die on a cross, for me, for you.
We sing together number 296 – What Child is This.
The video clip above is Advent Anthem from Skit Guys Studios, purchased from WorshipHouseMedia.com. You can find it here.