8 And
there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their
flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord
appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were
terrified. 10 But the angel said to
them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for
all the people. 11 Today in the town of
David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby
wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” 13 Suddenly
a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and
saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest
heaven, and
on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” 15 When the angels had left them and gone into
heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this
thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
"Hark! The Herald Angels
Sing"
The
original hymn was composed as a "Hymn for Christmas-Day" by Charles
Wesley, included in the 1739 John Wesley collection Hymns and Sacred Poems.[4]
The music which we adore and sense as holy today was secular at the time.
The song was originally sung to the tune of 'Christ
the Lord is Risen Today'. In 1840, Felix Mendelssohn composed a cantata called
'Festgesang' (Festival Song) to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Johannes
Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press
'Hark! The Herald Angels Sing' tells the story of the angel that
appeared in the sky to announce Christ's birth, and shortly thereafter was
joined by a huge amount of other angels singing out
praises: "And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of heavenly
host praising God, and saying, 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth
peace, good will to men'" (Luke 2:13-14).
One of my favorite
moments with this hymn comes from
It's a Charlie Brown Christmas.....
Snow is falling..."Christmas time, is here, happiness and cheer, yuletide by the fireside...
Charlie Brown: I think there must be something wrong with me, Linus. Christmas is coming, but I'm not happy. I don't feel the way I'm supposed to feel.
I just don't understand Christmas, I guess. I like getting presents and sending Christmas cards and decorating trees and all that, but I'm still not happy. I always end up feeling depressed.
Linus Van Pelt: Charlie Brown, you're the only person I know who can take a wonderful season like Christmas and turn it into a problem. Maybe Lucy's right. Of all the Charlie Brown's in the world, you're the Charlie Browniest.
A number of insults... find them
He thanks Violet for a Christmas card that she did not send
Psychiatric help needed...
Do you think you have pantophobia?
Lucy Van Pelt: The fear of everything.
Charlie Brown: THAT'S IT!
Charlie Brown is going to direct our Christmas play
Lucy Van Pelt:Here he comes! Attention, everyone, here's our director. [Charlie Brown enters, while everyone applauds]
Charlie Brown: [sarcastically] Man's best friend.
It's a Charlie Brown Christmas.....
Snow is falling..."Christmas time, is here, happiness and cheer, yuletide by the fireside...
Charlie Brown: I think there must be something wrong with me, Linus. Christmas is coming, but I'm not happy. I don't feel the way I'm supposed to feel.
I just don't understand Christmas, I guess. I like getting presents and sending Christmas cards and decorating trees and all that, but I'm still not happy. I always end up feeling depressed.
Linus Van Pelt: Charlie Brown, you're the only person I know who can take a wonderful season like Christmas and turn it into a problem. Maybe Lucy's right. Of all the Charlie Brown's in the world, you're the Charlie Browniest.
A number of insults... find them
He thanks Violet for a Christmas card that she did not send
Psychiatric help needed...
Do you think you have pantophobia?
Lucy Van Pelt: The fear of everything.
Charlie Brown: THAT'S IT!
Charlie Brown is going to direct our Christmas play
Lucy Van Pelt:Here he comes! Attention, everyone, here's our director. [Charlie Brown enters, while everyone applauds]
Charlie Brown: [sarcastically] Man's best friend.
There
are questions about the meaning of Christmas
Charlie Brown goes out to find a tree...
Do something right charlie Brown...
Linus Van Pelt: [after Linus and Charlie Brown discover the little tree] Gee, do they still make wooden Christmas trees?
Charlie Brown: This little green one here seems to need a home.
[Charlie Brown and Linus return with the puny little tree]
Violet: Boy, are you stupid, Charlie Brown.
Patty: You were suppose to get a good tree. Can't you even tell a good tree from a poor tree?
Violet: I told you he'd goof it up. He isn't the kind you can depend on to do anything right.
Patty: You're hopeless, charlie Brown.
Frieda: Completely hopeless.
Lucy Van Pelt: You've been dumb before, Charlie Brown, but this time, you really did it.
[pause; then everyone burst out laughing]
Lucy Van Pelt: [laughing] What a tree!
Charlie Brown goes out to find a tree...
Do something right charlie Brown...
Linus Van Pelt: [after Linus and Charlie Brown discover the little tree] Gee, do they still make wooden Christmas trees?
Charlie Brown: This little green one here seems to need a home.
[Charlie Brown and Linus return with the puny little tree]
Violet: Boy, are you stupid, Charlie Brown.
Patty: You were suppose to get a good tree. Can't you even tell a good tree from a poor tree?
Violet: I told you he'd goof it up. He isn't the kind you can depend on to do anything right.
Patty: You're hopeless, charlie Brown.
Frieda: Completely hopeless.
Lucy Van Pelt: You've been dumb before, Charlie Brown, but this time, you really did it.
[pause; then everyone burst out laughing]
Lucy Van Pelt: [laughing] What a tree!
My
daughter chimes in at this point and indicates that I am like Charlie
brown….NERD
Charlie Brown: I guess you were right, Linus. I shouldn't have picked this little tree. Everything I do turns into a disaster. I guess I really don't know what Christmas is all about?[shouting in desperation]
Charlie Brown: Isn't there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?
Linus Van Pelt: Sure, Charlie Brown, I can tell you what Christmas is all about?
Linus tells the story... "And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping over their flock by night.
Linus Van Pelt: That's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown..
Then Charlie Brown, fresh with Christmas spirit, heads out to decorate his little tree
Charlie Brown: I've killed it. Of! Everything I touch gets ruined.
the kids come out, they fix up his tree...
Everyone: Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown!
Kids sing, Hark the Herald Angels Sing....
and so Christmas comes, even for Charlie Brown
In the biblical Christmas story the Charlie Brown's are the shepherds.
Charlie Brown: I guess you were right, Linus. I shouldn't have picked this little tree. Everything I do turns into a disaster. I guess I really don't know what Christmas is all about?[shouting in desperation]
Charlie Brown: Isn't there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?
Linus Van Pelt: Sure, Charlie Brown, I can tell you what Christmas is all about?
Linus tells the story... "And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping over their flock by night.
Linus Van Pelt: That's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown..
Then Charlie Brown, fresh with Christmas spirit, heads out to decorate his little tree
Charlie Brown: I've killed it. Of! Everything I touch gets ruined.
the kids come out, they fix up his tree...
Everyone: Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown!
Kids sing, Hark the Herald Angels Sing....
and so Christmas comes, even for Charlie Brown
In the biblical Christmas story the Charlie Brown's are the shepherds.
low social standing
regarded
as untrustworthy outcasts
Shepherds
were men whose vocation had become despised
men
who were not regarded as members of the synagogues because their work kept them
busy in the fields - blue laws [remember them??]
It's
not the kind of job you dream about when you're a kid!
and
to th0se people
God makes an announcement-THOSE PEOPLE
What God is doing is upside down, backwards, brilliant, comforting
God comes to the least of these.
To the losers, the pathetic, depraved, spiritual zeros.
What God is doing is upside down, backwards, brilliant, comforting
God comes to the least of these.
To the losers, the pathetic, depraved, spiritual zeros.
Those
at the end of their rope, the bankrupt, the empty, the lepers, the lame of the
world
In almost every church or religious group there are people that think that if we are going to be really good God people, we should not hang around with THOSE PEOPLE. But we should hang around with those who look like us...
not the...the unpopular, unbeautiful, immoral, odd ducks
not the...illegal immigrants
How many of you were cheerleaders, popular in high school? I was not- I was Charlie brown...are you sure that you want to hang around me?
Our brains think - God does not bless people like this
God blesses those who work hard and keep their noses clean.
God blesses those who can earn it.
and when our brains think that way...it is too easy to be full of ourselves. We become the Pharisees.
This is how religion functions...what good thing must I do to be worthy of God's blessing?
In almost every church or religious group there are people that think that if we are going to be really good God people, we should not hang around with THOSE PEOPLE. But we should hang around with those who look like us...
not the...the unpopular, unbeautiful, immoral, odd ducks
not the...illegal immigrants
How many of you were cheerleaders, popular in high school? I was not- I was Charlie brown...are you sure that you want to hang around me?
Our brains think - God does not bless people like this
God blesses those who work hard and keep their noses clean.
God blesses those who can earn it.
and when our brains think that way...it is too easy to be full of ourselves. We become the Pharisees.
This is how religion functions...what good thing must I do to be worthy of God's blessing?
But
spirituality is different than religion
Think about who gathers with Jesus later in his ministry?
Think about who gathers with Jesus later in his ministry?
Prostitutes and
tax collectors and sinners. People that did not fit in, the sick, the poor, the
lame.
So much so that he is accused of...hanging with the undesirables
Luke 7:3 John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine; and ye say, He hath the devil. The son of man is come eating and drinking; and ye say, Behold a gluttonous man, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners!
How about the story of the banquet from Luke 14:15-23
Man throws a feast. Invites his friends
They all have excuses...bought a cow, got married
21The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, 'Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.' 22Sir, the servant said, what you ordered has been done, but there is still room. 23Then the master told his servant, Go out tothe roads and country lanes and make them come in, so that my house will be full.
the cool people back out….Who ends up attending? Those who most of us would never invite to a great banquet.
Imagine the Hilton Garden Banquet Room filled with the homeless, the poor, the sick, those who have nothing. and they are feasting, they are dancing.
So much so that he is accused of...hanging with the undesirables
Luke 7:3 John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine; and ye say, He hath the devil. The son of man is come eating and drinking; and ye say, Behold a gluttonous man, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners!
How about the story of the banquet from Luke 14:15-23
Man throws a feast. Invites his friends
They all have excuses...bought a cow, got married
21The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, 'Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.' 22Sir, the servant said, what you ordered has been done, but there is still room. 23Then the master told his servant, Go out tothe roads and country lanes and make them come in, so that my house will be full.
the cool people back out….Who ends up attending? Those who most of us would never invite to a great banquet.
Imagine the Hilton Garden Banquet Room filled with the homeless, the poor, the sick, those who have nothing. and they are feasting, they are dancing.
And
God is throwing the party.
sometimes a group might throw a spaghetti dinner to raise money, what if we raised the money for the ministry and let the homeless come to eat. they would never forget it.
But this is what God says in the announcement to the shepherds:
You are blessed for no reason of your own deserving.
You are blessed because I have something to say, and what I want to say is that I love the little people.
Those who need me.
Those who have no other hope in this world then to put their trust in me.
I will entrust them with the message of love and they will spread it.
There is no test of their righteousness.
sometimes a group might throw a spaghetti dinner to raise money, what if we raised the money for the ministry and let the homeless come to eat. they would never forget it.
But this is what God says in the announcement to the shepherds:
You are blessed for no reason of your own deserving.
You are blessed because I have something to say, and what I want to say is that I love the little people.
Those who need me.
Those who have no other hope in this world then to put their trust in me.
I will entrust them with the message of love and they will spread it.
There is no test of their righteousness.
No proof that
they are good God followers
That angels show up and God makes a statement to the world - an announcement
he is drawing a very wide circle
That angels show up and God makes a statement to the world - an announcement
he is drawing a very wide circle
Peace on earth good will to men on whom my favor rests
On whom my favor rests
Those who did not think they were something
Those who are not full of themselves
Those who are not so busy running all over, keeping up with the Jones's
Those who are open, and have time, and maybe that is all that they have
Those who are ripe for the message
Wesleyan
revival took place among the least of these
There is something about the message of God's grace that just rushes out to the poor in spirit..
Everyone in this section who has done the unthinkable. God is with you.
Everyone in this section who has really goofed up their like, God is with you.
God is on the side of everyone who there is no reason that God should be on their side.
This is counter intuitive
No wonder they call it good news.
There is something about the message of God's grace that just rushes out to the poor in spirit..
Everyone in this section who has done the unthinkable. God is with you.
Everyone in this section who has really goofed up their like, God is with you.
God is on the side of everyone who there is no reason that God should be on their side.
This is counter intuitive
No wonder they call it good news.
Now maybe you are sitting here and you
drive a great car,
own a great home, and have never messed up your life.. you might be
thinking, is the kingdom not for me? I am not saying that…. Even with a
great car, and a great house, the kingdom is for you the moment that you
recognize that you need a savior, and that joy is found not in houses or cars,
but in the savior
I have an idea---for Christmas
Find the weakest person in your world, the one that no one wants to hang with and buy their lunch. Give them a gift card to Panera. Ask how they are doing. If you are in high school, go sit at their lunch table.
reach into your world and make an announcement.
So lets end this sermon
If this announcement happened today, where would it take place
Not Lee's Summit, not WCC, probably under a bridge somewhere
but we are sill the partakers when we come to understand that we can't earn it. We can't deserve it. It is a gift to the lowly of heart.
good news. God loves you.
And to those who are particularly broken inside
If you are there and you are tired of pretending...
you may have a nice house and a nice car,
but inside you relate to the shepherds, the broken, the sick, the fed up
Peace on earth. God is with you. God's favor rests on you. Good news to you.
Lets Pray- God help us to see your blessing.
Deliver us from the religion that makes us think we can earn it. Let us rejoice in your announcement. Let us rejoice in your love
I have an idea---for Christmas
Find the weakest person in your world, the one that no one wants to hang with and buy their lunch. Give them a gift card to Panera. Ask how they are doing. If you are in high school, go sit at their lunch table.
reach into your world and make an announcement.
So lets end this sermon
If this announcement happened today, where would it take place
Not Lee's Summit, not WCC, probably under a bridge somewhere
but we are sill the partakers when we come to understand that we can't earn it. We can't deserve it. It is a gift to the lowly of heart.
good news. God loves you.
And to those who are particularly broken inside
If you are there and you are tired of pretending...
you may have a nice house and a nice car,
but inside you relate to the shepherds, the broken, the sick, the fed up
Peace on earth. God is with you. God's favor rests on you. Good news to you.
Lets Pray- God help us to see your blessing.
Deliver us from the religion that makes us think we can earn it. Let us rejoice in your announcement. Let us rejoice in your love
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