Sermon Dec 13 carols – o come all ye
faithful Luke 2:8-15
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.”
Christmas. A time for
stability. Joy.
Merriment. Family. Remember the good old days. Lights.
Trees. Presents. Love. Its all good and I am
safe. Nostalgia- Merry Christmas
What
if Christmas isn’t a time of my human comfort but is rather a time of change
and movement?
The shepherds said, Lets to to
Bethlehem.
At
Christmas everyone is going somewhere
Angels
go to the shepherd’s field
Shepherds
go to the manger – lets go to Bethlehem
Wisemen
make a long journey
[in
a little told part of the Christmas story] Joseph, Mary & baby go to Egypt
God
is moving the story of the world along
Everyone
seems to be going somewhere
And people are changing.
Not
just mobile, but things are changing for them
Their
world story is morphing
Angels
change [this might be a stretch] I don’t know, but I bet they became more
popular after singing in the honors choir
Shepherds
changing…. They saw the messiah. A story that they had all grown up with
was not complete
Wise
men………..kings of the east……. Leave their thrones. Leave their comfort
leave their families and follow the star
Commercial
– wise men from the east --East- from the east. Not like us.
Not jews. Inclusive nature of the story.
Young and old, rich and poor, jew and gentile.
Back
to changing - Mary gives up her simple life of a teenager.
Joseph
becomes the protector of Gods son.
Scared
into it by an angel…….
This story changes people. That is the
whole point.
Lets
go to Bethlehem
Change is difficult, we don’t like it
And
at Christmas? What about my nostalgic feelings? Christmas is about me and mine,
not about me changing.
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And so we run into
the first enemy of change.
People have to want to
change
I like my life the way
that it is. Go ask someone else to change.
Three steps for change:
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1. Leaving the old
Shepherds, wisemen, joseph
and mary changed
But we don’t want to
change
How many counselors does
it take to change a lightbulb?
We want to encounter the
baby and stay the same
In fact, many of us spend
our lives praying to the baby so he will keep us comfortable.
Christmas invited us to
change. To bow the knee
In order to want to
change, we have to become submissive.
In many Christian circles
that is a bad word.
I am not referring to
wives submitting to husbands. I am referring to the notion that if we
would be a person of God, we must submit our will to his.
The American sinners
prayer. Dear God I know I am a sinner. Forgive me. Jesus
may your blood cover my sin. And now back to my life, AMEN
A prayer of conversion is
a prayer that puts God’s will before mine.
Not my will but thine be
done.
It means that I will
listen instead of always talking
It means that I submit to
the story instead of ignoring the story
It means that I will
submit to the story instead of insisting that the story submits to me.
In the biblical story
everyone, almost is in submission to God’s purpose. Sherpherds don’t
argue. They go. Angels go. Wisemen go. Mary welcomes
the job. Joseph finally gets it.
The only person who is not
submitted in the Christmas story is Herod.
Why? He is in
charge. He is on top. We don’t need another king.
Do we ever sound like our
lives are saying we don’t need another king? I have me.
When I refer to submission
and think of our lives, I am thinking of whether or not we are listening to
the holy spirit. Whether or not we are willing to be led.
Take the dog on a leash.
Do we stay by the side of
the master?
Or do we pull and tug and
drag him along?
Mom and barney the st
Bernard
Maybe we put the collar on
for special occaisions, only to take it off when we want to go on our merry
way.
Changing who we are begins with a willingness on our
part to change.
2. The neutral zone – learning to be
comfortable in a chaotic world
The stock market is
down? Must be the end.
War in the middle
east? Must be the end…….
Friend, the world is
chaotic……… and your life is going to feel that way from time to time.
Point is not a life of
comfort, the point is that God is with us Emmanuel
Being willing to change
Being comfortable in the wilderness
Embracing the new
The moment we do this, we hold on tight…….
3.
Embrace
the new- don’t get stuck.
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The
moment we arrive at a level of comfort it is probably time to change again
What
got you to this point may not be what gets you to the next
Peter
rollins story of the 2nd mile church
If
you feel that God is troubling the waters of your spirit, it’s a good thing and
it is probably a sign that the holy spirit is working on you.
We
are invited to go. To come to the manger.
So there is this hymn, this Christmas
carol
"O
Come, All Ye Faithful" has been attributed to various authors, including
an Englishman, John
Francis Wade
(1711–1786),
Some
question over authorship - over fifty competing versions available
So
many translations that you cant discover the original
No
one knows its true shape
We
are a conglomeration of stuff
A
patchwork of good
Who
are the faithful?
They worshiped.
They
went…….. everyone in this story is going somewhere
When
they got there, they worshipped.
O
come let us adore him
To
worship is to say – you are good. You are worthy.
You
matter. I give myself to you. To worship is to leave the world of
myself and bow at the manger.
Conclusion
Are
you Trying to make it the perfect Christmas?
I
hope my families feels good about themselves. I hope they get what they
want.
Trying
to make a perfect Christmas?
Stop.
Its not your job. Its not what Christmas is about
Relax.
God has already made a perfect Christmas
What
do you want for Christmas? What we want for Christmas is irrelevant.
That
question indicates that we don’t get it.
Christmas
isn’t my birthday or my child’s birthday.
What
does god want?
What
does god want of me?
What
do I want for Christmas?
Dinner
w my kids
What
does your pastor want?
For
you to love God more and more. For you to love others. To reach out
to those in need
To
make it a habitual exercise of your life.
To
move away from self and ever towards God
O come, all ye faithful…..come and behold
him……
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