[Propertalk] Fwd: Sermon Resources for December 25 - Part 1

[Joe Parrish]

Luke 2:1-14 (15-20) - "What Was Seen at Bethlehem"
Hebrews 1:1-4 - "No Time for a Sermon" by Leonard Sweet
 
Luke 2 - the sermon title "What Was Seen at Bethlehem"  
 
I wonder what I would have heard had I been there that night. It is a question that annually haunts me. Would I have heard the choirs of angels singing or simply the sounds of barnyard animals shifting around? Would I have seen the star in the sky that night or simply two poor and very frightened kids? Would I have understood the hushed silence of the divine presence, or simply the chill of a cold east wind. Would I have understood the message of Emmanuel, God with us, or would the cosmic implications of that evening have passed me by?
 
I am convinced that had two people been there that night in Bethlehem it is quite possible that they could have heard and seen two entirely different scenes. I believe this because all of life is this way. God never presents himself in revelation in a manner in which we are forced to believe. We are always left with an option, for that is God's way. Thus, one person can say "It is a miracle, while another says "It is coincidence."
 
Certainly very few people in Palestine saw and heard and understood what took place that night. The choirs of angels singing were drowned out by the haggling and trading going on in the Jerusalem bazaar. There was a bright star in the sky but the only ones apparently to pay any attention to it were pagan astrologers from the East. If anyone did see Mary and Joseph on that most fateful night, they were too preoccupied with their own problems to offer any assistance.
 
In one of the All in the Family episodes that aired some years ago Edith and Archie are attending Edith's high school class reunion. Edith encounters an old classmate by the name of Buck who, unlike his earlier days. had now become excessively obese. Edith and Buck have a delightful conversation about old times and the things that they did together, but remarkably Edith doesn't seem to notice how extremely heavy Buck has become. Later, when Edith and Archie and talking, she says in her whiny voices "Archie, ain't Buck a beautiful person." Archie looks at her with a disgusted expression and says: "Your a pip, Edith. You know that. You and I look at the same guy and you see a beautiful person and I see a blimp. Edith gets a puzzled expression on her face and says something unknowingly profound, "Yeah, ain't it too bad."
 
You see, what we see and what we hear in life depends not upon the events but rather....
 
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Hebrews 1 - the sermon titled "No Time for a Sermon" by Leonard Sweet  
 
Merry Christmas!
 
Christmas Day is “No Time For A Sermon.”
 
No, it is not that there is no time for a sermon because the choir sang so many beautiful Christmas songs. It is not because there is no time for a sermon because it took so long to seat the “Christmas crowd.” It is not because the critters in the “live” nativity scene got loose and ate all the Christmas cookies for coffee hour.
 
The reason that on this Sunday, on Christmas Day, there is “no time for a sermon” is because on Christmas Day there is only time for each of us to discover “a silence in which another voice may speak” (Mary Oliver, “Praying”). Today is the time for us to FEEL the gift of Christmas from the top of our heads to the tip of our toes, not “hear” about it with our ears.
 
The gift of Christmas is something that sneaks up on us at unexpected moments. It may come in the wee hours of the morning after having spent a long night wrapping presents. It may come while we are waiting for a bus and are listening to “canned“ Christmas music and watching our fellow commuters who are wearing way too much red and green. It may come when our child, or grandchild, or neighborhood kid, suddenly offers a small gift and a spontaneous snuggle, instead of a hurried “hi” and scuttling away.
 
Until we experience our “Christmas moment” the holiday is all about “to-do” lists, stress tests, credit limits, and on-line access. Until that “Christmas moment,” we have been concerned with unemployment, skyrocketing grocery prices, troops coming home, and if the weather will turn freakish and spoil all our plans. Until we experience a true “Christmas moment,” Christmas is crazy and chaotic.
 
But then that “Christmas moment” happens. And “the hopes and fears of all the years are met” in that moment in a person…
 
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God’s Sign of Love
 
A young girl ran away from home to get married.  Her father was angry and said he would never forgive her or ever want to see her again.  She was sorry and wrote long letters seeking forgiveness, but still the father remained unforgiving.  She eventually had a son. One day, when the boy was old enough to run and play, an idea came to her. Why not send her son to her father. He would be a living letter telling her father of her love for him and that she still very much wanted his forgiveness.

They drove to grandfather's house. The boy had not been there before, but the house was as his mother remembered it. She told the boy to knock on the door. When Grandpa answered, he was to give him a big hug and a kiss. The boy went to the door, knocked, grandfather answered, the boy reached up, kissed him and give him a huge hug. His heart melted and the father
motioned for the girl to come in as she was standing just a few feet from the door.

Reconciliation happened that day just as reconciliation happens this night between God and his children. Jesus is God's sign of his love for us and his power to forgive us our wrongs.

Tim Zingale, Christmas Colors
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Silent Night

The Army chaplain of the 106th Division was captured in the Battle of the Bulge in World War II. Along with many other Americans, he was herded on to a freight car and taken into the heart of Germany.

On the evening of December 23rd, the men were in the railroad yard of a German city, when a devastating attack was made by the British Royal Air Force. Many of the American prisoners were killed as well as many Germans. The next night, Christmas Eve, the air raid was repeated. When the planes began to fly over, there was fear and alarm among the prisoners who were
packed like sardines into these freight cars. The chaplain persuaded the German officer in charge to let him go up and down the line of the cars and talk to the men. As he passed by he said, “Boys, this is Christmas Eve and we are in a tough spot. But, if you have your Bibles, get them out and read the story of the birth of Jesus and you will know that He is with us even here. If you can't read because of the darkness, then let's sing."

Immediately there was a medley of response. Some sang revival songs and some sang hymns. Then a rich baritone struck up “Silent Night, Holy Night,” and he was joined by others. Carload after carload joined in singing that beautiful Christmas carol. Then something marvelous happened. Other voices, German voices, began to sing the song in the original “Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht.”  The German voices and American voices blended together in praise of Christ who came to bring all people together in peace.

 
James D. Kegel, Christmas Peace
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