Saturday, December 24, 2016

Reflections on "Found Him" Christmas Eve sermon Luke 2: 1-20

I am posting this before it is preached, so I do not have many reflections.  But, in the hustle to get home and celebrate with my family and then prepare for tomorrow's worship, I was not sure I would get around to posting tonight's sermon.

So, here it is.

“Found Him” SAPC, Christmas Eve, 2016; Luke 2: 8-20

Luke 2: 8-20   In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night.  Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.  But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people:  to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.  This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.”  And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying,
“Glory to God in the highest heaven,
    and on earth peace among those whom he favors!”

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.”  So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger.  When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child;  and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them.  But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart.  The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.
Move 1:  I confess that when I was younger, I sometimes would snoop around the house in the weeks before Christmas looking for presents. 

Oh there were wrapped packages under the tree (one of my older sisters even taught me how to carefully untape a package, pull out the box partway, peek into it, and then slide it back into the wrapping paper and tape it back up). 
But some gifts in my house would show up on Christmas morning unwrapped.  Those were the big presents – not the obligatory shirt or tie – the surprise gifts.

So I would look for the big present around house.

Maybe sneak up into the attic while my parents were at work

Or search under the bed in their bedroom.

Maybe search deep within the dark confines of their walk-in closet.

For years, I have kept all the surprise gifts I am giving in the trunk of my car or hidden in a closet at church, just in case any of my kids are looking for hidden presents like I did.

Looking for Christmas gifts.

a.    Why are you here tonight?

1.    We have spent Advent looking for Chrismons. 
2.     What are you looking for tonight?
3.    Looking to sing some of your favorite Christmas carols.

4.    Looking to be with family – this is what you do when you get together every Christmas.

5.    Hear the kids sing; or special music

6.    Looking for an inspirational sermon!

7.    Looking to lighting candles and sing “Silent Night”

8.    Most of us arrive tonight looking for a mix of all those reasons.

b.     Many of us also arrive here tonight looking for something more.

1.    Looking for hope as we face medical challenges.

2.    Looking for joy as we miss those who are not with us this year.

3.    Looking for a way to reconcile a broken relationship.

4.    Looking for the strength to deal with the obstacles in your life.

5.    Looking for the commitment to make changes to your life?

6.    Looking for new life because we feel empty and full of despair at how our world seems to be moving.

7.    Looking to find the one who loves you no matter who you are or what you have done.

Move 3:  If you are one of those who is looking, hear these words from the angel on high: “Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people:  to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.  

a.     When the shepherds hear those words they are terrified!

1.    I suppose it’s scary enough to hear voices from the heavens, but they had other reasons to be terrified.

2.    We sometimes romanticize the shepherds, but by the time Jesus was born, shepherding had become a profession most likely to be filled from the bottom rung of the social ladder, by persons who could not find what was regarded as decent work. Society stereotyped shepherds as liars, degenerates, and thieves. The testimony of shepherds was not admissible in court, and many towns had ordinances barring shepherds from their city limits. The religious establishment took a particularly dim view of shepherds since the regular exercise of shepherds' duties kept them from observing the Sabbath and rendered them ritually unclean. The Pharisees classed shepherds with tax collectors and prostitutes, persons who were "sinners" by virtue of their vocation (Craig A. Satterlee, Bishop North/West Lower Michigan Synod, Lansing, MI

3.    The glory of the Lord shone around the shepherds, they suddenly knew God had not forgotten the shepherds. God was not done with them. Their lives could be changed.

And they were terrified.

4.    As you hear the story of how God has come into the world, it is the story of the God has not forgotten you. 

God is not done with you.

Your life can be changed. 
                       
                        That ought to add a little terror and sizzle to your Christmas Eve!.

b.    We also notice the shepherds drop everything and take off for Bethlehem!

1.     Traveling with them is this question:   Is this Messiah about whom the angels speak really going to make a difference in their lives?

2.    The shepherds go all in.  Head for Bethlehem.

3.    Ready to lay claim to the one who comes to redeem them and change their lives.

4.    Are you ready for your searching to end in Bethlehem?

5.    Are you ready for the gift of the Christ child God gives to you?

6.    The gift is yours, you have found him.

c. Notice how the shepherds go back telling everyone what they have seen and what they have heard.

1.    The hope, the opportunity for new life, the sense that God is in their midst and has saved them compels the shepherds to tell others what they have seen and how it has changed their lives.
2.     Marj Carpenter tells the story of teaching the nursery Sunday school class in Pecos, Texas.  She had a lifelike doll from her childhood that they always used in the manger scene.  They were setting up the scene without baby Jesus and a little girl asked, “Where is baby Jesus.”  To Marj's horror, her three-year old son answered, “We keep him in the closet and only bring him out at Christmas.”  Marj Carpenter, In This Corner

3.    the child born in Bethlehem does not come to be put away and hidden. 

4.    The Christ-child comes to be embraced, to be celebrated, to give new meaning to your lives. 

Conclusion:  Some years I would find the big gift? 

Of course, when you find what you are looking for, the next question is “what are you going to do?”

Tonight, your search is over.  You have found him.

“to you is born a Savior.  The Messiah.”

What are you going to do?












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