Reflections on "Surprising Hope"

It was Lessons and Carols with the traditional nine Scripture lessons, special anthems, Christmas carols, and handbells.  With a packed service, I gave the abbreviated sermon below.

 “Surprising Hope” December 18, 2022; St. Andrew Presbyterian Church, Denton; Lessons and Carols; Richard B. Culp

Introduction:  We continue looking for surprises in the stories surrounding Christ’s birth.  This morning, we heard the stories read and sung in such a beautiful way, which, of course, is not surprising!

But, let’s take a few moments and think about the surprising hope we discover in these stories.  

Move 1:  First of all, we might be surprised how the hope is for all the world.

 As we move toward Christmas, many of us are contemplating what gifts to give those special people in our lives.

We think about what to make or what to buy and often make it very specific to the person to whom we give the gift.  Often, the terrific gift we give one person would not be much of a gift for someone else.

The hope Christ brings is not for one particular person or one particular group of people, but for all the world.

When the prophets proclaim our hope in God, it is a hope for the transformation of the whole world.

When God arrives in Christ, its implications extend to the King of Herod and invite shepherds and wise men to come to Bethlehem to claim their hope.

the hope Christ brings to the world is expansive and inviting to all people and all the world.

Move 2:  Hope shows up in surprising places

“O Little Town of Bethlehem” - who would expect the hope of the world to show up in this little town in Judah?

Gary Thomas, “Wise Christians Clip Obituaries,” Christianity Today, October 3, 1994, p.26 as quoted in “Life’s Two Pockets” Homiletics, October 29, 1995:  When George H. W.  Bush was Vice President he represented the country at the funeral of former Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev.  His widow stood motionless by the coffin until a few seconds before it was to be closed.  As the soldier approached to close the lid, she reached down and made the sign of the cross on her husband’s chest.  There in the midst of an atheistic society, [in a communist world, a grieving widow finds her hope in Jesus Christ, the resurrected one, the one born in Bethlehem] she claimed the hope that there was another life, a life best represented by Jesus Christ. 

Conclusion:  As you hear the stories of Christ's birth this year, look for the surprising ways the coming of Christ impacts all the world and look for how the Christ-child finds you in surprising ways.