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The Meaning of the Christmas Story by Reverend Charmaine Braatvedt All Age Family Eucharist Christmas 9.30 am 2007 Introductory Playlet. Lil stands at a stack of books, he is shelving Bill looks around confused- he spots Lil and walks over Bill: (shouting) I need to look up some stuff Lil: Shhh sir this is a library, keep your voice down Bill: oh sorry! (quietly) I need to look up some stuff Lil: Ok what stuff? Bill: Well I’ve been trying to find some stuff in my Bible about this holiday season- can you help me Lil: Yes of course- at least I hope so Bill: Well I’d like to look up Christmas. C…H…R…I…S…T…M Lil: Yes I know how to spell Christmas but sir Im sorry- Christmas is not in the bible Bill: What? But I thought that… Lill: Well the story of Christmas is- the birth of Jesus but the word is not. Bill: Well it wasn’t Christmas I wanted to look up it was stuff about Christmas Lil: What stuff did you want to look up? Bill: Noel Lil: Noel? Bill: Yes Noel- the first one that the angels sung. (singing) the first noeeelll the aaanngells did sing Lil: Shhhhhh Bill: Oops Lil: I know the song sir but the word Noel and its associated lyrics are not in the bible Bill: What- how can that be? Lil: The New Testament is written in Greek sir- Noel is French! Bill: Well, what about Silent Night? You know (sings) silent night, holy night Lil: (increasingly upset) SHHHHHH sir! Bill: (Cringes) Lil: Sir Silent night is not in the bible Bill: Not even in the NIV? Lil: Not even in the NIV- in fact there is a lot of evidence to suggest that the ‘night’ in question was not silent at all. Bill: Well ok then I have another word to look up Lil: What is it? Bill: Falalalala Lil: Falalalala? Bill: Yes Falalalala as in (sings in high pitched voice) Falalalalalalalala Lil: No sir im sorry there is no Falalalala in the bible the angels most likely sang “Glory to God in the Highest” Bill: Ok well I have another word to look up Lil: Ok? Bill: Pa rum pum pum pum Lil- I see, as in the Drum sound Bill: (excited) yes! You know the little drummer boy? Lil: yes I know him Bill: personally? Lil: NO! sir there is no mention in the bible of a little Drummer boy, his little drum and his little Pa rum pump pum pum Bill: Hmm,- well how about……..(thinking)….. Reindeer? Lil: (Frowns and sighs)- No sir Bill: Why not! Lil: Sir Rangifer Tarandus, colloquially known as Reindeer of which Rudolf was one are indigenous to Northern Scandinavia. There are no Reindeer in the bible because there are no Reindeer in the temperate and arid regions of the Middle East. Bill: (Being Melodramatic) Well! This library is pathetic- next you’ll be telling me there is no Santa Claus in the Bible either! Well despite what Bill might think, the librarian is right. Much of what we say and do at Christmas time is based not so much on what is written in the Bible but on the little cultural traditions that have developed around the season of Christmas over many years. That’s all good but let’s not forget the real meaning of Christmas and what Christmas can teach us about what it means to be a follower of Jesus. To do that we need to turn to the Bible and examine carefully what the Bible actually says about the birth of Jesus. All that we do find written in the Bible about the birth of Jesus the Christ is important and can teach us many things about him, about why we came and about how we should live our lives. Like many stories in the Bible, The nativity story can be understood on a number of levels: - It is a story about an event in history that took place 2,ooo years ago. - It is a story that fulfilled prophecies like the one we read from Isaiah this morning and so proved that those prophecies were true messages from God. - It is a story which can be understood in a symbolic way and one which has moral and teaching truths which we can apply to our lives here today. - It is a story which gives us a glimpse of God at work in the world. Let’s be clear though, to understand a story in a symbolic way does not detract from it’s historical truth. Rather it builds and expands that event, inspiring it with added significance for all of us sitting here today. So what I’d like to do now is to look deeper into the historical story of Jesus’ birth and apply the spiritual sense of the Christmas story to our lives, so that as Christ came physically into the world 2,ooo years ago we might understand that he is able to come spiritually to each of us here today. I’d like to look for elements of the story that can speak into our lives. Look at our pageant this morning and you will see four people : Mary, Joseph, an angel and a shepherd. They are gathered around the Christ Child. He is the centre of their world. Thinking about it, we too have gathered around the Christ child this morning to welcome him into our lives, for he is the centre of our world and of the universe. We read in Colossians 1: 16 “By Him and for Him all things were created.” Let’s consider the shepherd first. Call the shepherd out. Remember in the story the shepherds sat in the darkness, faithfully doing what they were trained to do which was to mind the sheep, when suddenly the darkness and the silence was shattered with glorious news. In some sense we are like one of those shepherds. We lead our simple lives and do the work we are expected to do and then every so often God interrupts our lives, breaks into our world with a shattering revelation which changes our thinking or changes our circumstances in a most profound way. Reflect back on this year and I am sure given some time you will be able to think of at least one such moment when God interrupted what you were doing with a revelation about yourself and or your life. Maybe like the shepherds you found the interruption frightening or disturbing? That’s often the way with God. Jesus came both to comfort and to disturb and while we all tend to remember the comforting nature of his coming, let’s not forget that God also frequently disturbs and churns up the stagnant waters of our lives in order to refresh them. Thank you shepherd for what you can teach us today. Here is a candy cane for your trouble. May this candy cane which represents the shepherd’s crook, remind you that the Christ child came to bring those who had strayed away from God back into a relationship with him. Now let’s consider Joseph. Call out Joseph Joseph says very little in the Gospel stories. He is so ordinary. On the surface he seems rather unimportant to the story of God’s wonderful plan of salvation. In that sense he is someone most of us can probably relate to. All this talk about how we are all called to work in partnership with God to change the world seems rather irrelevant to my ordinary boring and mundane little life until I engage with Joseph for I see how God uses an ordinary carpenter to raise the moral and spiritual saviour of world. Like the shepherds, God invaded Joseph’s life and he was faced with a choice. When he found out that Mary was with child, he could have played it safe, quietly divorced Mary and got on with his quiet little life or he could bravely step out, go the extra mile and respond to the new state of affairs with generosity and courage. He did the latter and this was a scary option, so God gave him a reassuring message just as he had told the shepherds not to be frightened. No matter how ordinary and insignificant you and I may feel, God wants to and will use us to make a difference in the world if only we choose to let him. So Thank you faithful Joseph for what you can teach us today about how God uses ordinary people for his extraordinary plan. Here is a candle for your trouble. May it remind you that God sent his son into the world to be a light that will show us the way and that if we walk in his way, no matter who we are, he will use us in wonderful ways to make a difference in this world. Now what about our beautiful angel here. Call the angel out The angel came to Joseph and to Mary and to the shepherds. On each occasion the message of the angel was prefaced with the words “fear not”. The angel brought God’s reassurance that all was well and God’s message of love. We too are called to be angels in people’s lives. We are called to reassure those who are frightened, those who are struggling, those who find themselves in dark circumstances that God who loves them and is all powerful, is with them and in control. We are all called to bring the good news to people about the coming of Christ and so that is why we call ourselves evangelicals. Evangelism is bringing the good news of God’s breaking into human history and people’s lives, just as the angels did. So thank you angel for what you can teach us today about being messengers of God’s love. Here is a star for your trouble. May it remind you that God has kept his promise and sent the Christ Child Jesus to save the world and may you remember that God wants to use you to bring his good news into people’s lives. Finally let’s look at Mary. Call Mary out. So far we have explored three characters in the story and now let’s look at Mary who was the mother of Jesus. What might she teach us? She was filled with the Holy Spirit and gave birth to the Christ child. She nurtured his growth and she loved him and faithfully followed him right to the cross and we meet her in the book of Acts, gathered with the early church even after Jesus had died and risen from the dead. We too are asked to be open to the infilling of the Holy Spirit. We too are called to allow Jesus to be born again in the stable of our hearts. We too are called to love him and to faithfully follow him right to the cross and beyond and we too are called to gather with his followers as his church. So thank you Mary for what you can teach us today about loving Jesus and following him faithfully and about gathering with other believers in communities of faith. Here is a little heart for your trouble. May it remind you that Christ came to bring God’s love into the world. As Christ followers we too must share his love with all whom God places in our path this Christmas and beyond. So this then is what the Bible tells us is the real story of Christmas and this is some of what Christmas can teach us about what it means to be a follower of Jesus. |
