Central Presbyterian Church, Russellville, Arkansas
Sunday, December 21, 2008
SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 112/21/08
(2) Luke 2:8-20
I. CHRIS VAN
ALLSBURG’S “POLAR EXPRESS” I BELIEVE WILL BE A CHRISTMAS
CLASSIC.. Told in the first person by a little boy, late on
Christmas Eve after the town has gone to sleep, the boy boards a
mysterious train in his front yard. When the Polar Express bound
for the North Pole arrives, Santa selects one child among the
train full of children to give his first gift of Christmas. This
boy is chosen; Santa offers him any gift he desires. He asks
for a bell from the harness of the reindeer.” His request is
granted, but before he gets home on the train, he loses the tiny
bell. On Christmas morning the last package under the tree,
however, contains the lost bell. His mother complains that it
is broken...for only believers can hear the sound of the bell.
But the boy and his sister do hear it. He concludes, “At one
time most of my friends could hear the bell, but as years passed
it fell silent for all of them...Though I’ve grown old, the bell
still rings for me as it does for all who truly believe.”
[Pause]
II.DO YOU STILL HEAR
THE SONG FROM HEAVEN, THE ANGELS’ SONG?
A.It is a song
that disturbs us in the middle of the night, summons us from a
deep winter’s sleep.
1.I don’t like to be
awakened from my sleep, I am a light sleeper as it is.
a.Murphy’s law
requires that it happens when you have had a most tiring day, or
little enough sleep the day before.
2.When I was living
in Kansas, one December night between the hours of 3-4 in the
morning, my sleep was shattered by the rude ring of the
telephone. The caller’s voice bore the distinct character of an
uneducated Oklahoman. “You, the preacher? My woman and I need
to git married right away,” the caller said...”Her daddy
done found out she’s in the family way–you know what I mean?
When he finds out she’s gone, he gonna kum after me with his
gun. We gotta git hitched for’ he ketches up with us. I wants
that you should marry us tonight!” I was stunned; I wanted
to say, “Can’t this wait until morning?” The male voice
continued with one word stumbling over the next: “We asked
where you live and me’n her is cummin right over,” and he
hung up. Ten minutes later the doorbell rang...I seriously
considered a call to the police. But ignoring my better
judgment, I opened the front door. I saw my younger brother
Richard and his wife standing there.
a.It took me a
while at 3:00 a.m. to join in their laughter at 3 in the
morning!
3.How often can you
recall settling down in front of the TV, anticipating a favorite
program, when a voice announces, “We interrupt our regularly
scheduled program to bring you an important bulletin...?”
4.We humans are not
programmed to be interrupted, our tight schedule broken in on;
we do not want the phone to ring as we go out the door.
III.THE CHRISTMAS
EVENT–THE BIRTH OF JESUS– BREAKS IN UPON US AS AN INTRUSION, An
ABRUPT VIOLATION OF OUR WELL-DEFINED SPACE.
A.The shepherds
out in the fields minding their own business were “terror-struck,”
Luke tells us.
1.For me any
appearance by a heavenly creature would be a breath-taking
surprise, but this one was truly super-startling!
2.This is the only
time a whole band of angels puts in an appearance on the earth,
and it is the only time they are singing!
3.Middle
Eastern shepherds, unlike their
contemporary American counter-parts, had to be both alert and
tough–fight off wild animals, like mountain lions and bears,
robbers, brave the elements and stay out all night with their
sheep. They are not easily frightened or terror-struck.
4.We are told that
“the glory of the Lord shone round about them,”
a.that brilliant
radiance of God’s perfect light which infuses, purifies,
consecrates whatever it touches,
b.while the host of
angels was so immense it filled the whole sky,
c.singing their
symphony of joy as a perfectly-tuned choir of a thousand
voices
(1)Mozart said he
created one copy of his music, because it was perfect every time
he composed.
(2)This was sung once
and it was gloriously perfect!
d.Those shepherds
were startled- “filled with fear” as if their lives, are
demanded by God to be present at the birth of his Son.
5.In July of 1986
six Soviet cosmonauts were aboard the orbiting Russian space
station. On their 155th day in space, they said they witnessed
the most awe-inspiring spectacle ever encountered in space--a
band of glowing angels with wings as big as jumbo jets.
According to "Weekly World News," cosmonauts Vladimir Solovev,
Oleg Atkov and Leonid Kizim said, "What we saw...were seven
giant figures in the form of humans, but with wings and
mist-like halos...Their faces were round with cherubic
smiles..." When the Soviets returned to earth, they were
debriefed by three other scientists, but they stuck to their
story.
a.Woman cosmonaut
Svetlanna Savitskaya also said, "They were smiling as though
they shared in a glorious secret." (SF 3/87)
B.The visits of
the angels to the shepherds–to Zechariah, to Mary and Joseph
--highlight what William Venable calls, “The
Always-Surprising Activity of God!”
1.In truth,
is not this how most people in today’s world experience God, “as
a surprising interruption of (their) lives”?
a.They would rather
not be able to hear the angels’ song, nor see their light.
b.The song from
heaven is too unexpected, too sudden, too frightening, even
unwelcome.
2.Look at what we do
with our religion–we establish a familiar program and style
which perpetuates status quo and looks at creativity, at the
spontaneous outbreak as an accident, as unfortunate, even
un-Christian.
a.We need something
at Christmas like a song from heaven, like a roaring train
pulled by a massive black coal-burning locomotive am engine
right in our front yard, or a tiny jingling sleigh bell!
3.Our Christmas
tradition is likewise handed down across the years, so that it
easily accomodates our pattern of religious conformity, our
beloved rituals.
4.I approve of the
way George Herbert described it back in the 1600's:
a."Lord,
with what care Thou hast begirt us
round! Parents first season us;
then schoolmasters
Deliver us to laws...and reason...
holy messengers...pulpits &
Sundays,
sorrow dogging sin... anguish of all
sizes, ...Bible laid
open, millions of surprises."
b. Millions of
surprises! That is what Christmas must be!
C.There is an
appropriate word that describes exactly how God’s song must
crash in on our world–STARTLING!
-
2 -
1.Isaiah makes
prophecies concerning the reaction to the Messiah’s advent:
a.“Behold
my servant...As many were astonished at
him– his appearance was so
marred..
so shall he startle many nations;
kings
shall shut their mouths because of him (52.13)
b. On Easter night when the
disciples were gathered in the upper room talking among
themselves, they were interrupted as Jesus suddenly stood among
them. Luke testifies, “But they were
startled and frightened...”
(24.37)
2.This word “startle”
comes from the Medieval English word for “start.”
3.With the birth of
Jesus, does not God start something new and spontaneous,
totally unexpected in our lives? Does he not jump-start and
electrify us when the angels sing their song?
D.Do you realize
why the appearance of God in a stable in Bethlehem frightens and
startles us?
1.because most of our
lives we are cut off from God, all wrapped up in what we are
doing. We live a life of ignorance of others, we never think of
how God might work so miraculously in that other person’s life.
2.We don’t hear the
song even though it fills the skies, we don’t hear the little
tinkling bell.
3.Much like the
shepherds, our initial reaction at his coming is one filled with
tremendous anxiety, “What’s happening?” “I must be dreaming.”
4.If there is ever a
time when we are open to being surprised, it has to be close to
Christmas.
5.Those of you who
watch “Monday Night Football,” will remember that the show was
introduced in the 1970's on ABC TV by a country and western
singer, Hank Williams Jr, who shouts, “Are you ready for some
Football?”
a.
“Well it's Monday night and we're ready to rock!
Time to get all the hits, the bangs and the blocks.
It's the game of the week that's comin' your way.
We gotta get ready, we gotta get right
Cause Monday Night Football kicks off tonight!
6.Are you
ready for some Christmas?
a.I mean, it’s the
Sunday before Christmas, and we’re ready to rock: It’s the event
of a lifetime that’s comin’ your way!
So get ready, I mean get
ready:
It’s Christmas that’s comin’ your way! [pause]
IV.AND JUST LIKE THE
SHEPHERDS, TODAY WE ARE “SURPRISED BY JOY.”
A.The famous
Irish writer C.S. Lewis borrows the language of William
Wordsworth when he describes his own discovery of the love and
inestimable gift of Jesus Christ as being “surprised by
joy.”
1.
Lewis says that in his earlier life he had no interest or
awareness of God at all. He
had become an unusually successful
professor of English Literature at Oxford
University in London, and led a life
completely preoccupied with worldly ambition and pleasure. But
then in mid-life, he was taken by surprise as God broke into his
life in a series of incredible events...At first he says he was
alarmed and frightened (like the shepherds in Luke)...but "his
anxiety turned into a joy and happiness deeper than anything he
had ever dreamed to possess.
-3 –
B.More often than
not, God's sudden interruptions are different from
run-of-the-mill interruptions. His upheavals bring something
good and wonderful, while most ordinary interruptions you and I
experience as bad news.
1.The one angel who
brought the initial ann't to the shepherds says,
a."'for
behold, I bring you good news of a great joy
which will come
to all the people for to you is born this day in the city of
David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord....'”
2. "A great joy!"
a. For all people everywhere, not just for the
no-nonsense shepherds;
b.it means, an
overwhelming sense of peace in God's Christmas gift to us
c. A grapple calendar on my
desk had this advice for 12/24:
“Jingle
with joy...Wear a bell on a necklace or on your shoelaces. Every
time it jingles
let it be a reminder of one good thing that’s happened in your
life.”
3.
For God's startling song from heaven has crashed in all around
us, and we have
been truly surrounded with his radiance and his
glory.
4. There is a Japanese carol in
our “Hymnal,” No. 52, “Sheep Fast Asleep.”
a. “Sheep
fast asleep, there on a hill,
Grass for their bed; all is still.
Cold winter night, the frost appears;
Shepherds keep watch by their fire.
Soft there a sound, far, far away;
Is it the stream? winds at play?
Nay, friend, it is the heavenly choir,
Singing throughout the spheres.”
[Pause]
5. Listen. Are you able to
hear it, however faintly, perhaps only in your heart.
Though many of us have grown
older, I hope you still hear the song from heaven