Joy at Christmas

Preached on 25 December 2024 @ 10.00 at Christ Church, Billericay

Reading John 1v1-14; Luke 2v8-20

Prayer

Christmas Cracker

As it’s Christmas, I’m going to start by pulling some Christmas Crackers.  They are very old, so, if you pull a cracker, you might like to shout ‘bang’.  I’ve primed each cracker with a topical joke – a typical cracker one, on a theme from our readings.  From these, perhaps you can work out what I’m going to talk about.

[Volunteers to pull the crackers and read the jokes]

My mate works as a shepherd, but he keeps getting in trouble for showing up late.
Doesn't seem like he's lost any sheep over it, though.

How many sheep does it take to knit an entire sweater?
None — sheep can't knit.

How do you put a lamb in orbit?
On a space sheep.

Detective’s Answers

[Get answers to theme of jokes]

Christmas Cards

We also have four Christmas cards, that I will use as prompts to talk about the passages, So let's see what the First Christmas card has on it.

Shepherds

Card 1 - Shepherds

The picture of the shepherds visiting the baby Jesus makes a lovely scene, but in reality the Shepherds of the time had a difficult job.  They were out on the hills day and night for nine months of the year.  For November, to February, the sheep would be in pasture that was better protected because it was too cold for them on the hills.  That’s too cold for the sheep, not the shepherds. 

Not 25^th December

This is what give us the clue that perhaps Jesus wasn’t born on 25^th December.  It doesn’t matter, because He is king, and this is his official birthday. 

Bears & Wolves

Up on the hills, the shepherds would have to protect the flock from bears and wolves, so they would have to be ready day and night.  They would also have to deal with the occasional dead animal, and search for lost sheep.

The result was that they were ritually unclean and were not allowed to join in the religious services of the town’s folk.  They were also rarely in the village, so were seen as outsiders.  This gave them a poor reputation – they were thought to be thieves and liars.  Therefore, they were not allowed to be witnesses in a criminal trial because they were not trusted to tell the truth.

Angels

Card 2 – Angels

So, there are the shepherds, minding their own business, or perhaps I should say minding their own sheep, when an Angel appears.  If that wasn’t scary enough, the glory of the Lord shone around them.  The picture does a reasonably good job of showing how they are in the spotlight.  Angels are primarily God’s messengers, and given that their appearance is frightening, it’s not surprising that the first part of the message is “do not be afraid”.  The angel makes an incredible announcement:  Christ the Lord is Born TODAY.

Every faithful Israelite has been hoping for this for centuries.  Here it is, happening today, just down the hill.  That would be unbelievable, if it wasn’t for the detail that the angels include in their message.

This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

The shepherds now find they have the best seats in the house, as a great company of the heavenly host praises God. 

Their song says “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favour rests.”

We will see why that message is important later.

The test of the Angel’s message comes when the shepherds leave their sheep and head into town.  Bethlehem isn’t that big, but there will be a lot of strangers around, who have come back for the census.  Maybe they heard the baby crying, or just caught a glimpse through the doorway, of people in the downstairs part of the house that is usually reserved for animals.  Putting a baby in a feeding trough would be VERY unusual at any time, so they can be sure that the message was true if they find one. – and they did.

Spread the Word

Once they had seen the baby, they knew that it was all true.  They then went out and told all who would listen about their amazing night.  They were praising God for the miracle of the saviours birth.

Dead Robin

Card 3 — Dead Robin

Well, that’s a strange picture, a dead robin – a bit distasteful for Christmas.  In Victorian times, a dead robin was a sign of good luck, that why it appeared on their Christmas Cards. 

For us, it reminds us that Jesus was born into a hostile world.

We are celebrating the birth of the Saviour, but in many ways His birth is less important than what He did.  This baby is described by John as the Word.  He says, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.”  He also says, “In him was life, and that life was the light of men.”.  John also tells us that not everybody recognises Him for whom He really is.

“He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.”  He came to the Israelites, God’s chosen people, but they did not recognise Him.  It shows how far they had moved away from God.  In the end, they arranged for Him to be put to death. 

What Jesus did

Card 4 – Mother and Baby

Some people though, like the Shepherds, did receive him, and it gave them great joy.  These are the ones on whom God’s favour rests, and for those John says:

“Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” 

To be a child of God, is a privilege and a joy. It’s only possible because of the death and resurrection of the son of God, Mary’s child, that we see in the picture.

Mary, too, had great joy at the birth of her baby, but also at the things that happened around that birth.

Our joy comes from accepting the man that the child became. 

I wish you all the joy that Jesus brings this Christmas, and in the year ahead

Amen.

Sermon recording here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=taXAF16JNEE, starts at 19:30 to 35:30

References

https://interruptingthesilence.com/2015/12/24/what-is-your-christmas-story-a-christmas-sermon-on-luke-21-20/

John for Everyone, part 1

https://sermoncentral.com/sermons/a-shepherd-39-s-perspective-on-christmas-rich-o-toole-sermon-on-christmas-277310

https://www.paulbeasleymurray.com/2017/12/21/the-shepherds-a-christmas-day-sermon/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqtgyT6z25U

https://upjoke.com/shepherd-jokes

https://www.childfun.com/articles/general/hilarious-sheep-jokes-for-kids/

https://kidadl.com/humor/pets-animals-nature/best-sheep-jokes-that-ewe-will-love

https://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/the-war-on-christmas-cards/

What if God was one of us?

 Preached at Christ Church, Billericay in church and on-line on 7 Feb 2021

The on-line service is here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4tbSVndlBE

Story

This is the story of our world, where we came from and how we got to where we are today.  Obviously we’re going to miss a few things out, or our story would take a very, very long time indeed.  But our story will cover the important events and help to explain why we think of God the way that we do.  I’ll concentrate on those things mentioned in our readings today.  I will tell it from my understandings of theology and physics (both of these are limited, but I’ll do my best), and a few other things as well.
So let’s begin.

Difficulties with Words

Once upon a time ...
Oh, no that’s not right, we need to start before “a time”, what would we call it.
“Before time began”, yes, that’s better, but still not quite right.  I think it’s probably as good as I’ll get it.  Finding the right words to explain what we think we understand, is an important theme in the story.

“In the beginning”

The apostle John’s words are translated “In the beginning …” echoing the first words found in the Bible, in the Book of Genesis, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”  If we were speaking to people today we might say “In the beginning God split the nothing into positive and negative and the ‘big bang’ occurred, light was produced and eventually galaxies and solar systems and the planet earth was among them”.

John’s beginning

John’s beginning though requires a little more scene setting than the beginning in Genesis.  “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God”
Or we could say “When the beginning began the Word was already there with God, and the Word was God”.  

Wisdom

Then there is that part of the lovely poem about wisdom to consider, we only heard a small part of it this morning.  It seems to suggest that wisdom is a created thing.  It can be confusing, and it can be translated other ways, we’ll come back to that.  But first, let’s fast-forward in time for a minute and meet a guy called Arius.

Arius

Arius was a priest in Alexandria in modern day Egypt. He lived from about 250 to 336 at a time when the evil empire (the Roman Empire) was suddenly and miraculously converted.  That happened in 312, because the Emperor was converted at that time. Arius taught that Jesus was God’s son, in the same way that Andy and Mike are my sons.  He liked the idea that wisdom was in fact Jesus, or the Word, and he based that idea on this part of the poem.
            ? Teaching
His teaching was gaining ground and was beginning to cause a split in the church, as many of the other leaders did not agree with him.  All this happened at a time when the Emperor wanted a peaceful religion to spread around the empire.  The bishop did not take any steps to stop Arius from spreading his teaching, and the church leadership at the time seemed happy to let the controversy ramble on.  Nothing changes does it?  So Constantine ordered them to sort it out.

Nicea

A meeting was arranged at Nicea in 325 and discussions got underway.  Discussions might be a little of an understatement, as there seems to have been physical fighting too.  Athanasius, another priest, was sent by his bishop.  He had the job of putting the case that Jesus, the Word and God are one, as John’s translation says today.
Eventually, Arius lost the battle and a creed was agreed that spelt out the true nature of Jesus the Word as God.
We’ll be saying that creed later, so I don’t have to include it here.
As we do look out for the lines that say …
the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one Being with the Father.

Wisdom?

And Wisdom? Well there are several reasons why it doesn’t work to assume that wisdom and the Word are the same.  Firstly, wisdom is presented as a woman.  Secondly, you can’t really create wisdom, that’s just a poetic device.  If you look at the footnote you will see that ‘brought me forth’ can also be translated as ‘possessed me’.  So wisdom was possessed by God before the beginning.  Look how that reading ends
“I was filled with delight day after day, rejoicing always in his presence, rejoicing in his whole world and delighting in mankind.”
Wisdom delights in mankind – just let’s pause to take that in – because there are too many times when I don’t.
Wisdom delights in mankind.

Back to John

Let’s go back to see what John is saying next in his story of the beginning.
He tells us that Jesus, the Word is the maker of all things, everything that appeared after the Big Bang, right until today was made by the Word, and is sustained by the Word.  Hebrews 1:3 agrees:
The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.
The Word is also the source of our life, His life is the light of mankind and the darkness has not overcome it.

Words of misunderstanding

Oh, is that not what it says – look in the footnotes again, there is an alternative translation.  Words convey important concepts, but sometimes different languages do not have exactly the right word to express the idea.

John the Baptiser

The John goes on to introduce John, the baptiser.  John, the apostle never refers to himself by name, so whenever you see the name John in this gospel, it is always John the baptiser.  John’s job was simple.  He was a messenger.  He came to prepare people for the light of life, the word of God arriving in our world, and to identify Him when he arrived.
John, as you already know, identified Jesus, as the Word of God.  The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us – literally ‘pitched his tent’ among us.  That image would have taken his Jewish hearers straight back to the Exodus.

World’s reaction.

So how did the people react?  What would you expect?  Perhaps there would be some sort of welcome, some type of celebration?  At least an official welcome by the Chief Priest, and perhaps the Emperor?
No, quite the reverse.  “He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.”
In fact “his own” – the Chief Priests and the Pharisees, decided that it was far too dangerous having ‘God’ around, and had him killed.

Some are different

A few, though, were different.  They recognize who He was, or they were at least interested in finding out. To those a most amazing thing happens: “to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God”.  
The Word became flesh and in the person of Jesus, God walked the earth for 30 odd years.

Song

In 1995 a song called “What if God was one of us?” sung buy Joan Osborne was in the UK chart.  It reached number 6.  It asks lost of questions about belief, and prompts people to think about who they think God is?
It was written by Eric Bazilian, who does not claim to have a faith of any kind, but it is clearly full of Christian references.
The second verse is:
If God had a face, what would it look like?
And would you want to see?
If seeing meant that you would have to believe
In things like heaven and in Jesus and the saints and all the prophets?
And the Chorus:
What if God was one of us
Just a slob like one of us
Just a stranger on the bus
Trying to make His way home?

 Misses the point

In one sense it entirely misses the point. But a faithful Christian should be able to answer most, but not all of the questions it raises.
Because God WAS one of us, and as far as I know, Jesus wasn’t a slob, but He was a stranger to many people.

Why is it important?

I think the underlying questions in the song are “What is God like?” and “Can we relate to Him?”
The answer is also hinted at in the song.  Jesus is God, and we can relate to Him.  That is one of the very important reasons that He came to live among His creation.  And that He gives us the right to become children of God, so that the relationship has a solid footing.

Pay for our sins

He came to live among us to do a job for us, to redeem us, so that we can have that relationship.  He had to pay for our sins, by dying on a cross.  A fellow human cannot pay for our sins, they can only pay for theirs.  It requires at least a god, to pay for our sins, but how many can A god pay for?
To be sure that all our sins are paid for requires THE God to die for us.

One of us, One with Him

God was one of us, so he has experienced the human life He created and knows how we think and feel.  He has paid for our sins too, so we can be one with Him.
 

Amen.
 

Sermon: Happy Christmas Everybody

Preached 24 December 2019 23:15 at Christ Church, Billericay

Purpose: How to give everyone a happy Christmas

Readings Isaiah 52v7-10; John 1v1-14

It’s Christmas

It’s Christmas, well, that’s what we still hear Noddy Holder shouting when we turn on the radio. It’s God’s little joke that I have limited voice today, although I was never going to shout like Noddy.

The song paints a picture of everybody having fun, even gran joins in with the dancing and everyone being just a little over the top. There’s mention of the family being together, and no doubt he was singing to young adults and children. But Christmas is not always like that, at the other extreme is Den Watts, in East Enders, handing his wife Angie the divorce papers on Christmas day. I hope your Christmas will be better than that, better than either of those pictures in fact.

Babies in Stables etc.

We’re used to the Christmas story of the Virgin Mary giving birth to a baby and having to stay outside because there’s no space for her in the Inn. We’re used to the story of Angels and Shepherds and the tough conditions they worked in. Even the lowest of the low go to worship the messiah, having received a message of peace and good will from God and the joy that brings.

Our Old Testament reading also tells us of the joy that comes from the message of peace.

We’re used to the story of wise men visiting the child and leaving significant gifts. The highest of the high go to worship the messiah. We may remember that they had to avoid Herod on the way back. We may also remember his murderous threats and the flight to Egypt to keep the baby safe.

The bible manages to top the story lines of East Enders any day, and the Bible stories are truth.

John’s Approach

Those are good stories, but they are human stories told from a human point of view – that’s the sort of thing we engage easily with. John’s introduction that we have just heard takes a different approach. John already knows who the baby is, and he is not going to introduce Jesus like that. John starts from the very beginning and echoes the Book of Genesis.

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth ...” it says, but John tells us that before even that was the Word. And the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And that Jesus was the agent of creation. So straight away we are told that Jesus is divine and is the creator.

The mission

Then we get straight into the mission. Jesus is life and that life is the light of men. John the Baptist was sent to point people to the light, and he did, but even so the people did not recognise their creator.

To the few that did, He gave the right to become children of God.

v14

In the last verse we read, John sums up this part of his introduction:

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Grace

Grace is not a behaviour that we talk about a great deal today. So here’s an example of what I’m talking about. I work in I.T. Many years ago I was trying to fix a problem and went about it completely the wrong way. As a result, the mainframe computer was down for about an hour in the middle of the day. I knew better, I just didn’t do it. I probably deserved to be disciplined, but all my manager said was “You know what you’ve done, right?” and that was it. I even got a pay rise at the end of the year. And that is grace. I was allowed to continue my work without penalty when one was deserved, I was given what I really didn’t deserve.

God’s grace

God’s grace is much greater than that. We fail to live up to His standards all the time, and yet He still gives us good things – look around you, not just here but in the world outside this church too. He also took the trouble to wipe out our failings once and for all. That is why Jesus came and took on flesh, initially as a baby, but later as a man who was fully obedient to God, and died on the cross for us.

That is the real good news of Christmas, the saviour – Jesus, the light of humanity – has come.

Glory

His glory is his act of redemption, his death for our sins and his resurrection on Easter Sunday. That is the hope we have at Christmas, the hope that more of the world will be redeemed and that the world will become a better, more peaceful, more loving place.

Our Happy Christmas

So, when I wish you a happy Christmas (I’m going to stick with happy in preference to merry, because I don’t want to imply that you should be consuming too much alcohol)

When I wish you a happy Christmas, that is what I am hoping and wishing for – for all of you and for everyone that I say it to. A Christmas where even if your gran doesn’t enjoy the latest music, she can be up and rock and rolling, perhaps on her own, but still having a good time.

Our Part

We can play our part in that. For me that is not becoming a DJ (I’d be terrible at it), my part is responding to every situation that occurs with grace and love – so imitating our saviour. I’m going to try that.

Happy Christmas Everybody

References:
http://ntwrightpage.com/2016/03/29/full-of-grace-and-truth/
https://www.gty.org/library/topical-series-library/245/the-best-of-christmas
http://www.stgeorgesunited.com/blog/2015/12/28/sermon-full-of-grace-and-truth-december-24th-2015
https://genius.com/Slade-merry-xmas-everybody-lyrics
https://www.family-times.net/illustration/Grace/
http://www.moreillustrations.com/Illustrations/grace%203.html