Order, Words, & Voices – 12.15.24, Luke 2:1-20 You Will Find
Pre/Post Worship Music – Spotify – Open and Close
Lighting of Advent Joy Candle (Christ/Hope/Peace Candles prelit) Pettys
Songs Angels From The Realms Of Glory # 31669 Billy/Linda
Light to the Stable CCLI Song # 1914616
Passage/Prayer Luke 2:1, 4-12, 15-16, 19-22 Beth
Song It Came Upon The Midnight Clear # 31078 Billy/Linda
Impact/Message Joy Rick
Song Angels We Have Heard On High # 27721 Billy/Linda
Community/Closing Peace Rick
Closing Music O Come All Ye Faithful CCLI Song # 31054 Billy/Linda
- Record message on memory card – leave space above Speaker’s head
Christ Candle (Slides) (Music softly begins to play near end) Pettys
– Christ/Hope/Peace Candles Already Lit as Pettys light the Joy candle
Leader: To a world that was hopeless, Jesus brought hope.
Response: To a world that was oppressed, God gave a deliverer.
Leader: To a world that was in chaos, Jesus brought peace.
Response: To a world that was confused, God gave order.
Leader: To a world that had given up, Jesus brought joy.
Response: To a world that had no purpose, God gave direction.
Leader: To a world that saw only darkness, Jesus brought light.
Response: To a world that was down, God lifted it up.
Leader: To a world that is concerned, God gives us grace.
Response: To a world that is in pain, God gives us mercy and compassion.
Leader: To that world, and to our world, God still gives Presence.
Response: To a world, and to our world, God meets us where we are.
Music (Slides) Billy/Linda
Angels From The Realms Of Glory (Regent Square) CCLI Song # 31669
Verse 1
Angels from the realms of glory
Wing your flight o’er all the earth
Ye who sang creation’s story
Now proclaim Messiah’s birth
Chorus
Come and worship
Come and worship
Worship Christ the newborn King
Verse 2
Shepherds in the field abiding
Watching o’er your flocks by night
God with us is now residing
Yonder shines the infant light
Chorus
Come and worship
Come and worship
Worship Christ the newborn King
Verse 4
Saints before the altar bending
Watching long in hope and fear
Suddenly the Lord descending
In His temple shall appear
Chorus
Come and worship
Come and worship
Worship Christ the newborn King
Verse 6
Though an infant now we view Him
He shall fill His Father’s throne
Gather all nations to Him
Every knee shall then bow down
Chorus
Come and worship come and worship
Worship Christ the newborn King
Light to the Stable CCLI Song # 1914616
Verse 1
Hail hail to the newborn King
Let our voices sing Him our praises
Hail hail to the guiding light
That brought us tonight to our Savior
Chorus
Halle hallelujah halle hallelujah
Halle hallelujah halle hallelujah
Verse 2
Come now where it shines so bright
To the knowing light of the stable
Kneel close to the Child so dear
Cast aside your fear and be thankful
Chorus
Halle hallelujah halle hallelujah
Halle hallelujah halle hallelujah
Verse 1
Hail hail to the newborn King
Let our voices sing Him our praises
Hail hail to the guiding light
That brought us tonight to our Savior
Chorus
Halle hallelujah halle hallelujah
Halle hallelujah halle hallelujah
Passage (Slides) Luke 2:1, 4-12, 15-16, 19-22 Beth
In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. Everyone journeyed to their ancestral towns. Joseph, and his fiance’ Mary, went from Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because Joseph was descended from the house and family of David.
While Mary and Joseph were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. After Mary gave birth to her firstborn she wrapped him in bands of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them anywhere in Bethlehem.
In that same region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock at night. An angel of the Lord appeared and the shepherds were terrified. The angel said, “Do not be afraid, I have good news of great joy for all people: to you is born this day in Bethlehem a Savior, the Messiah,the Lord. You will find him wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.”
When the angels left, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this which the Lord has made known to us.”So they went and found Mary and Joseph, with the child, lying in the manger.
Mary treasured the shepherds’ words and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned to their flocks, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen.
When it was the eighth day after the birth of Jesus, Joseph and Mary took the child to a special rabbi, a Mohe, for the naming and circumcision. Then, forty days after his birth, Mary and Joseph took Jesus to the temple in Jerusalem for Mary’s purification and Jesus’ presentation.
Join me in the prayer of Jesus,
Our Father who art in Heaven hallowed be your name.
Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
Forgive us our trespasses, while we forgive those who trespass against us.
And, lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.
Music (Slides) BIlly/Linda
It Came Upon The Midnight Clear (Carol) CCLI Song # 31078
Verse 1
It came upon the midnight clear
That glorious song of old
From angels bending near the earth
To touch their harps of gold
Peace on the earth good will to men
From heaven’s all gracious King
The world in solemn stillness lay
To hear the angels sing
Verse 3
And ye beneath life’s crushing load
Whose forms are bending low
Who toil along the climbing way
With painful steps and slow
Look now for glad and golden hours
Come swiftly on the wing
O rest beside the weary road
And hear the angels sing
Verse 4
For lo the days are hastening on
By prophet bards foretold
When with the ever-circling years
Comes round the age of gold
When peace shall over all the earth
Its ancient splendors fling
And the whole world give back the song
Which now the angels sing
Message Rick [Screen Share until close]
Bishop Craig A. Satterlee writes, ‘For years I have wondered whether Christmas sermons are of any consequence. I have grown in my suspicion that preachers are better off just reading Luke’s biblical account of the Nativity, and then leaving the rest of the sermon to the carols and candles allowing these more traditional elements of the service to recount the angels’ message of the “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”. (paraphrase)
And then, Bishop Satterlee writes from a more personal standpoint saying, “I find myself hungering for a message that will startle me in the same way the angel’s announcement startled the shepherds.”
Satterlee was not speaking of wanting a message of fear and guilt that would bring him to tears and action that would last to at least this Wednesday. No, he was talking about a truth that would shake him to the core. A message that would rearrange his priorities and a state of being that would only grow with age. He was speaking to a message that didn’t bring about emotion that touched his heart and his mind, that would all begin by being startled like the shepherds were startled or that would lead to a deep consideration and evaluation like when Joseph moved from divorcing Mary to fully supporting Mary.
I think that the boldest reaction I usually see in this season is the outrage and anger that Christians exhibit when someone says the word ‘Happy Holidays’ instead of ‘Merry Christmas’.
Around a decade ago one of the first Mega Churches in America set up a website for their members to report and business in which an employed said ‘Happy Holidays’ instead of ‘Merry Christmas.’ Then the all the members of that church were encouraged to boycott that business until an very strong apology was issued from the leadership of that establishment.
This past week I sat in on a small group lead by a freelance journalist was attempting to sort out the attitudes of Oklahomans in regard to the actions of our State Education Superintendent. The group was very diverse, Conservative and Progressive Pastors as well as a diverse group of other leaders. Two of the members of the group began a discussion of how ‘horrifying’ it was that High School students are not taught that that Christmas is a religious holiday. The ‘horror’ then continued as they began to recount the Norman Christmas Parade and how quick the community anger began when the private and financial organizers of the parage decided to change the name to the Norman Holiday Parade. Business owner and operators, nor just in Norman but also from the surrounding towns outside of Norman – small towns that had their own parades began to make threats to boycott Norman businesses. So, the organizers of the parade were so hurt by the personal attacks on them that they walked away in pain. Eventually the bold and ugly Christians got their hallelujah moment and the parade name was changed to ‘The Christmas Holiday Parade largely at the insistence of our city elected officials and leaders.
In the midst of the conversation, without thinking it through, I added to the discussion by saying, “So, the Christians who wanted everyone to know the parade was about Jesus, hurt and injured others with their insistence that Jesus name be on the parade instead of showing the world how that Jesus was born in a humble setting and taught a message of love for others, even those different than you?”
That is the weird thing about our (Jesus believers’) attitudes in this season. The word ‘Christmas’ would not have been a familiar word at Jesus’ birth, nor would it have been at the crucifixion. Truth is, the God followers in Jesus’ day would have been offended by a holiday to celebrate the birth of Jesus. First of all, the word ‘Christians’ was not even a word, yet, and, when Christians were given that title, ‘Christians’, it was in the Roman city of Antioch as an insult to the followers of Jesus. The people would not have been open to any type of holiday or celebration of Jesus’ birth because that is what the pagans did, they declared holidays, they partook of the celebrations, for the pagan false gods they worshipped. Most were not even favorable to celebrating a birthday of a family member because it seemed to be a pagan practice making the one celebrated a god like being.
So if our celebration of Christmas is composed of getting and giving gifts, of sentiment and tradition, of forcing our celebration on those who believe differently, with no expectation of an epiphany from the story of Jesus’ birth, what are we celebrating?
I think Bishop Craig A. Satterlee was correct in thinking that we seldom hunger for a moment that startles and inspires us to get up and run to the stable. You have to wonder how many times we look for those moments in any season of our year.
I also have to consider the possibility that those moments of revelation that could startle us, are not noticed because we are not expecting them. Is it possible that they are there but not noticed?
Let’s start this by looking at who did not recognize the birth of Jesus. Those who had been faithful to their Jewish heritage and the promise of the coming Messiah. Even some of the prophets had told them that the Messiah would come as a child. But, even though they had been told repeatedly when the Jesus’ arrival took place few knew. Why, because they were not alerted. They missed it.
However, there were also those who were notified. A way past retirement age priest and his wife who had been unable to bear a child. An inn keeper who was not prepared but still compassionately found a space for Mary and Joseph. There were the shepherds, the outcast group of people who seldom observed the Sabbath due to their given jobs, intentionally sent away from humanity, who lived in the middle of livestock. There were pagan wise men who did not know God but followed an invitation written on a star in the sky.
The stable was well over 2,000 miles from the palace of the Ceasar Agustus the all power ruler of Rome, a much shorter distance from Quirinius the regional governor – neither of these powerful men were given an invitation, The religious leaders were left our and there was no announcement made at the temple or the synagogues. But, shepherds knew, they ran to see.
It is no wonder then that it would be the outcasts, the downtrodden, the hopeless, the rejected, the poor, the homeless, and the dismissed that this was the people who were declared blessed in Jesus’ message.
“Blessed are the poor, those that mourn, the mee, those who hunger and thirst, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, the persecuted, the reviled, and the victims.
So what startles us? God invited the ones that needed to see and hear. Like the shepherds, the ones who had little other choice. What is the message of Christmas? Jesus appeared where Jesus was truly needed.
And, what is the angels’ message of the “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’”.
May this be our epiphany, our startling revelation, in a possibly dark season, our moment that changes everything and sends us into God’s light – Great joy that is given to ALL people.
Music Slides Billy/Linda
Angels We Have Heard On High (Gloria) CCLI Song # 27721
Verse 1
Angels we have heard on high
Sweetly singing o’er the plains
And the mountains in reply
Echoing their joyous strains
Chorus
Gloria
In excelsis Deo
Gloria
In excelsis Deo
Verse 2
Shepherds why this jubilee
Why your joyous strains prolong
What the gladsome tidings be
Which inspire your heav’nly song
Chorus
Gloria
In excelsis Deo
Gloria
In excelsis Deo
Verse 3
Come to Bethlehem and see
Christ whose birth the angels sing
Come adore on bended knee
Christ the Lord the newborn King
Chorus
Gloria
In excelsis Deo
Gloria
In excelsis Deo
Verse 4
See Him in a manger laid
Whom the choirs of angels praise
Mary Joseph lend your aid
While our hearts in love we raise
Chorus
Gloria
In excelsis Deo
Gloria
In excelsis Deo
Community (Slides) Rick
- Next Sunday, 12.22.24, Luke 2:21-38; Advent Four – Love.
- Christmas Eve Candlelight Worship, December 24 @ 6:00
- Like Instagram and Write Google Review
Closing Peace (Slides) Rick (Slides)
Leader: May the peace of the Lord go with you.
Response: And also with you.
Closing Music Billy/Linda
O Come All Ye Faithful CCLI Song # 31054
Verse 1
O come all ye faithful
Joyful and triumphant
O come ye O come ye to Bethlehem
Come and behold Him
Born the King of angels
Chorus
O come let us adore Him
O come let us adore Him
O come let us adore Him
Christ the Lord
Verse 2
Sing choirs of angels
Sing in exultation
O sing all ye bright
Hosts of heav’n above
Glory to God all Glory in the highest
Chorus
O come let us adore Him
O come let us adore Him
O come let us adore Him
Christ the Lord
Verse 3
Yea Lord we greet Thee
Born this happy morning
Jesus to Thee be all glory giv’n
Word of the Father
Now in flesh appearing
Chorus
O come let us adore Him
O come let us adore Him
O come let us adore Him
Christ the Lord
Order, Words, & Voices 