A Song Beyond Comparison - An Advent Sermon

Matthew 1:18-24

Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant by the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”). When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife.

The Christian Calendar begins with Advent, a season in which we’re invited to entertain the possibility of an alternative reality, an alternative reality that subverts life as we know it. The Calendar doesn’t start with a conference, or a seminar, or a discipleship intensive – the downloading of facts and certitudes, doctrines and truths. It starts with an invitation to imagine other possibilities; new possibilities. This is significant because this whole “following Jesus” thing is about new possibilities. Newness of life, new ways of living, God declaring through Isaiah – “Behold, I am making all things new.”

We’re not always quick to embrace the “new” though. Often it is only in a slower process of re-imaging things that we find an openness to some new possibility begins to come alive. Most of us linger in wistfulness as we consider and re-consider alternative ways of being and alternative ways of arranging our lives. Alternative understandings, newness that is demanded of us, is more likely to shut us down and put us on the defensive; we start to defend the old and resist the new – we even start to resist the idea that there could be anything “new.” Thus ultimately, we’re not taught “into” something new, we’re “imagined” into something new. This is why the best teachers are not those who can explain a subject with great clarity, but those you can capture the imagination of students in regard to the subject at hand.

The Christian Calendar, an annual cycle-of-discipleship based on the life of Jesus, understands this, and begins with a season designed to capture your imagination. We don’t begin with teachings of Jesus, not the miracles of Jesus, certainly not the Cross – that’s a surprising part of the story that comes later. We begin with the excitement and anticipation that God is up to something new in the world, something never seen before, a Messiah, a Christ, a Saviour is coming. And his name will be Jesus and he’ll save people from sin. Imagine that!

This is a challenging idea for those that aren’t very imaginative.

Years ago, some friends and I were at the movies watching the first installment of the long-awaited Lord of the Rings trilogy. The movie closes with Fordo and Samwise in their canoe paddling to the far side of a river. Off they go, all by themselves, carrying the Ring of Power to Mount Doom. In a silent theatre with the closing credits rolling, a friend up mine pipes up; “That could never happen in real life!”

“The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”). “That could never happen in real life!” Or, as John puts it, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth.” (1:14). “That could never happen in real life!” Or, as Luke puts it, (with angels singing to shepherds), “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!” (2:14).

Could these sorts of things happen in real life?

In our Gospel reading, Joseph has his doubts, of course he does. He has it in mind to quietly and respectfully call off the marriage – a baby conceived by the will of God. “Yep, of course Mary – wink, wink, nod, nod, say no more, say no more.” But then, he has a dream, where an angel speaks to him, tells him its true, all of it. The child will be the Saviour, the one who rescues people from their sins. This is all out of the box, this is something new, but Joseph is open to this newness and takes Mary as his wife.

Sometimes it feels it would be easier to cope with the uncomfortable known than imagine that something genuinely “other” could happen. Sometimes it is easier to imagine things could never change, that’s easier to cope with at times. What we know, even the pain and hurt, can at times be comforting. Imagining Mary had been unfaithful and calling everything off, surely that wouldn’t be as painful as embracing this risky new thing? A virgin birth? The Son of God?

If we can imagine something other than what is, we tend to imagine only a “hyper” version of reality, not an “alternative” version of reality. But this is a failure of imagination. We imagine our lives being turned around because we win lotto – we imagine all the things we would do and could do if our numbers come up and we win the $36 million-dollar power ball – Christmas come! Here though, the world doesn’t change, rather you simply get to place all of your trust in the power of money to turn your life around, rather than trusting in the power of God to make all things new!

This is also why a popular understanding of eternity, rather than a biblical understanding, is ultimately a failure of imagination. Because it doesn’t imagine this world renewed and restored and healed, it imagines another world, a “hyper” version of this world with mansions and crowns for everyone and streets paved with gold in a pearly gate – eternity in a safe and secure gated community. This is little more than a super-sized, upgraded, “hyper world” – birthed in escapism, materialism and consumerism rather than in a biblical vision of a renewed cosmos.

Advent is a season where we are invited to re-imagine the world through the eyes of God. To allow something other, something from elsewhere, from outside of ourselves, outside of the plausibility structures of the world – to capture our imagination and offer an “alternative” vision for the world as we know it. God’s vision for this world.

Paradoxically though, this doesn’t mean we need to look elsewhere or look far off – through a telescope to the edges of the universe, for something distant. Rather, we need to look deeply into the recesses of our own hearts, for the aches, the longings, the hopes we have as humans for a world of peace and joy, that are birthed of God. Hopes that we all carry, though they are easily lost under the baggage of sin and death. Hidden because of pain or heartache, or disappointment and loss, maybe great poverty gets in the way, or maybe great wealth – we can lose sight of God’s vision for this world for many reasons.

Deep down though, I think faith, hope and love is always desperate to spring to life. And, it seems to me, that in the countdown to Christmas, this is a more palatable possibility than any other time of the year.

In The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis, Digory and Polly, Uncle Andrew, the Cabby and the evil witch Jadis, find themselves present at “the founding of Narnia” where Aslan’s sings the world into being; it’s described as “a song beyond comparison.” It’s a magnificent scene. At one-point, Aslan selects animals to be the walking, talking, animated, stewards of Narnia. Digory and Polly are awestruck when they hear the animals talking to each other and Aslan – it's positively magical.

The Cabby on seeing everything unfold comments; "Glory be! I'd ha' been a better man all my life if I'd known there were things like this." Uncle Andrew sees things quite differently though, he wasn’t awestruck.

Lewis writes: For what you see and hear depends a good deal on where you are standing: it also depends on what sort of person you are. Ever since the animals had first appeared, Uncle Andrew had been shrinking further and further back into the thicket. He watched them very hard of course; but he wasn't really interested in seeing what they were doing, only in seeing whether they were going to make a rush at him. Like the Witch, he was dreadfully practical. He simply didn't notice that that Aslan was choosing one pair out of every kind of beasts. All he saw, or thought he saw, was a lot of dangerous wild animals walking vaguely about. And he kept on wondering why the other animals didn't run away from the big Lion. 

When the great moment came and the Beasts spoke, he missed the whole point; for a rather interesting reason. When the Lion had first begun singing, long ago when it was quite dark, he had realized that the noise was a song. And he had disliked the song very much. It had made him think and feel things he did not want to think and feel. Then when the sun rose, and he saw that the singer was a lion ("only a lion," as he said to himself), he tried his hardest to make believe that it wasn't singing and never had been singing - only roaring as any lion might in a zoo in our own world.

And so, when at last the Lion spoke and said, “Narnia awake,” he didn’t hear any words: he heard only a snarl. And when the Beasts spoke in answer, he heard only barkings, growlings, baying, and howlings. And when they laughed – well, you can imagine. That was worse for Uncle Andrew than anything that had happened yet. Such a horrid, bloodthirsty din of hungry and angry brutes he had never heard in his life.

Uncle Andrew missed the magic. He was all too practical. As Digory puts it earlier in the story; “Grown-ups are always thinking of uninteresting explanations.”

At Christmas time there is a certain “magic” in the air that is hard to miss, but, it’s not impossible to miss. If one wants to you can come up with uninteresting explanations and right Christmas off as consumerism, pressure and commercialization. It’s all just noise, barkings, growlings, baying and howling. Like Uncle Andrew, you can avoid thinking and feeling things you don’t want to think and feel.

But, if one pays attention, you can tune into the magic, the deeper longing embedded within the core of the whole vast Christmas industry, and if you listen carefully enough, discover that there is still a “song beyond comparison” being sung. Trees are decorated, Christmas movies are watched, Christmas lights are set up, gifts are bought and wrapped, cards are written, soldiers fighting pause to play soccer and share cigarettes, even those with only a little do what that can to give to others – ultimately because faith, hope and love still desperately wants to spring to life and is stirring people’s hearts.

While some find it easy to dismiss God, a novel idea, a myth, a theory of everything; dismissing Christmas isn’t so easy. Luther and Nora Krank try to do this in the movie, Christmas with the Kranks, it’s not so easy. Christmas is all-encompassing.

To dismiss Christmas is to dismiss a part of ourselves, it’s to dismiss some of the most wonderful and some of the most enduring aspects of our childhood, and at the same time, some of the most fragile aspects as well (the hopes and fears of all the years, the tears and the laughter). In one sense it is to dismiss the child that still lives inside each of us. To dismiss Christmas is to dismiss the sense that there is more to life than the ordinary and the mundane, that life is also somehow mysterious and magical. It’s to dismiss the possibility that reindeer really know how to fly.

It’s to dismiss that leap in your heart as you wake to another morning only to quickly remember that it isn’t another morning at all – it is a morning as different to any other morning as you can get. And, in doing so, it’s to dismiss the possibility that some way, somehow, someday – this once a year Christmas feeling, could actually become an every day of the year feeling. It’s to dismiss the idea that peace on earth and goodwill to all – might actually be possible.

Which, whether we realize it or not, or accept it or not, is to dismiss the idea that Jesus Christ is actually Emmanuel, God with us, the one who will save us from our sins and make all things new.

How is this all going to happen? How can a baby, born in a manger, be the beginning of some whole new thing that God is doing? Well, that’s the story that unfolds in Epiphany and Lent and Easter and isn’t the issue at this stage of the story. For now, in Advent, the invitation is to re-imagine this world turned right-side-up. And to embrace all of the excitement, anticipation, risk and fear that comes with daring to imagine such a thing.

It’s to imagine new possibilities for your life over the next 12 months.

That, in our lives and in the world – pain and heartache could find healing, that anxiety and worry could fade away, that waring and fighting could give way to peace, that disappointment and heartache could become joy and laughter, that faith, hope and love can actually spring to life. It is an invitation to re-imagine this world and to tune into a song beyond comparison that is being sung today. A song of heaven that still plays in the quiet of our hearts today.

Benediction:

Living God, I pray for my brothers and sisters,
May they know your presence in this season of possibility.
Give them the ability to see as you see – to re-imagine this world
As one made new, reconciled and restored.
Give them a heart that is obedient,

A faith that is kingdom-focused and a love that is neighbourly.
Awaken them to your song, a song beyond comparison
A song that is being sung today.
Act in us, through us, and beyond us,
That we might see a weary world rejoicing.
As we go this morning, may we go in
The grace of the Father
The love of the Son
And the comfort of the Holy Spirit.
Amen. 

Thanks to C.S.Lewis for The Magicians Newphew, Frederick Buechner, Barbara Brown-Taylor and Walter Brueggemann, for shaping elements of the above. 

Advent; the Moment Before THE MOMENT

Advent is the four-week season that leads into Christmas; the moment before The Moment. Advent is an invitation to consider words like anticipation, expectation, hope, and waiting. What are you hoping for? What are you waiting for? What are you counting down to? During Advent we’re invited to fix our hearts and hopes on Jesus. We’re invited to join with Joseph, Mary, Simeon, the Wise Men of the East, the shepherds of the field, the people of Israel, in their waiting for the Messiah, for the birth of Jesus 2,000 years ago. We’re invited to consider our own need of Jesus today, to allow an excited anticipation to stir in our hearts as we trust Jesus to show up in our lives in different ways. And, of course, we’re invited to put our trust in Jesus as we consider a world that desperately needs Jesus to come again, to bring peace on earth, and God’s good will here as in heaven. 

Advent starts on the 3^rd of December, only a couple of weeks away, so here are some tips to help you to engage in the season as Advent as we prepare and countdown to our celebration of the coming of Christ at Christmas.

1:   Get your hands on an Advent Devotional of some sort. If you Google “Advent Devotional” plenty of options will come up. This year I’m using Walter Brueggemann’s Celebrating Abundance. The Bruegg-Master is always top shelf and was only $3 on Kindle. There are plenty of other great options as well, see… Bonhoeffer and Annie Dillard, N.T. Wright, Richard Rhor, Spurgeon, Tozer etc. There is even one by Heidi Haverkamp called Advent in Narnia.  

2:   During Advent, when you find yourself waiting – for an appointment, in traffic, for the kid's sports practice to finish, for your turn at the supermarket check-out – don’t let it be a moment of stress and impatience; let it be a moment of peace. Celebrate the waiting. Celebrate that things are out of your control. Celebrate that the world doesn’t run according to your time-frames. Celebrate that life is a gift to be savoured not a “to-do-list” that must be completed as quickly as possible. Remember that whatever you are hoping to get to next, isn’t as important as what you think. What is important is peace on earth. Choose the peace of God in that moment, and remember we’re counting down to the one who declares “peace on earth, and goodwill to all.”  

3:   Read one book from C.S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia, let their magic remind you that all of this is pretty “magical,” the gift of a loving God.

4:   Head to your local shopping mall and park yourself somewhere where you can sit and watch and take it all in. Revel in the hustle and the bustle, the decorations, the lights and the people out and about buying gifts for one another. Don’t let the consumerism of Christmas (which is nasty) distract you from the fact that there is something in the air. Even secular people see Christmas as something “other” than ordinary time. Smile when you see people obviously enjoying themselves, humming away to the Christmas tunes. Pray for those that look stressed, anxious, argumentative, consumed by consumerism and what has disintegrated into a silly season. (In regard to consumerism you could watch What Would Jesus Buy?)

5:   Watch a Christmas movie, with your spouse, with your kids, in your flat. Maybe pick one you loved as a child. One that makes you laugh or one that makes you cry. Life goes quick, so pause and enjoy the moment together.

6:   Buy something to either eat or drink that is a genuine treat, something “other” than what you’d normally buy, something even a bit extravagant. And then share it with someone, with strangers or friends. Let it be a delight, a reminder that we are blessed and that God is good. Let it be a sacramental nod to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb; that we’re waiting for Jesus and for a time where we no longer fast but will feast with all being healed and restored.

7:   Simultaneously, ask how you could simplify Christmas. What could you do this year to take some of the stress out of Christmas? What do you need to say “no” to? What pressure to conform do you need to resist? Advent is a chance to intentionally prepare for Christmas and you need not get caught up in the rat-race of the world’s corruption of a festive season into a silly season.  

8:   Appreciate that others are not as fortunate as you. Look beyond your family this Christmas, how could you bless someone in need?

9:   Instead of a Christmas wish list of gifts and toys you’re longing for, hopefully you’ve moved beyond that, take a moment to make a list of spaces and places in your life, in your family, in your work, in your church, where you need the love and light of Christ to shine. Let this be a prayer list for Christmas and bring this before God. An invitation for Jesus to turn up.

10:   Throughout the entire season of Advent, as we count down to Christmas and the coming of Christ, remind yourself again and again, that nothing will truly bring the satisfaction, the fulfillment, the peace, the wholeness, the hope that we all long for in different ways; other than Jesus. That new phone, winning lotto, getting into that new relationship or out of that old relationship may feel life-giving for a moment, but you’ll soon find yourself feeling empty again. Jesus is the reason for the season, and honestly, the only thing that brings fullness of life.

Grace and peace all. 

Fourth Sunday of Advent @ St Luke's

St Luke's - 4th Sunday of Advent -22nd December 2013:

Introduction to Advent:

Welcome to the 4th Sunday of Advent... 3 more sleeps to go... and then it is Christmas... the celebration of Christ coming into the world, into our story, then, today and tomorrow! Even still though we are waiting patiently, we're learning to wait for what really matters rather than that instant gratification we all so often crave. Jesus comes in his own time and on his own schedule. 

Christmas Reorientation: (stand and read aloud together)

Christmas is coming
Some see this as "the silly season" - as a time of stress and anxiety
We chose though, not to be consumed by the consumerism.
Christmas is the coming of Christ into the world
Rather than be frantic, we will be still.
We celebrate Jesus, Immanuel, God with us. Everywhere.
A new way of living, a new day has dawned
Though there may be darkness, The Light has come.
We remember that Christmas is hope, peace, joy and love
Christmas is Christ.

Advent Wreath and Candles:

This morning, with our Advent wreath, we're going to light all four candles. Hope, peace, joy, today's candle which is symbolic of love.

The light gets brighter and brighter as we journey forwards towards the coming of The Light of the World.

So this morning we need four kids to come and help light a candle...

Love - Based on Psalm 103 and John 15: (one person reads and everyone else joins in)

Lead: The steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting. 
All: The Lord's love endures forever. 
Lead: This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
All: Love the Lord with all your heart and love your neighbour as yourself.
Lead: No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends.
All: We love because He first loved us. He is the light of the world. He is love.


Worship:

Joy to the World - Issac Watts
Hark the Herald Angels Sing - Charles Wesley
Oh Holy Night - Adolphe Adam

Interactive: (discussion in small groups with particular focus on including kids and interacting with kids)

In small groups discuss the following questions...

What is your favourite thing about Christmas?
Which word is most meaningful for you at Christmas; hope, peace, joy or love? Why?
What might people find difficult or challenging at Christmas?
Is there a way you could show love to them this Christmas?

Sermonette: (Joseph McAuley)

Matthew 11:2-3
When John heard in prison what the Messiah was doing, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, "Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?"

Introduction:

Pre-Christian Germanic countries used to celebrate and hold a feast in the middle of winter called Yule. It was held to mark the winter solstice, the time of year when the noon day sun is its lowest. Little work could be done in the winter and now the countdown to better weather started. The celebration would often go for 12 days.

Legend had it that during these times of the year there were more supernatural and unusual occurrences than at other times of the year. Legend even has it that the god Odin, also known as long-beard as he had a big long beard, would lead a Wild Hunt through the sky every Yuletide. His role was to distribute gifts to his people. 

In time though, as the Gospel spread to these regions, this feast evolved to become a celebration of the birth of Jesus. About as early as 354 AD, the celebration of Christmas on the 25th December and the coming of Christ was an official part of the Christian calendar. Yuletide celebrations such as gift giving were re-orientated around the idea of Christ as a gift to the world.

Around this same time, in Asia Minor, lived a man called Saint Nicholas. St Nicholas was a godly man and used his entire inheritance to help the poor, sick, and children in need. He gave in secret, expecting nothing in return. Among other things Nicholas saved young women from slavery, protected sailors, spared innocents from execution, provided grain in a famine and rescued a kidnapped boy.

In his most famous exploit, a poor man had three daughters but could not afford a proper dowry for them. This meant that they would remain unmarried and probably, in absence of any other possible employment, would have to become prostitutes. Hearing of the girls' plight, Nicholas decided to help them, but being too modest to help the family in public (or to save them the humiliation of accepting charity), he went to the house under the cover of night and threw three purses (one for each daughter) filled with gold coins through the window opening into the house.

One version has him throwing one purse for three consecutive nights. Another has him throwing the purses over a period of three years, each time the night before one of the daughters comes of age. Invariably, the third time the father lies in wait, trying to discover the identity of their benefactor. Nicholas learns of the poor man's plan and drops the third bag down the chimney instead; a variant holds that the daughter had washed her stockings that evening and hung them over the embers to dry, and that the bag of gold fell into the stocking.

In time though, Saint Nicholas and his legend merged and evolved with Odin and his legend, to become Father Christmas, Santa Clause, the man with the white beard in the red suit, who lives in the North Pole, flies through the sky on a sleigh and drops gifts down chimneys.

So you've got a Christian bishop who over time as become a magical figure in a red suit. And then you've got a Yuletide Winter Solstice Festival that has become the Christian Christmas, our celebration of the birth of the Saviour. And of course, our 21st Century as seen Christmas commercialized like never before. Pause.  

There is a real blurring of the mystery, the magic, the merriment and the meaning of Christmas.   

But hasn't this always been the case at Christmas? Even at the first Christmas?

- Wise men, Magi from the East, astrologers following star signs.
- Shepherds having supernatural encounters with choirs of angels.
- Jewish expectation that a Messiah was to come who would overthrow Roman oppression and re-establish the throne of David and Jewish rule.
- Herod and the rest of Jerusalem being frightened by reports that a new king had been born; Herod because he is an imposter and has no legitimate claim to the throne, Jerusalem because they are fearful that this could arouse the anger of the Roman Empire.
- Reports though that this new king has been born in Bethlehem of all places, in a manger, with animals, without the pomp and ceremony that one would expect.
- Reports that he is going to save people from their sins.
- A plot to murder this new king ASAP.

Imagine Bethlehem locals at the time, the tanner and his wife that life across the road from the inn without any room. What's going on? What's the meaning of this? How do we figure this out?

Questions that we're still asking 2000 years on amongst crackers, carols, Santa, stockings, trees, tinsel, ham, turkey, differed payments, presents, pressures, nativity scenes, candy canes, Christian rhymes, elves, eggnog, baby Jesus, wise men, the Christmas Grinch. What are we to do with Christmas? What are we to do with the Christ-child, Jesus? Pause.

* At one end of the spectrum some see Christmas as something to be endured, or to 'get through', or even something to be ignored.

I read this week of one Christian declaring their not going to be celebrating Christmas this year as the date for Christmas was chosen to line up with the pagan festival of winter solstice and they are endeavouring to line up their life with biblical standards not questionable traditions.

And yet Christmas is the redeeming of a pagan festival in order to celebrate Christ. It is a legit as it gets.

* At the other end of the spectrum some simply conform to the culture of Christmas as marketed to us by popular media and multi-nationals... struggle to give the right gifts, have the right stuff, throw the right kind of party. Have just the 'right kind of Christmas.'

* There is a third option though, neither disengagement nor whole hearted embrace, each December we can chose to re-tell the Christmas story for what it is: a promise of hope, peace, joy and love, the coming of Christ into our story to set things right.

Each December we can set up an Advent Wreath and light candles and re-tell the story. We can sing carols that remind us of the reason for the season. He comes to make His blessings flow, far as the curse is found, far as the curse is found. We can pack up the kids and take them off to 'The Road to Bethlehem' or on the Christmas lights trail and call in at the various churches that participate and look at the manger scenes and ask questions and tell stories as we drive around.

Rather than fight against Santa or Rudolph or the Elves we can talk about the greatest gift of all. We talk about the reality that every good deed, good thought, good gesture, good intention, good action is ultimately an echo of God's life and God's generosity towards us.

Generosity ultimately displayed in the giving of his only Son, that whoever would put their faith and trust in Jesus would find true life.

But he came in controversial circumstances, a young women betrothed but not married, a challenge to the throne of Herod, a disturber of the peace, without pomp and ceremony. There is a degree of mystery. There is a degree of confusion.

Years on people are still asking, John the Baptist of all people is asking - are you the one who is to come or should we look for another?

Years on we all to often ask the same question. We want Jesus of course to be the Messiah, the Saviour, the answer. And we know of course that he is. And we know enough of the Christmas story to know that he doesn't come as we might always like and hope and expect, or on our time frames.

But all too often we find ourselves looking for other Saviours. More convenient Saviours. More timely Saviours.

Chocolate. A cold beer. A sleep in. A new car. A different house. A career change. A new medicine. A pay rise. Lotto. A new relationship. A new wife, a new husband. A holiday. Time spent on the beach, time spent in a novel. A charismatic leader to follow. Some success. Some fame. Some fortune.

Saviours that are more readily available, more tangible, more suited for our instant gratification. As we get more tired throughout the year it is even tempting to look to Christmas as a saviour rather than the Christ of Christmas.

Is Jesus the one or should we look for another? Jesus answers Johns disciples, essentially, well you figure it out. People can see, people are walking differently, people are being made whole, people are hearing with clarity, people that were dead all over have found a reason to live, there is good news for the poor.

He changes everything. We just all too often fix our eyes on the wrong thing.

Conclusion:

And so we light the Christ candle this morning as well. Normally you'd wait till Christmas day, but we won't be here. It's Christmas, Christ as come, the light of the world. 

When you survey your life today, your hopes, your longings, your heartaches, areas where you need a miracle, where you need healing, where you need answers or hope or peace... It's tempting to look at the small flicker of the what candle and conclude that off the things that Christmas could bring, this is actually the last thing you need.

And yet Christ brings hope, peace, joy and love.

He is the bread of life, you eat and are hungry no more. We eat up at Christmas but it doesn't satisfy.
He has water that we drink and we thirst no more. We drink at Christmas. Some will have headaches. We'll be thirsty again.
He is the light of the world and in him there is no darkness.

We celebrate Jesus birth at Christmas of course. Really though we celebrate that it actually possible for us to experience new birth, new life, new hope, new peace, new joy, new possibility.

Born that man no more may die.
Born to raise the sons of earth.
Born to give them second birth.

Hark the herald angels sing.
Glory to the new-born king.

Communion:

I don't know your situation, your circumstances, your pain, your joy, your heartache, your hope this Christmas. He does. We're going to take communion this morning and as we do I want this to be an opportunity for you to invite Christ afresh into your world....

Third Sunday of Advent @ St Luke's

St Luke's - 3rd Sunday of Advent - 15th December 2013:

Introduction to Advent:

Week three of Advent. 10 more sleeps go. Christmas trees are up, Christmas CD's are out. Christmas movies are playing - Home Alone, Jingle all the Way, Die Hard. We're closer still again. We're counting down.

And here at St Luke's we're journeying towards Christmas and we're making sure we're mindful of the reason for the season, making sure were mindful of the hope, peace, joy and love that Christmas promises in Jesus Christ.

Christmas Reorientation: (stand and read aloud together)

Christmas is coming
Some see this as "the silly season" - as a time of stress and anxiety
We chose though, not to be consumed by the consumerism.
Christmas is the coming of Christ into the world
Rather than be frantic, we will be still.
We celebrate Jesus, Immanuel, God with us. Everywhere.
A new way of living, a new day has dawned
Though there may be darkness, The Light has come.
We remember that Christmas is hope, peace, joy and love
Christmas is Christ.

Advent Wreath and Candles:

As we get closer to Christmas, each Sunday we're also lighting another candle in our Advent wreath. The light of Christ is coming into the world.

The four candles around the outside represent hope, peace, joy and love; and then in the middle we have a white Christ candle.

We don't light them all at once though, rather we light them one at a time, as we journey towards the coming of Christ into the world. In doing so we remember the waiting of Advent, we'd love to rush the work of Jesus in our lives and in our world, but all to often waiting is involved.

The light gets brighter and brighter as we journey forwards though.

Today's candle is pink, pink is the colour of joy, the colour of rejoicing.

So this morning I need three kids to come and give me a hand...

Joy - Based on Isaiah 35: (one person leads and everyone else joins in)

Lead: The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad, the desert shall rejoice and blossom; like spring flowers it shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice with joy and singing.

All: Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped. 

Lead: Then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy. 

All: And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with singing. 

Lead: Everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness.

All: Sorrow and sighing shall flee away. He will wipe away every tear. Goodwill and joy to all!

 Worship:

Joy to the World - Issac Watts
Hark the Herald Angels Sing - Charles Wesley 
Oh Come All Ye Faithful - John Francis Wade

Adults verse Children Christmas Quiz:
ADULTS: The bible teaches that the wise men returned to their homeland glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen? False – the bible teaches that the shepherds went back to their fields saying this, Luke 2:20.KIDS: On Christmas Day, what would you find a joke inside of? Christmas cracker.

ADULTS: How many wise men visited Jesus? No specific number is given.KIDS: How many doors of an advent calendar would you open before Christmas Day arrives? 24

ADULTS: In Christian tradition what are the names of the supposed three wise men? Melchior, Caspar and Balthazar.KIDS: What gifts did the three wise men take to baby Jesus? Gold, frankincense and myrrh.

ADULTS: Santa has nine reindeer, can you name them all? Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen, and the last but not least Rudolph!!!!KIDS: What type of food is typically left out for Santa on Christmas Eve? Cookies and milk.

 ADULTS: Tim Allen stars in three The Santa Clause Movies, number one was The Santa Clause, number three was The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause. What was number two? The Santa Clause 2: The Mrs Clause.KIDS: What native New Zealand tree is referred to as New Zealand's Christmas Tree? The Pohutakawa

ADULTS: What line in Away in a Manger is considered by some to be heresy? No crying he makes.KIDS: Is the Christmas Carol Hark the Herald Angels sing nearly 200 years old or nearly 300 years old? Nearly 300 years. Written 1739.

KIDS: There is a Saint that Santa Clause / Father Christmas might be named after, Saint who? Saint Nicholas.ADULTS: Saint Nicholas is the patron saint of 7 different things, name two of them? Sailors, merchants, archers, thieves, children, pawnbrokers and students in various cities and countries around Europe.

ADULTS: What where Christmas trees traditionally decorated with prior to the 18th Century? Edibles such as apples, nuts and dates and also candles.
KIDS: Traditionally which is true, you set your Christmas tree up 12 days before Christmas or, you pack your Christmas tree up 12 days after Christmas? Set up or pack up? Pack up.

ITEM: Oh Holy Night - Adolphe Adam

Sermonette: (Lisa McAuley)

It is the 3rd Sunday of Advent!  We have chatted about peace and hope, my task at hand is to spend this next 15 or so minutes talking about joy!

First, though, we are going to watch a clip, not about joy, in fact its quite the opposite. Sometimes the best way to describe/ define  something is to explore its opposite, its antonym.

When I was pondering the meaning of  joy and what it really was and what it looked like, what it smelt like and then what was what joys opposing force, "depression" was the best description for me of what was essentially the opposite of joy.

I really appreciated that clip, gave me a greater understanding of depression and its knock on effects. That story of the black dog and that particular man's journey, Matt Johnstone, had some lines that stood out to me...

            - surprise you with visits

            - no rose coloured glasses, black dog classes

            - Devoid of feeling

            - Isolated you

            - Lost your joy, what was the point of life

            - Missed out on life

I haven't personally  suffered from depression but  so often I have heard it described as that cloud that follows you, seems relentless in its perusal of you and the result  is the loss of happiness, feeling and meaning.

I'm sure a lot of people can relate to that, have related to that or know someone who perhaps deals with depression on a daily basis.

At times depression has become a bit of a catch line, "I'm so depressed, I'm having such a bad hair day", "I'm so depressed, we lost the cricket again". That's not depression but more the roller coaster of life and our emotions. "I'm so happy, got an hour to have a coffee kid free but then  I'm mad that was the worst coffee ever, but the I'm happy again because I am off to go down town to buy a friend a present to I'm angry because I got back to my car and had a parking meter ticket but then I am happy because a friend had a baby but then I'm sad because someone I loved is distant."

On that roller coaster as well as being the minor twists and turns there will always be the extreme highs and the very low lows. The happiness and the sadness and the madness and the gladness are all determined by those external forces/circumstances and there is usually a time frame attached.

Depression though is something that hangs over you, that journeys with you. If depression can be described as the black dog / cloud that hangs over you - state of being,  the same came be said when it comes to joy.

Joy is that combined sense of peace, hope, love and possibility that journeys with you throughout the full spectrum of circumstances we experience in life.

And, though perhaps that may seem like a possibility too good to be true, especially if depression is something you're dealing with in life, Christmas is a time where we celebrate that  in Christ, joy is possible, joy can be found.

The true source of unrivalled joy was birthed in this very season. Thank God it's Christmas.

Luke 2:4-12
⁴ So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. ⁵ He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. ⁶ While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, ⁷ and she gave birth to her first born, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.

⁸ And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.⁹ An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰ But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. ¹¹ Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. ¹² This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

Christ is about to enter the story.

God wasn't content to let humanity live on in hopelessness but rather invade our world in order that peace, hope, love and joy might be true realities in our lives. The angels declared that this baby lying in a manger was a cause for great joy for all people. A Saviour has come. One that rescues. One that heals. One that lifts you out of the mud and mire and sets your feet upon a rock.

Grace. Forgiveness. Healing. Hope. Possibility. A today worth getting up for and a tomorrow worth getting up for. Peace that surpasses all understanding. Strength in our weakness. Pain that will be exchanged for joy.

Joy, hope, peace and love are not fluffy ideas that make for popular tattoos - sure realities that are found in Christ.

Psalm 28
The Lord is my strength, my shield from every danger. I trust him with all my heart. He helps me and my heart is filled with joy.

Like depression is the cloud, joy is an abiding sense of happiness, though there might be moments or seasons of sadness, even these are tempered with a confident expectation that the sun will soon return piercing the darkness caused by the passing clouds. So much so, that it is possible to have deep joy even amidst the grey clouds of life, before the sun comes through. 

Now I don't say all of this today as a suggestion for a quick and easy step to deal with depression, put your tree up, turn the lights on, sing some carols, eat some Christmas fruit mince tarts and you'll be away laughing.

Rather though, I say this so that we might all be reminded that...

We stand together with those of you that suffer from depression or anxiety on a daily basis.
We stand together with those of you that have had a bad day, a bad week, a bad year.
Those of you that are feeling tired or worn out.
Those of you that are feeling lost this Christmas. Away from home. Missing a loved one that cant be with you due to geographical distance or a loved one that has passed on.
And of course those that feel like everything is ticking along beautifully in life at the moment, 2013 has been a great year, maybe your best yet.

I say this so that we might all look at the small flickering light of the Advent wreaths 'joy' candle, and be reminded of where joy ultimately comes from, Christ not circumstances. And, that even if for you things feel dark at the moment, that you'd be reminded that only a little light is needed to make inroads against the darkness.

May this Christmas might we be mindful that the coming of Christ is not only a reason to have joy, but the true foundation of joy.

The same charge Nehemiah gave to the Israelites I give to you today.

Nehemiah 8:10
“Go home and prepare a feast, holiday food and drink; and share it with those who don’t have anything: This day is holy to God. Don’t feel bad. The joy of God is your strength!”

Some of you are particularly 'Christmas' and your house looks like the north pole, lights everywhere.....etc. Fantastic.

Some of you though that's not your thing. It doesn't have to be. Perhaps this week though you could light a solitary candle. A joy candle. Be reminded this Christmas that a little light is all that is needed

Joy isn't being happy even when Snoopy's Christmas is playing. 

Joy is not the expression on your face but the hope you have in your heart.
It's peace dancing and it is found in Christ.

Close in prayer.