CHRIST CHURCH, 21 Dec 2008, 6pm
Carol Service
Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy, that will be for you and all the people. Today, in the city of David, a Saviour has been born to you. He is Christ the Lord. (Luke 2:10-11)
I just want to spend a few minute this evening thinking about those words of the angel to the shepherds at Bethlehem, and pick out one or two main points..
But first let's take note of the setting of all this. The message was delivered by God's angel to shepherds. Now shepherds were, in that society- even though they played a vital role in its agricultural economy, regarded as the lowest of the low. They lived almost beyond the pale. Yet it was to these lowly men that God sent this staggering news! God's Messiah-the long-awaited one (Christ the Lord) had been born in Bethlehem.
One would imagine that such news would have been more fitting in a royal palace, or maybe to the High Priest. These were the people who ruled, and who mattered in the nation's life. But No! It was to shepherds, and we think of how Jesus, during his earthly ministry chose a very mixed medley of men to be his disciples, and associated not with the religious or learned but with prostitutes, tax-collectors and lepers. God has, as Bishop David Shepherd entitled on of his books, a 'bias to the poor'.
Then, the message was also delivered at night-time.
Centuries before Isaiah had preached a message to the people of Israel when they had turned their backs on God, and had been taken into exile. He preached to a people living away from their God and by so living, they were in 'darkness'. They had lost direction, there we no-one or nothing to direct them. But, Isaiah's message was a message of hope:
'A Saviour has been born' We (probably) heard the reading from Isaiah chapter 9: The people walking in darkness have seen a great light. On those living in the land of nth shadow of death a light has dawned…..For unto us a child is born
That leads into point one of the angels message.
Without Jesus we are without God and we are in darkness; the darkness of the 'shadow of death'. But when Jesus came, God's Light came into the world, and the news of Jesus was given at night. Jesus said (John 8:12) I am the Light of the World. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. Without Jesus, we walk in darkness, stumbling, falling, losing our way. Our life is aimless, pointless. We don't know where we are going. We live in godlessness.
Aimlessly stumbling we need help, we need direction, we need a Saviour. The Child born in Bethlehem would live to proclaim God's good news and then die on a Roman Cross to save us from our sins and then be raised to new life- a new life which he offers; a life to make real the love,the freedom and the forgiveness which God alone can give- his light into our darkness.
A Saviour has been born, and so secondly-
I bring you news of great joy.
We look forward to Christmas, a time when we hope to 'have a good time', and to enjoy ourselves. Now, in the aimlessness of darkness the emphasis is on enjoyment; the enjoyment of freedom, freedom from inhibition. Enjoyment
is contingent on or circumstances
But. Joy is different. Joy brings peace and an inner calm. It depends on having received within our lives the Light- Jesus, the :Light of the World. This joy can also certainly be enjoyment- but it is not dependant on our circumstances. What really counts is God's love for us and our response to that love
Let us pray:Let's take up our carol sheets/books and turn to "O Little town of Bethlehem", and to its last verse. I suggest we use this verse as a prayer. I invite you (and let's pause to read it through first) and then say it, either out loud or in the silence of your heart:
O Holy Child of Bethlehem
Descent to us we pray.
Cast out our sin and enter in.
Be born in us today.
We hear the Christmas angels,
Their great glad tidings tell.
O come to us, abide In us
Our Lord, Emmanuel