Isaiah 9: 2, 6-7; Luke 1:26-38; Matthew 1:18-23; John 1:1-5
Jill A. Kirchner-Rose, MDIV, DMIN – Tonight, we conclude our sermon series on “The Senses of Christmas.” The first Sunday of Advent we explored the taste of Christmas – with savory Christmas scones for communion bread — nutmeg, cranberry, rosemary, vanilla, powdered sugar. Yum! The second Sunday of Advent we explored the smells of Christmas – we even had our own peppermint scented bulletins that Sunday. The third Sunday of Advent we celebrated the sights of Christmas with inspiring pictures of the Christ light shining in the darkness – pictures of 95 yr old Jimmy Carter – with 14 stitches, a black eye, a battle with cancer and still building houses for Habitat for Humanity; a picture of Time Magazine’s person of the year – Greta Thunberg – the youngest to ever receive the award as she brings healing and liberation to our planet; a picture of Mexican and U.S. families playing seesaw through the U.S. Mexican barrier on the border. No doubt, despair still exists, but we affirmed that “The light shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot, has not, and will not overcome it.” Last Sunday we celebrate the feel of Christmas as the young people of RUCC performed the play “Christmas 20/20” – a modern day story about Maria, Jose and Jesus. And tonight, to conclude our sermon series, we explore “The Sounds of Christmas.” And I am going to need your help!
From scripture passages today, we infer a lot of sounds surrounding the Christmas Story.
Christmas Participation Story
Group one: Shepherds “Yo, Sheep!”
Group two: Sheep “Baa!”
Group three: Night Silent night, holy night (sung w/piano accompany)
Group four: Angel Hallelujah! Hallelujah! (sung w/organ accompany)
All Good news “Yes!” (with fist pump)
All Great Joy Shouts
All Baby “Ahhh”
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The Story: Let’s read the story again, this time with sound effects.
Long ago in a country far away from this one, there were shepherds…
watching over their sheep…
by night.
Being good shepherds…
they protected their sheep,
made sure they had food to eat and water to drink, and gathered them together at night…
for protection. The shepherds…
were listening to the soft sounds of the sheep…
as they quieted down to go to sleep. The dark sky was full of shimmering stars that night.
And then..all sound stopped and an angel…
appeared to them. They were bathed in light, almost as if they glowed from within. The shepherds…
were frightened and so were the sheep.
The angel…
spoke to them. “Don’t be afraid. I have some good news…
to share. My good
news…
will bring great joy…
to all people. The good news…
is this: this very day in David’s town, a baby…
was born. And this baby…
is your savior—Christ the Lord.” The shepherds…
were amazed and so were the sheep.
What they thought was going to be like every other evening had turned into a holy night.
The angel…
told them to go into Bethlehem where they would find the baby.
Then the sky was filled with angels…
singing praises to God, proclaiming the good news…
with great joy…
then they were gone. The shepherds…
looked at each other and at the sheep.
“We should go to Bethlehem and see the baby…,”
they said. So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph and the baby…
lying in a manger. When the shepherds…
saw him, they told Mary and Joseph what the angel…
had told them about the baby.
And that they had come to see the good news…
for themselves so that they could share the great joy.
Everyone who heard what the shepherds…
said was amazed. Mary listened to all that was said and treasured it in her heart. The shepherds…
went back into the hills to their sheep…
singing praises to God for all they had heard and seen. It had been just as the angel…
had told them. They had knelt before the baby…
received the good news…
felt the great joy…
and when they were finally settled down, turned to each other and proclaimed, “What a night!”
These were the sounds of Christmas 2000 years ago. A far cry from the sounds of Christmas today. What do the modern notes of Christmas sound like?
(Play video)
From sheep to gingerbread lattes, the sounds of Christmas are many. But wait, there are even more sounds. For we celebrate the birth of Immanuel which means God with us. The Divine right here in our own Bethlehem. What are those sounds?
Perhaps it is the sounds of welcoming home a soldier from deployment.
Perhaps it is the sounds of Jews and Muslims worshipping safely in Hebrew and Arabic.
Perhaps it is the sound of refugee children laughing.
Perhaps it is the sounds of the homeless being fed a warm meal.
Perhaps it is the sounds of beds setting up in a shelter (Iona Dickenson, “The Sounds of Christmas,” 12/24/2018).
These are the sounds of Immanuel — God with us. The sounds of hope and peace and joy and love.
But wait. There are even more sounds. Tonight, we sing the glorious Christmas Carols. And there is one carol that is particularly fitting for this night. “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.” The carol was first a poem written by Henry Longfellow. Henry Longfellow experienced tremendous tragedy in his life. Henry’s wife had tragically died after her dress caught on fire. Henry tried to extinguish the flames as best as he could. H suffered such severe facial burns in the process that he was unable to attend his wife’s funeral. The first Christmas after Fanny’s death, Longfellow wrote, “How inexpressibly sad are all holidays.” A year after the incident, he wrote, “I can make no record of these days. Better leave them wrapped in silence. Perhaps someday God will give me peace.” Longfellow’s journal entry for December 25th 1862 reads: “‘A merry Christmas’ say the children, but that is no more for me.”
His oldest child, Charles, served as a lieutenant in the Civil War. He contracted typhoid disease and then was severely wounded with a bullet passing through his left shoulder. On Christmas Day, 1863, Longfellow – a 57 year old widowed father of six children, the oldest of which had been nearly paralyzed as his country fought a war against itself – wrote a poem trying to capture the dissonance in his own heart and the world he observed around him. A world of violence and injustice. The theme of listening recurred throughout the poem, eventually leading to confident hope even in the midst of bleak despair.
The final stanzas are these:
And in despair I bowed my head;
“There is no peace on earth,” I said;
“For hate is strong,
And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to (all)!”
Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
“God is not dead, nor doth (God) sleep;
The Wrong shall fail,
The Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to (all).”
Loving Creator,
May we hear the bells peal on Christmas Day. May we open our hearts and our ears to the good news of great joy for all people, “For unto us is born this day in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” Amen.
*Thank you to Iona Dickenson for the interactive piece with the congregation.