Worshiping Christmas
Children's sermon
Illustration
Preaching
Sermon
Worship
Object:
This first Sunday of the new calendar year finds those who follow the lectionary with a choice -- while some denominations will observe the second Sunday after Christmas (with the gospel passage as the opening verses of John's gospel... which a few of you may have recently used as a Christmas Eve or Christmas Day text), others will celebrate this as Epiphany Sunday, with the traditional Epiphany texts, including Matthew's account of the visit of the magi to the Christ Child. In this installment of The Immediate Word, team member Dean Feldmeyer notes that whichever direction you choose, there's a common thread between these passages -- one that's particularly important for us to notice in the aftermath of the holiday bustle of Christmas preparations and family gatherings: a focus on the centrality of Jesus. As Dean points out, even faithful Christians find it entirely too easy to fall into the trap of making Christmas itself the center of our focus and celebrations, rather than a sign that points to the true focus... Jesus Christ. At this time of year we often unwittingly substitute a generic sense of goodwill and belief in the power of Christmas for the saving grace of Jesus. But as Dean reminds us, when the focus stays on Jesus we have a powerful antidote to the winter blahs that inevitably begin to set in as the tree and other seasonal decorations get put back in the attic. Team member Ron Love offers some additional thoughts on the passage from John, and its theme of God's light shining in all the dark corners of our lives... and our call to be a lamp bringing light to the shadows of one another's lives.
Worshiping Christmas
by Dean Feldmeyer
Matthew 2:1-12; John 1:1-18
Although Christmas doesn't officially end until Epiphany (Thursday, January 6), if your house is like mine, right about now the tinsel has begun to sag, the needles have begun to fall off the tree, the leaves are dropping off the poinsettia, and one of the shepherds seems to have wandered away from the créche (perhaps never to be found again).
Or maybe you're one of those overachievers who already has the artificial tree back in the attic, the nativity scene packed away for another year, and that new sweater folded neatly in the drawer, just under the old one.
Either way there's a good chance that you're feeling a little let down just about now.
Christmas is over. The New Year has been rung in. And in the Midwest we have two months of winter to plow through with nothing to distract us but magazine articles about dieting, Presidents' Day white sales, Oscar nominations, and the promise of March Madness yet to come. It's just, well, kind of depressing.
Or maybe not. Whether you celebrate this Sunday as the second Sunday of Christmas or as Epiphany Sunday, the gospel writers John and Matthew offer the insight that one reason for our post-Christmas winter doldrums is a deceptively simple and seemingly innocent form of idolatry.
THE WORLD
I'm a sucker for Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol.
I've read it dozens of times and I've never seen a film or video version that I didn't enjoy. I like it when Michael Caine and the Muppets ham their way through their silly version of the story. And I like watching Albert Finney dance through the streets at the end of Scrooge. I like George C. Scott's scary Scrooge, and this year I finally got to enjoy Patrick Stewart's more sympathetic and pitiful version of the old miser.
But this year, as I made my way through my collection of different versions of the Dickens classic, I noticed, maybe for the first time, that something very important was missing from this story: JESUS!
In Dickens' A Christmas Carol, Jesus is not the messiah, the savior of the world. Christmas is.
We are told -- and artfully told, at that -- that personal salvation, maybe even universal salvation, is to be found in "keeping Christmas." If you want to be happy, fulfilled, hopeful, at peace, and in a proper relationship with your fellow human beings -- as Scrooge is at the end of the story -- then all you have to do is keep and celebrate Christmas. And the way to celebrate Christmas is to be nice.
Be nice to your nephew. Be nice to your employees. Be nice to the children in your neighborhood. Be nice to the people who owe you money. Be nice to the poor. Be nice to your neighbors and the merchants in your part of town. Just be nice, and everything will turn out okay -- and the secret to being nice is Christmas. If you honor and lift up Christmas and pay homage to Christmas and celebrate Christmas, you will become nice and all your relationships will be mended and your life will have meaning.
There is nothing wrong with enjoying the art and sentiment in Dickens' Christmas Carol -- unless we allow it to seduce us into worshiping the sign (Christmas), and not that to which the sign points (Jesus Christ).
The problem is that our culture has been seduced into this very idolatry.
Our own Supreme Court has declared that the secular symbols of Christmas -- Santa Claus, reindeer, bells, robed choirs, even Christmas trees -- are symbols of a secular, cultural celebration of goodwill devoid of religious meaning. Indeed, in some instances even the religious symbols have lost their religious significance.
New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd tells of a convention she attended for people who collect créches. One woman had more than 500 sets crammed into what she called a "Nativity meditation room" even though tells Dowd "I'm not really into religion." A priest Dowd met owned so many créches that they filled his guest rooms, precluding guests. "There was no room in the inn," he laughed as he told her.
Our retailers have abandoned the liturgical calendar with its waiting and expectation of Advent and begun the cultural celebration called Christmas immediately after Halloween.
In a recent poll Americans were asked about their favorite part of the holiday, and the majority answer was "spending time with family," as though they can't do that the other 364 days of the year. Spending time with Jesus gets done if there's any time left.
Even our speech about the holiday tends to reflect our idolatry. We talk of "my Christmas" or "our Christmas." If the kids get sick again it's just going to ruin my Christmas. John wrecked the car on Christmas Eve and just ruined our Christmas. Christmas isn't something we celebrate, it's something we own and protect from damage.
Christmas, rather than a celebration that draws our attention to the incarnate God, has become an idol, created by our imaginations and held in our minds, pointing only to itself. Then, on December 26 or January 2 or January 6 or just eventually, the idol shows its feet of clay and dies, Christmas ends, and we are left feeling let down and disappointed.
THE WORD
The shepherds didn't feel let down. They left singing and telling the story of what they had seen. And in this week's gospel text, whether we read from John or Matthew, we are given not a holiday, but a savior to be worshiped, adored, and emulated.
In Matthew he is the long-awaited messiah of the Hebrew scripture -- but he is, at once, more and less than that which the prophets foretold. He is a king, but lowly born. He is the Jewish messiah, but not exclusively so. These three kings, these wise men who come to pay him homage are Gentiles -- Persians, probably Zoroastrian astrologers -- and even they recognize that it is HIM whom we worship and adore. This messiah is the savior of the world, foretold by the Hebrew prophets, recognized by the Persian seers, celebrated by the angelic host, confessed by the Roman Centurion, crucified, dead, buried, resurrected, and carried in the hearts of Christians for these 2,000 years.
The anniversary of his birth comes and goes annually, but he is forever. The holiday declared by his coming passes away each year, but his spirit lives eternally in each of us.
In John, he is the light that breaks into darkness and goeth not out. Notice how John breaks from the past into the present tense as he speaks of the "not-going-out-ness" of this light that is Jesus.
The lights on the tree go out and are put away. The lights in our windows are taken down and bundled away for another year. The light of the sun diminishes on December 21 and comes slowly back throughout the winter. But the light that is Jesus Christ is a light kindled in the deepest depths of our soul, a light that warms as it illuminates, a light that banishes the cold of loneliness and fear even as it banishes the darkness of despair and the shadow of doubt. And that light "goes not out" so long as it is rekindled and tended with the love and grace of God as known to us in Jesus Christ.
CRAFTING THE SERMON
In Dickens' time a "humbug" was a feigned emotion, put on display for personal gain or profit. So when Scrooge says " bah, humbug" to the Christmas greetings of his neighbors, he is claiming that their good will is not genuine but manufactured in order to gain some advantage over others (presumably himself). He does not trust them or their Christmas cheer.
Recently, we have come to realize that Scrooge may have been more right about our time than about his own. Much of the goodwill we see thrust before us during the holidays is simply a marketing ploy manufactured by retailers to get us to spend money. There is something of the "humbug" in the "Happy Holidays" that gets splashed across the windows at the mall on the day after Halloween and repeated aloud on Black Friday and Cyber Tuesday.
That is just one reason why we must be very careful that we do not allow ourselves to fall into that idolatry wherein we worship the holiday itself and not the one to whom the holiday points.
The indicative in these gospel passages is that Jesus really is the reason for the season. It's not just a cute clichÈ that we drag out at Christmastime because it's short, it rhymes, and it can fit on a bumper sticker. The challenge to the preacher is to make this indicative believable and compelling without falling into triteness and without scolding the congregation for falling into the secular, cultural celebration that ultimately disappoints -- and to which we all succumb, to one degree or another, every year.
The imperative is to focus on Jesus, and to remain focused on him throughout the year. Only in this way are we not disappointed in the season that follows the holiday. If the kids get sick, it doesn't matter. If the gift isn't the one you wanted, it doesn't matter. If the trip you planned gets snowed out, it doesn't matter. Jesus and our relationship with God through him -- that's what matters.
ANOTHER VIEW
A Light Shines in the Shadows
by Ron Love
John 1:1-18
From that first forbidden bite from the apple, human nature and human calamities have not changed. Ever since Cain picked up a sword against Abel we have been dwelling in darkness. There has not been a generation that has not suffered from man's evil actions toward another or has escaped the ravages of a natural disaster. The events and motives remain the same, only the time, place, circumstances, and names have changed.
But to say that hate has always ruled and that natural disasters have always occurred and unforeseen sorrow has always besought everyone does not lessen the shadow in which you and I dwell this day. The darkness engulfs the globe, but the shades of gray are different for each one of us.
In the '30s it was the Great Depression; today it is the longest recession in the history of our nation. In the '50s it was polio; today it is AIDS. In the '60s it was Vietnam; today it is Afghanistan. Comparisons can be made, but never to the point of diminishing the sorrow and suffering that I -- and you -- feel now.
Some problems we bring upon ourselves by poor decision making or a lack of self-discipline. Some problems seize us like a cancerous tumor. Some problems happen by circumstance, for as humans we are prone to errors in judgment. Some problems hurl themselves upon us like an unstoppable tornado. And in every case the emotional trauma is real and relentless.
But in the dark recesses of the shadows there is a light of hope that we recognize this Christmas season. The light is Jesus. The gospel of John confesses, "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it." The same light that led Moses through the wilderness and directed Paul on his missionary journeys and illuminated Polycarp as he stood before the tribunal shines upon us and guides us still this day.
As we continue our perilous journey, we can take solace in our Jewish heritage that confirms: "By day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people" (Exodus 13:21-22).
It would be good if there was no pain or sorrow, suffering or disappointment, but that won't occur until Christ returns blazingly white on the clouds of heaven. Until then, we live in the promise of the Christological hymn that John selected as the prologue to his gospel -- that Jesus is the light of the world.
Jesus is the light that casts away our fear of the shadows if we have faith. Jesus is the light that keeps us from stumbling in overcast days if we live by his promises. Jesus is the light that guides us as we get confused and lost as dust approaches. Jesus will always be the dawn of a new day.
In writing your sermon you may want to use or adapt the following sermon outline:
I. Discuss the problems that are universal to everyone throughout history.
II. Share how these universal problems are also very personal problems today.
III. Provide biblical references, especially the prologue to the gospel of John, on how Jesus will guide and sustain us.
IV. Share with the congregation how the church and members of the church are to be a light in the midst of the shadows of another's life. Discuss how seriously we must take our role to be a lamp unto the feet of another.
ILLUSTRATIONS
Flash-mob performances of Handel's "Hallelujah Chorus" are appearing in shopping malls across the country and have become popular YouTube viewing. Professional performers quietly mingle among the shopping crowd, when one by one they begin to sing. One reason this has become so popular is that the unsuspecting public is so familiar with the words that they are able to join in during the chorus.
Calvin Stapert, who wrote the book Handel's Messiah: Comfort for God's People, wonders why the politically correct police have not stopped the public performances. Stapert wrote, "You have to ask if many people are really listening to the words. After all, who is the 'King of Kings and Lord of Lords'? You would have to think that the cultural police would be out in a matter of minutes to shut this down if people were paying attention to this profoundly Christian work that is being sung right out in the open, in a mall. Has the 'Hallelujah Chorus' become so familiar that people cannot hear what it's saying?"
Has the "Hallelujah Chorus" gone the way of créches and other sacred remembrances of the Christmas season, in which we adorn the object more than the message that it represents? Has Christmas become so familiar that we no longer make a distinction between mistletoe and the kiss of peace? Let us not forget that Christmas means "Christ's Mass."
* * *
The word "Christmas" means "Christ-mass," and in fact it's sort of a nickname. The holiday's official name is the Feast of the Incarnation. Can you imagine how different our holiday would be if we started calling it by that name instead? "Incarnation" literally means "in the flesh." Of course, that's the doctrine that declares Jesus to be not some divine being masquerading in human clothing, but rather the God who lives (and eventually dies) as one of us.
If you send to friends a card that says "Merry Christmas" -- even if it depicts angels or shepherds or wise men -- they're likely to understand, on a practical level, that what you're wishing them is a happy mid-winter festival. That's how far the meaning of the word "Christmas" has become devalued in our culture. But what if you sent them instead a card wishing them a joyous Feast of the Incarnation? If your friends knew the meaning of that word, they would instantly understand that you were wishing them more than just free-floating good cheer. Instead, they would realize that you were wishing them a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ -- the one who "became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth."
* * *
The eminent biblical scholar J.B. Phillips, writing about the Incarnation of Jesus Christ, reminds us not to forget it at Christmastime:
I believe that at least once a year we should look steadily at the historic fact, and not at any pretty picture. At the time of this astonishing event only a handful of people knew what had happened. And as far as we know, no one spoke openly about it for thirty years. Even when the baby was grown to be a man, only a few recognized him for who he really was. Two or three years of teaching and preaching and healing people, and his work was finished. He was betrayed and judicially murdered, deserted at the end by all his friends. By normal human standards this is a tragic little tale of failure, the rather squalid story of a promising young man from a humble home, put to death by the envy and malice of the professional men of religion. All this happened in an obscure, occupied province of the vast Roman empire.
It is 1,500 years ago that this apparently invincible empire utterly collapsed, and all that is left of it is ruins. Yet the little baby, born in such pitiful humility and cut down as a young man in his prime, commands the allegiance of millions of people all over the world. Although they have never seen him, he has become friend and companion to innumerable people. This undeniable fact is, by any measure, the most astonishing phenomenon in human history. It is a solid rock of evidence that no agnostic can ever explain away.
-- excerpted from "The Christian Year," in Good News: Thoughts on God and Man (Macmillan, 1963)
* * *
Many of us have a deep desire to visit the Holy Land, to "walk where Jesus walked." The pages of the Bible come alive there, and places become real. Stepping off the bus in Nazareth, the tourist knows that this is the Lord's hometown. He grew up here. His father had a carpenter's shop here. You can see a sign reading "Mary's Well" and imagine Jesus as a lad drawing water from that well. In the center of the city is the Church of the Incarnation. A new edifice, it stands on the spot where there has been a church for centuries. As you walk around the outside of that church, you look up at three words in Latin carved in the stone: "Verbum factum est." There is the simple fact: "The Word became flesh." That's the wonder, the mystery, the glory of Christmas!
* * *
The building had stood empty for years. All of the utilities had been disconnected. But when the single-story structure was engulfed in flames, 170 Chicago firemen responded to the emergency call. Concerned that the homeless might be using the building for warmth in the winter months, four firefighters volunteered to enter the structure and search for squatters. That's when it happened. The heavy-timbered roof and wall collapsed. The four rescuers were trapped underneath the debris; two of them died. Those who perished were Edward Stringer, 47, who had twelve years on the force, and Corey Ankum, 34, who joined the department the previous year.
As Stringer and Ankum lay trapped beneath the timbers, across town a memorial service was being held. There was the clanging of a bell as the names were read of each of the 24 Chicago firefighters who died under a collapsing wall in the Union Stock Yards fire exactly 100 years previously on the same December day. Bill Cosgrove, a retired firefighter who participated in the ceremonial service, said: "It was beyond disbelief. It was a matter of a few hours and a hundred years later we have the same type of incident."
The names were different. The structures were different. The tragedies were separated by a century. But the grief was the same.
The hope is also the same, for it matters not the place, the time, or the person. In the dark shadows of grief there is the light of Jesus Christ. As John confesses in the prologue to his gospel, "The light shines in darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it."
* * *
The first building that Mother Teresa began to operate out of in India was formerly a kind of hotel that people used when they went to visit the temple of Kali -- the Hindu goddess of death. Mother Teresa converted the building that had once been used by people who worshiped death and transformed it into a symbol of the life-giving love that God has for all people. Into that building Mother Teresa and her helpers began to gather the sick and the dying people of Calcutta who had been left on the sidewalks and in the gutters. One day some neighbors complained to the local authorities about what Mother Teresa was doing, and they wanted her evicted. But when the police commissioner came and saw how Mother Teresa was spending her life working amid such stench and misery, he said that the only way he would kick her out was if someone else took over in her place. No one volunteered. As John declares: "The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it."
* * *
"One if by land and two if by sea." With those words the patriots agreed on the signal to be given from the old church tower, a signal that would tell Paul Revere which route the British troops would take. He sat astride his horse watching, waiting for a light in the darkness to bring him the news he required to warn his countrymen. Though technology now precludes their necessity, for decade upon decade dedicated souls tended the lights that shone through the darkest of nights to warn mariners of dangerous reefs and rocky shores. Without the guiding beacon from lighthouses, countless lives might well have been lost at sea. Technology now provides satellites for navigation and communication on land and sea and in the air. But for centuries prior to ours, travelers depended on the stars to help them find their way -- little tiny lights in the vast sea of the night sky. Signal lanterns in a church tower, warning beacons from many shores, guiding stars in a midnight sky: all depended on darkness to make them visible. Perhaps that is the gift of darkness in our lives, to help focus our attention and make us aware of the Light of the World.
* * *
In a Family Circus comic strip, Billy, as he is waiting in line to sit on Santa's lap, asks his mother "Can I say, 'Yes'?" when asked if he has been naughty or nice.
Putting Santa aside, can you or I answer "Yes"? This Christmas season, reflecting on the past year, as we approach the sacred Nativity can we do so with a clear conscience? Can we confess that we have not been perfect, but that we have tried?
* * *
Underneath the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem -- an ancient church built over the legendary site of Jesus' birth -- there is a cave. Visitors to the church climb down underneath and enter. In the cave they find lamps perpetually burning, filling the cavern with light.
Pilgrims cannot walk upright into this cave -- the doorway is too small. To enter the cave of the nativity, you must bend almost to the waist. It's a fitting symbol -- Christians must bow in humility if we are to come to Jesus. We need that prayer of confession, the admission that we cannot defeat the darkness.
When we come in such a way, we do not find condemnation. God ushers us in to the place where we can meet the divine Son and worship the Christ with our very lives.
* * *
When heaven's bright with mystery
and stars still lead an unknown way,
when love still lights a gentle path
where courts of power can hold no sway,
there with the Magi let us kneel,
our gifts to share, God's world to heal.
-- Robert M. Johns, Songs for a Gospel People
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by George Reed
Call to Worship
Leader: Praise God, who strengthens the bars of your gates.
People: Praise God, who blesses the inhabitants of our cities.
Leader: God grants us peace.
People: God fills us with the finest wheat.
Leader: God declares the way of life to us.
People: Praise to our God now and forever!
OR
Leader: Give to our leaders your justice, O God.
People: Give your righteousness to their successors.
Leader: May our leaders defend the cause of the poor.
People: May they give deliverance to the needy.
Leader: May righteousness abound in our land.
People: May there be true peace, shalom, in all the world.
OR
Leader: Come and worship the God who has come among us!
People: We come to praise the ever-present God of life!
Leader: God has come to dwell among and within us.
People: We welcome the Holy One into our midst.
Leader: God has come for all creation.
People: We offer ourselves as bearers of God's light and life.
Hymns and Sacred Songs
"Christ, Whose Glory Fills the Skies"
found in:
UMH: 173
H82: 6, 7
PH: 462, 463
LBW: 265
"When Morning Gilds the Skies"
found in:
UMH: 185
H82: 427
PH: 487
AAHH: 186
NCH: 86
CH: 100
LBW: 545, 546
"Christ Is the World's Light"
found in:
UMH: 188
"I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light"
found in:
UMH: 206
H82: 490
Renew: 152
"Break Forth, O Beauteous Heavenly Light"
found in:
UMH: 223
H82: 91
PH: 26
NCH: 140
"Love Came Down at Christmas"
found in:
UMH: 242
H82: 84
NCH: 165
"Go, Tell It on the Mountain"
found in:
UMH: 251
H82: 99
PH: 29
AAHH: 202
NNBH: 92
NCH: 154
CH: 167
LBW: 90
"O Morning Star, How Fair and Bright"
found in:
UMH: 247
PH: 69
NCH: 158
CH: 105
LBW: 76
"Arise, Shine"
found in:
CCB: 2
Renew: 123
"Emmanuel, Emmanuel"
found in:
CCB: 31
Renew: 28
Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982 (The Episcopal Church)
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African-American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day / Collect
O God who desires to live in, among, and through us: Grant us the grace to discern the signs of your presence from your actual presence that we may delight in you and not just the signs; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We come to praise you, O God, for you have desired to dwell within and among us. As we celebrate your wondrous incarnation, help us to not be so enamored of the signs of your presence that we miss you actually being here. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins, and especially the way we get distracted by the outward and the showy.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We have made the celebration of your incarnation in this world into such a spectacle that we can barely discern your being with us among the signs we have erected. We are like people who have erected so many billboards proclaiming the great views to be seen that those views are now hidden by the signs. We have filled our days and our hearts with the glitz and glamour of the worldly celebration of Christmas and have forsaken your Christ. We are so tired of the colored lights around us that we just want to turn them off, and we have forgotten to seek your light, your life, among us. Forgive us and call us back to your never-failing love that has come among us. Amen.
Leader: Our God is a caring God who desires to bring us light and life that gives eternal life. We have dwelt in darkness, but God has come as our true light. Know that God loves us and forgives us and invites us once again to life eternal and abundant.
Prayers of the People (and the Lord's Prayer)
We praise and adore you, O God, for your loving kindness and your presence in our lives. Your faithfulness knows no bounds and your love is everlasting.
(The following paragraph may be used if a separate prayer of confession has not been used.)
We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We have made the celebration of your incarnation in this world into such a spectacle that we can barely discern your being with us among the signs we have erected. We are like people who have erected so many billboards proclaiming the great views to be seen that those views are now hidden by the signs. We have filled our days and our hearts with the glitz and glamour of the worldly celebration of Christmas and have forsaken your Christ. We are so tired of the colored lights around us that we just want to turn them off, and we have forgotten to seek your light, your life, among us. Forgive us and call us back to your never-failing love that has come among us.
We give you thanks for all of the ways in which you have made known to us your presence in our lives. You have gifted us with a beautiful and bounteous creation; you have given us the love and companionship of others; you have given us yourself in the Christ Child.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We offer to your loving care those who have not yet known your loving presence in their lives. Some have missed you because of rebellion in their hearts, some because they are too busy looking for other things, and some because we have not been faithful in sharing you with them. As you continue to dwell among all your children, help us to be better signs of you and your loving presence.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the Name of our Savior Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray together, saying:
Our Father... Amen.
(or if the Lord's Prayer is not used at this point in the service)
All this we ask in the Name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
Visuals
Candles, lanterns, the sun -- all kinds of lights. Jesus can be placed at the center of these signs of light.
Children's Sermon Starter
Take two similar plants (put one in a dark place for several days before the children's sermon). Show the plants to the children and tell them that a few days ago they looked just alike, but now one of them looks very sick. Ask the children if they know what happened. If no one guesses, supply the answer and tell them that it has been out of the light. Without light, most plants and animals cannot live. Without the light of Jesus, we cannot know eternal life.
CHILDREN'S SERMON
You Can't Hide the Light
John 1:1-18
Object: a box with a hole in one end and a blanket that will shut out the light attached to the other end
Good morning, boys and girls! Today we are going to have a little fun and also learn something about Jesus. I brought a special box with me that I want to share with you. I want you to put your head in the box and shut out all of the light with the blanket. I want you to see how dark it is inside of that box. Then when you tell me that it is dark, really dark, I am going to open up this tiny hole in the other end of the box and see if you can see the light, and also if the light lets you see the inside of the box. (begin the experiment with several of the children)
The whole box is dark. We have a lot of darkness and only one small bit of light. What I want you to learn is that all of the darkness in the whole world cannot shut out a little bit of light. The little bit of light can be seen in the biggest amount of darkness. Do you understand what I mean? (let them answer)
The reason that we shared this little experiment is because it is what the Bible teaches us about Jesus. Jesus is like the light. He is only one person in the world, but he is such a strong person that he can overcome, or be stronger than, all of the rest of the people in the world. Jesus is light, Jesus is good. There is nothing wrong with Jesus at all, and wherever Jesus is, he will bring his goodness with him.
Let's say that there is a lot of sin in the world. All of us make sin and are a part of sin. There is so much sin in the world you might think that we could not get rid of it. But that is not true. Jesus is like the light in the darkness. He gets rid of the sin by just being there. When you have sin in your heart, and you can have a lot of it, then ask Jesus to share your life with you, and your sin will go away. Jesus will forgive you your sin and you will have no more.
That is why I want you to put your head in the box. The box is like a world full of sin. We don't think that we will ever get rid of sin, but the Bible teaches us that when Jesus came into the world, he was like a light, and wherever he went he made the darkness, or the sin, leave so that people could live without living in sin.
Maybe you want to make your own box when you go home. Then you can remember how glad we are to have Jesus in our lives so that we don't live in the dark, but rather in the light.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, January 2, 2011, issue.
Copyright 2010 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
Worshiping Christmas
by Dean Feldmeyer
Matthew 2:1-12; John 1:1-18
Although Christmas doesn't officially end until Epiphany (Thursday, January 6), if your house is like mine, right about now the tinsel has begun to sag, the needles have begun to fall off the tree, the leaves are dropping off the poinsettia, and one of the shepherds seems to have wandered away from the créche (perhaps never to be found again).
Or maybe you're one of those overachievers who already has the artificial tree back in the attic, the nativity scene packed away for another year, and that new sweater folded neatly in the drawer, just under the old one.
Either way there's a good chance that you're feeling a little let down just about now.
Christmas is over. The New Year has been rung in. And in the Midwest we have two months of winter to plow through with nothing to distract us but magazine articles about dieting, Presidents' Day white sales, Oscar nominations, and the promise of March Madness yet to come. It's just, well, kind of depressing.
Or maybe not. Whether you celebrate this Sunday as the second Sunday of Christmas or as Epiphany Sunday, the gospel writers John and Matthew offer the insight that one reason for our post-Christmas winter doldrums is a deceptively simple and seemingly innocent form of idolatry.
THE WORLD
I'm a sucker for Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol.
I've read it dozens of times and I've never seen a film or video version that I didn't enjoy. I like it when Michael Caine and the Muppets ham their way through their silly version of the story. And I like watching Albert Finney dance through the streets at the end of Scrooge. I like George C. Scott's scary Scrooge, and this year I finally got to enjoy Patrick Stewart's more sympathetic and pitiful version of the old miser.
But this year, as I made my way through my collection of different versions of the Dickens classic, I noticed, maybe for the first time, that something very important was missing from this story: JESUS!
In Dickens' A Christmas Carol, Jesus is not the messiah, the savior of the world. Christmas is.
We are told -- and artfully told, at that -- that personal salvation, maybe even universal salvation, is to be found in "keeping Christmas." If you want to be happy, fulfilled, hopeful, at peace, and in a proper relationship with your fellow human beings -- as Scrooge is at the end of the story -- then all you have to do is keep and celebrate Christmas. And the way to celebrate Christmas is to be nice.
Be nice to your nephew. Be nice to your employees. Be nice to the children in your neighborhood. Be nice to the people who owe you money. Be nice to the poor. Be nice to your neighbors and the merchants in your part of town. Just be nice, and everything will turn out okay -- and the secret to being nice is Christmas. If you honor and lift up Christmas and pay homage to Christmas and celebrate Christmas, you will become nice and all your relationships will be mended and your life will have meaning.
There is nothing wrong with enjoying the art and sentiment in Dickens' Christmas Carol -- unless we allow it to seduce us into worshiping the sign (Christmas), and not that to which the sign points (Jesus Christ).
The problem is that our culture has been seduced into this very idolatry.
Our own Supreme Court has declared that the secular symbols of Christmas -- Santa Claus, reindeer, bells, robed choirs, even Christmas trees -- are symbols of a secular, cultural celebration of goodwill devoid of religious meaning. Indeed, in some instances even the religious symbols have lost their religious significance.
New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd tells of a convention she attended for people who collect créches. One woman had more than 500 sets crammed into what she called a "Nativity meditation room" even though tells Dowd "I'm not really into religion." A priest Dowd met owned so many créches that they filled his guest rooms, precluding guests. "There was no room in the inn," he laughed as he told her.
Our retailers have abandoned the liturgical calendar with its waiting and expectation of Advent and begun the cultural celebration called Christmas immediately after Halloween.
In a recent poll Americans were asked about their favorite part of the holiday, and the majority answer was "spending time with family," as though they can't do that the other 364 days of the year. Spending time with Jesus gets done if there's any time left.
Even our speech about the holiday tends to reflect our idolatry. We talk of "my Christmas" or "our Christmas." If the kids get sick again it's just going to ruin my Christmas. John wrecked the car on Christmas Eve and just ruined our Christmas. Christmas isn't something we celebrate, it's something we own and protect from damage.
Christmas, rather than a celebration that draws our attention to the incarnate God, has become an idol, created by our imaginations and held in our minds, pointing only to itself. Then, on December 26 or January 2 or January 6 or just eventually, the idol shows its feet of clay and dies, Christmas ends, and we are left feeling let down and disappointed.
THE WORD
The shepherds didn't feel let down. They left singing and telling the story of what they had seen. And in this week's gospel text, whether we read from John or Matthew, we are given not a holiday, but a savior to be worshiped, adored, and emulated.
In Matthew he is the long-awaited messiah of the Hebrew scripture -- but he is, at once, more and less than that which the prophets foretold. He is a king, but lowly born. He is the Jewish messiah, but not exclusively so. These three kings, these wise men who come to pay him homage are Gentiles -- Persians, probably Zoroastrian astrologers -- and even they recognize that it is HIM whom we worship and adore. This messiah is the savior of the world, foretold by the Hebrew prophets, recognized by the Persian seers, celebrated by the angelic host, confessed by the Roman Centurion, crucified, dead, buried, resurrected, and carried in the hearts of Christians for these 2,000 years.
The anniversary of his birth comes and goes annually, but he is forever. The holiday declared by his coming passes away each year, but his spirit lives eternally in each of us.
In John, he is the light that breaks into darkness and goeth not out. Notice how John breaks from the past into the present tense as he speaks of the "not-going-out-ness" of this light that is Jesus.
The lights on the tree go out and are put away. The lights in our windows are taken down and bundled away for another year. The light of the sun diminishes on December 21 and comes slowly back throughout the winter. But the light that is Jesus Christ is a light kindled in the deepest depths of our soul, a light that warms as it illuminates, a light that banishes the cold of loneliness and fear even as it banishes the darkness of despair and the shadow of doubt. And that light "goes not out" so long as it is rekindled and tended with the love and grace of God as known to us in Jesus Christ.
CRAFTING THE SERMON
In Dickens' time a "humbug" was a feigned emotion, put on display for personal gain or profit. So when Scrooge says " bah, humbug" to the Christmas greetings of his neighbors, he is claiming that their good will is not genuine but manufactured in order to gain some advantage over others (presumably himself). He does not trust them or their Christmas cheer.
Recently, we have come to realize that Scrooge may have been more right about our time than about his own. Much of the goodwill we see thrust before us during the holidays is simply a marketing ploy manufactured by retailers to get us to spend money. There is something of the "humbug" in the "Happy Holidays" that gets splashed across the windows at the mall on the day after Halloween and repeated aloud on Black Friday and Cyber Tuesday.
That is just one reason why we must be very careful that we do not allow ourselves to fall into that idolatry wherein we worship the holiday itself and not the one to whom the holiday points.
The indicative in these gospel passages is that Jesus really is the reason for the season. It's not just a cute clichÈ that we drag out at Christmastime because it's short, it rhymes, and it can fit on a bumper sticker. The challenge to the preacher is to make this indicative believable and compelling without falling into triteness and without scolding the congregation for falling into the secular, cultural celebration that ultimately disappoints -- and to which we all succumb, to one degree or another, every year.
The imperative is to focus on Jesus, and to remain focused on him throughout the year. Only in this way are we not disappointed in the season that follows the holiday. If the kids get sick, it doesn't matter. If the gift isn't the one you wanted, it doesn't matter. If the trip you planned gets snowed out, it doesn't matter. Jesus and our relationship with God through him -- that's what matters.
ANOTHER VIEW
A Light Shines in the Shadows
by Ron Love
John 1:1-18
From that first forbidden bite from the apple, human nature and human calamities have not changed. Ever since Cain picked up a sword against Abel we have been dwelling in darkness. There has not been a generation that has not suffered from man's evil actions toward another or has escaped the ravages of a natural disaster. The events and motives remain the same, only the time, place, circumstances, and names have changed.
But to say that hate has always ruled and that natural disasters have always occurred and unforeseen sorrow has always besought everyone does not lessen the shadow in which you and I dwell this day. The darkness engulfs the globe, but the shades of gray are different for each one of us.
In the '30s it was the Great Depression; today it is the longest recession in the history of our nation. In the '50s it was polio; today it is AIDS. In the '60s it was Vietnam; today it is Afghanistan. Comparisons can be made, but never to the point of diminishing the sorrow and suffering that I -- and you -- feel now.
Some problems we bring upon ourselves by poor decision making or a lack of self-discipline. Some problems seize us like a cancerous tumor. Some problems happen by circumstance, for as humans we are prone to errors in judgment. Some problems hurl themselves upon us like an unstoppable tornado. And in every case the emotional trauma is real and relentless.
But in the dark recesses of the shadows there is a light of hope that we recognize this Christmas season. The light is Jesus. The gospel of John confesses, "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it." The same light that led Moses through the wilderness and directed Paul on his missionary journeys and illuminated Polycarp as he stood before the tribunal shines upon us and guides us still this day.
As we continue our perilous journey, we can take solace in our Jewish heritage that confirms: "By day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people" (Exodus 13:21-22).
It would be good if there was no pain or sorrow, suffering or disappointment, but that won't occur until Christ returns blazingly white on the clouds of heaven. Until then, we live in the promise of the Christological hymn that John selected as the prologue to his gospel -- that Jesus is the light of the world.
Jesus is the light that casts away our fear of the shadows if we have faith. Jesus is the light that keeps us from stumbling in overcast days if we live by his promises. Jesus is the light that guides us as we get confused and lost as dust approaches. Jesus will always be the dawn of a new day.
In writing your sermon you may want to use or adapt the following sermon outline:
I. Discuss the problems that are universal to everyone throughout history.
II. Share how these universal problems are also very personal problems today.
III. Provide biblical references, especially the prologue to the gospel of John, on how Jesus will guide and sustain us.
IV. Share with the congregation how the church and members of the church are to be a light in the midst of the shadows of another's life. Discuss how seriously we must take our role to be a lamp unto the feet of another.
ILLUSTRATIONS
Flash-mob performances of Handel's "Hallelujah Chorus" are appearing in shopping malls across the country and have become popular YouTube viewing. Professional performers quietly mingle among the shopping crowd, when one by one they begin to sing. One reason this has become so popular is that the unsuspecting public is so familiar with the words that they are able to join in during the chorus.
Calvin Stapert, who wrote the book Handel's Messiah: Comfort for God's People, wonders why the politically correct police have not stopped the public performances. Stapert wrote, "You have to ask if many people are really listening to the words. After all, who is the 'King of Kings and Lord of Lords'? You would have to think that the cultural police would be out in a matter of minutes to shut this down if people were paying attention to this profoundly Christian work that is being sung right out in the open, in a mall. Has the 'Hallelujah Chorus' become so familiar that people cannot hear what it's saying?"
Has the "Hallelujah Chorus" gone the way of créches and other sacred remembrances of the Christmas season, in which we adorn the object more than the message that it represents? Has Christmas become so familiar that we no longer make a distinction between mistletoe and the kiss of peace? Let us not forget that Christmas means "Christ's Mass."
* * *
The word "Christmas" means "Christ-mass," and in fact it's sort of a nickname. The holiday's official name is the Feast of the Incarnation. Can you imagine how different our holiday would be if we started calling it by that name instead? "Incarnation" literally means "in the flesh." Of course, that's the doctrine that declares Jesus to be not some divine being masquerading in human clothing, but rather the God who lives (and eventually dies) as one of us.
If you send to friends a card that says "Merry Christmas" -- even if it depicts angels or shepherds or wise men -- they're likely to understand, on a practical level, that what you're wishing them is a happy mid-winter festival. That's how far the meaning of the word "Christmas" has become devalued in our culture. But what if you sent them instead a card wishing them a joyous Feast of the Incarnation? If your friends knew the meaning of that word, they would instantly understand that you were wishing them more than just free-floating good cheer. Instead, they would realize that you were wishing them a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ -- the one who "became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth."
* * *
The eminent biblical scholar J.B. Phillips, writing about the Incarnation of Jesus Christ, reminds us not to forget it at Christmastime:
I believe that at least once a year we should look steadily at the historic fact, and not at any pretty picture. At the time of this astonishing event only a handful of people knew what had happened. And as far as we know, no one spoke openly about it for thirty years. Even when the baby was grown to be a man, only a few recognized him for who he really was. Two or three years of teaching and preaching and healing people, and his work was finished. He was betrayed and judicially murdered, deserted at the end by all his friends. By normal human standards this is a tragic little tale of failure, the rather squalid story of a promising young man from a humble home, put to death by the envy and malice of the professional men of religion. All this happened in an obscure, occupied province of the vast Roman empire.
It is 1,500 years ago that this apparently invincible empire utterly collapsed, and all that is left of it is ruins. Yet the little baby, born in such pitiful humility and cut down as a young man in his prime, commands the allegiance of millions of people all over the world. Although they have never seen him, he has become friend and companion to innumerable people. This undeniable fact is, by any measure, the most astonishing phenomenon in human history. It is a solid rock of evidence that no agnostic can ever explain away.
-- excerpted from "The Christian Year," in Good News: Thoughts on God and Man (Macmillan, 1963)
* * *
Many of us have a deep desire to visit the Holy Land, to "walk where Jesus walked." The pages of the Bible come alive there, and places become real. Stepping off the bus in Nazareth, the tourist knows that this is the Lord's hometown. He grew up here. His father had a carpenter's shop here. You can see a sign reading "Mary's Well" and imagine Jesus as a lad drawing water from that well. In the center of the city is the Church of the Incarnation. A new edifice, it stands on the spot where there has been a church for centuries. As you walk around the outside of that church, you look up at three words in Latin carved in the stone: "Verbum factum est." There is the simple fact: "The Word became flesh." That's the wonder, the mystery, the glory of Christmas!
* * *
The building had stood empty for years. All of the utilities had been disconnected. But when the single-story structure was engulfed in flames, 170 Chicago firemen responded to the emergency call. Concerned that the homeless might be using the building for warmth in the winter months, four firefighters volunteered to enter the structure and search for squatters. That's when it happened. The heavy-timbered roof and wall collapsed. The four rescuers were trapped underneath the debris; two of them died. Those who perished were Edward Stringer, 47, who had twelve years on the force, and Corey Ankum, 34, who joined the department the previous year.
As Stringer and Ankum lay trapped beneath the timbers, across town a memorial service was being held. There was the clanging of a bell as the names were read of each of the 24 Chicago firefighters who died under a collapsing wall in the Union Stock Yards fire exactly 100 years previously on the same December day. Bill Cosgrove, a retired firefighter who participated in the ceremonial service, said: "It was beyond disbelief. It was a matter of a few hours and a hundred years later we have the same type of incident."
The names were different. The structures were different. The tragedies were separated by a century. But the grief was the same.
The hope is also the same, for it matters not the place, the time, or the person. In the dark shadows of grief there is the light of Jesus Christ. As John confesses in the prologue to his gospel, "The light shines in darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it."
* * *
The first building that Mother Teresa began to operate out of in India was formerly a kind of hotel that people used when they went to visit the temple of Kali -- the Hindu goddess of death. Mother Teresa converted the building that had once been used by people who worshiped death and transformed it into a symbol of the life-giving love that God has for all people. Into that building Mother Teresa and her helpers began to gather the sick and the dying people of Calcutta who had been left on the sidewalks and in the gutters. One day some neighbors complained to the local authorities about what Mother Teresa was doing, and they wanted her evicted. But when the police commissioner came and saw how Mother Teresa was spending her life working amid such stench and misery, he said that the only way he would kick her out was if someone else took over in her place. No one volunteered. As John declares: "The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it."
* * *
"One if by land and two if by sea." With those words the patriots agreed on the signal to be given from the old church tower, a signal that would tell Paul Revere which route the British troops would take. He sat astride his horse watching, waiting for a light in the darkness to bring him the news he required to warn his countrymen. Though technology now precludes their necessity, for decade upon decade dedicated souls tended the lights that shone through the darkest of nights to warn mariners of dangerous reefs and rocky shores. Without the guiding beacon from lighthouses, countless lives might well have been lost at sea. Technology now provides satellites for navigation and communication on land and sea and in the air. But for centuries prior to ours, travelers depended on the stars to help them find their way -- little tiny lights in the vast sea of the night sky. Signal lanterns in a church tower, warning beacons from many shores, guiding stars in a midnight sky: all depended on darkness to make them visible. Perhaps that is the gift of darkness in our lives, to help focus our attention and make us aware of the Light of the World.
* * *
In a Family Circus comic strip, Billy, as he is waiting in line to sit on Santa's lap, asks his mother "Can I say, 'Yes'?" when asked if he has been naughty or nice.
Putting Santa aside, can you or I answer "Yes"? This Christmas season, reflecting on the past year, as we approach the sacred Nativity can we do so with a clear conscience? Can we confess that we have not been perfect, but that we have tried?
* * *
Underneath the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem -- an ancient church built over the legendary site of Jesus' birth -- there is a cave. Visitors to the church climb down underneath and enter. In the cave they find lamps perpetually burning, filling the cavern with light.
Pilgrims cannot walk upright into this cave -- the doorway is too small. To enter the cave of the nativity, you must bend almost to the waist. It's a fitting symbol -- Christians must bow in humility if we are to come to Jesus. We need that prayer of confession, the admission that we cannot defeat the darkness.
When we come in such a way, we do not find condemnation. God ushers us in to the place where we can meet the divine Son and worship the Christ with our very lives.
* * *
When heaven's bright with mystery
and stars still lead an unknown way,
when love still lights a gentle path
where courts of power can hold no sway,
there with the Magi let us kneel,
our gifts to share, God's world to heal.
-- Robert M. Johns, Songs for a Gospel People
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by George Reed
Call to Worship
Leader: Praise God, who strengthens the bars of your gates.
People: Praise God, who blesses the inhabitants of our cities.
Leader: God grants us peace.
People: God fills us with the finest wheat.
Leader: God declares the way of life to us.
People: Praise to our God now and forever!
OR
Leader: Give to our leaders your justice, O God.
People: Give your righteousness to their successors.
Leader: May our leaders defend the cause of the poor.
People: May they give deliverance to the needy.
Leader: May righteousness abound in our land.
People: May there be true peace, shalom, in all the world.
OR
Leader: Come and worship the God who has come among us!
People: We come to praise the ever-present God of life!
Leader: God has come to dwell among and within us.
People: We welcome the Holy One into our midst.
Leader: God has come for all creation.
People: We offer ourselves as bearers of God's light and life.
Hymns and Sacred Songs
"Christ, Whose Glory Fills the Skies"
found in:
UMH: 173
H82: 6, 7
PH: 462, 463
LBW: 265
"When Morning Gilds the Skies"
found in:
UMH: 185
H82: 427
PH: 487
AAHH: 186
NCH: 86
CH: 100
LBW: 545, 546
"Christ Is the World's Light"
found in:
UMH: 188
"I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light"
found in:
UMH: 206
H82: 490
Renew: 152
"Break Forth, O Beauteous Heavenly Light"
found in:
UMH: 223
H82: 91
PH: 26
NCH: 140
"Love Came Down at Christmas"
found in:
UMH: 242
H82: 84
NCH: 165
"Go, Tell It on the Mountain"
found in:
UMH: 251
H82: 99
PH: 29
AAHH: 202
NNBH: 92
NCH: 154
CH: 167
LBW: 90
"O Morning Star, How Fair and Bright"
found in:
UMH: 247
PH: 69
NCH: 158
CH: 105
LBW: 76
"Arise, Shine"
found in:
CCB: 2
Renew: 123
"Emmanuel, Emmanuel"
found in:
CCB: 31
Renew: 28
Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982 (The Episcopal Church)
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African-American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day / Collect
O God who desires to live in, among, and through us: Grant us the grace to discern the signs of your presence from your actual presence that we may delight in you and not just the signs; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We come to praise you, O God, for you have desired to dwell within and among us. As we celebrate your wondrous incarnation, help us to not be so enamored of the signs of your presence that we miss you actually being here. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins, and especially the way we get distracted by the outward and the showy.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We have made the celebration of your incarnation in this world into such a spectacle that we can barely discern your being with us among the signs we have erected. We are like people who have erected so many billboards proclaiming the great views to be seen that those views are now hidden by the signs. We have filled our days and our hearts with the glitz and glamour of the worldly celebration of Christmas and have forsaken your Christ. We are so tired of the colored lights around us that we just want to turn them off, and we have forgotten to seek your light, your life, among us. Forgive us and call us back to your never-failing love that has come among us. Amen.
Leader: Our God is a caring God who desires to bring us light and life that gives eternal life. We have dwelt in darkness, but God has come as our true light. Know that God loves us and forgives us and invites us once again to life eternal and abundant.
Prayers of the People (and the Lord's Prayer)
We praise and adore you, O God, for your loving kindness and your presence in our lives. Your faithfulness knows no bounds and your love is everlasting.
(The following paragraph may be used if a separate prayer of confession has not been used.)
We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We have made the celebration of your incarnation in this world into such a spectacle that we can barely discern your being with us among the signs we have erected. We are like people who have erected so many billboards proclaiming the great views to be seen that those views are now hidden by the signs. We have filled our days and our hearts with the glitz and glamour of the worldly celebration of Christmas and have forsaken your Christ. We are so tired of the colored lights around us that we just want to turn them off, and we have forgotten to seek your light, your life, among us. Forgive us and call us back to your never-failing love that has come among us.
We give you thanks for all of the ways in which you have made known to us your presence in our lives. You have gifted us with a beautiful and bounteous creation; you have given us the love and companionship of others; you have given us yourself in the Christ Child.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We offer to your loving care those who have not yet known your loving presence in their lives. Some have missed you because of rebellion in their hearts, some because they are too busy looking for other things, and some because we have not been faithful in sharing you with them. As you continue to dwell among all your children, help us to be better signs of you and your loving presence.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the Name of our Savior Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray together, saying:
Our Father... Amen.
(or if the Lord's Prayer is not used at this point in the service)
All this we ask in the Name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
Visuals
Candles, lanterns, the sun -- all kinds of lights. Jesus can be placed at the center of these signs of light.
Children's Sermon Starter
Take two similar plants (put one in a dark place for several days before the children's sermon). Show the plants to the children and tell them that a few days ago they looked just alike, but now one of them looks very sick. Ask the children if they know what happened. If no one guesses, supply the answer and tell them that it has been out of the light. Without light, most plants and animals cannot live. Without the light of Jesus, we cannot know eternal life.
CHILDREN'S SERMON
You Can't Hide the Light
John 1:1-18
Object: a box with a hole in one end and a blanket that will shut out the light attached to the other end
Good morning, boys and girls! Today we are going to have a little fun and also learn something about Jesus. I brought a special box with me that I want to share with you. I want you to put your head in the box and shut out all of the light with the blanket. I want you to see how dark it is inside of that box. Then when you tell me that it is dark, really dark, I am going to open up this tiny hole in the other end of the box and see if you can see the light, and also if the light lets you see the inside of the box. (begin the experiment with several of the children)
The whole box is dark. We have a lot of darkness and only one small bit of light. What I want you to learn is that all of the darkness in the whole world cannot shut out a little bit of light. The little bit of light can be seen in the biggest amount of darkness. Do you understand what I mean? (let them answer)
The reason that we shared this little experiment is because it is what the Bible teaches us about Jesus. Jesus is like the light. He is only one person in the world, but he is such a strong person that he can overcome, or be stronger than, all of the rest of the people in the world. Jesus is light, Jesus is good. There is nothing wrong with Jesus at all, and wherever Jesus is, he will bring his goodness with him.
Let's say that there is a lot of sin in the world. All of us make sin and are a part of sin. There is so much sin in the world you might think that we could not get rid of it. But that is not true. Jesus is like the light in the darkness. He gets rid of the sin by just being there. When you have sin in your heart, and you can have a lot of it, then ask Jesus to share your life with you, and your sin will go away. Jesus will forgive you your sin and you will have no more.
That is why I want you to put your head in the box. The box is like a world full of sin. We don't think that we will ever get rid of sin, but the Bible teaches us that when Jesus came into the world, he was like a light, and wherever he went he made the darkness, or the sin, leave so that people could live without living in sin.
Maybe you want to make your own box when you go home. Then you can remember how glad we are to have Jesus in our lives so that we don't live in the dark, but rather in the light.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, January 2, 2011, issue.
Copyright 2010 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
