CELEBRATING:
SERMONS
"A Sermon of Carols"
Dec 24th, 2002 7:30pm
(some of the children will
want to be looking up the next carol for adults around
them, as Ross and I talk a little about the ones we
are going to sing!)
Isn't it wonderful to be singing Christmas carols.
And finally to be able to sing them in the right context!
Carols are written for faith - that elusive term that
means relationship with God. When carols are sung by
people of faith, you might say that the carols have
come home to roost.
In the Introduction to the Voices United hymn book,
you will read there a quote from St. Paul's letter to
the church in Corinth: "I will sing praise with
the Spirit, but I will sing praise with the mind also."
Mind and spirit; heart and brain; feeling and thought
- that is how we come to this Christmas Eve worship.
We love all sorts of carols and Christmas hymns and
songs - and
some have little more than sentimental value;
others are just pleasant and fun; and
others touch our hearts only, and others seem to address
the mind.
Then there are others, which speak to our whole being.
Through such carols we connect with a larger world,
a transcendent reality - we relate to God.
Words with music - that's what gives hymns and carols
their power - words that have deep meaning, and music
that touches the depths and heights of our being!
In this Holy Night, we've already tuned our voices
and warmed our hearts with familiar melodies and words.
Our Songsters and Youth Choir have blessed us with the
most beloved of the manger carols and lullabies.
Let's stay with the stable scene and meditate on the
"Infant Holy, Infant Lowly" - 58 in hymnbook.
Sing: 58
It is the scandal of Christian faith to talk about
God coming to us in a stable.
It is a symbolic statement - more important than whether
it is factual, is the question about the truth in the
statement:
God comes among us, we believe - in the lowliest of
conditions; and this coming has life-changing possibilities
for people of faith.
Christ the baby born for all and for you.
Can you believe that when you really encounter this
holy child, the world could be changed and you could
be transformed?
Can you understand this story as revelation about God's
nature - coming into our lives - not with power and
force, but with gentleness and love, so that we may
become self-giving human beings, reflecting the image
of God?
What kind of a God is this?
That's what our next carol unfolds:
Sing: 61: 1 & 2 & 3 "Of the Father's Love
Begotten"
This is a carol filled with thought, full of Christian
theological ideas. It is part of a lengthy 5th Century
reflection by Aurelius Clemens Prudentius on the Apostles'
Creed.
In Latin it is "corde natus ex parentis" -
"born out of the Parent's heart" -
and that is the point of everything in this season:
we are celebrating God's incredible heart - love which
was there from eternity and will be there for eternity,
and love that comes into the midst of our living.
From that love, from this lover's desire for communion,
the universe was created and our lives were conceived.
And it is a holy mystery, which makes us stand in awe
and wonder and silence - evermore and evermore!
So this child is born and carries all this theological
freight - including, of course, "the virgin birth"
This is no physiological statement.
It says to people of faith: this is not merely a natural
event.
It is a gracious event. God is present here.
"What has come to be in and through Jesus as the
Christ is as "unnatural," as discontinuous
with nature or human potentiality…. AS A CHILD
EMERGING FROM THE WOMB OF A PURE [INNOCENT] VIRGIN."
[Douglas John Hall, Thinking the Faith, 1989, p. 328]
The story of Jesus' birth tells us: God is active here.
But this HOLY, divine child, is at the same time: our
brother, human like us and part of creation.
That's what our next hymn celebrates.
Sing: 56: 1, 4, & 6 "Jesus, Our Brother"
Emmanuel! Literally: God with us.
Not remote and distant like the Deists' clockmaker God.
Not the judging monarch - so often our simplistic view
of God.
But our brother, surrounded by creation's creatures
- the animals at the stable.
Our little brother is vulnerable, weak, kind, good.
All the things we don't associate with "real men".
Real strength is authenticity, courage, integrity, generosity,
relationships, passion for justice, respect for God's
world, love of the holy.
Some brother! Can we own our brother's way as our family
tradition?
Sing 75: 1 &2 "While Shepherds Watched Their
Flocks"
Who hasn't sung this as "while shepherds washed
their socks by night" -
I believe they would have done their washing in the
daytime when the sun was shining.
The point here is "shepherds". Rude, common,
plain, vulgar, boorish - why go there?
There is a bias here. God's messengers favour people
on the margins - is that because God can't stand people
being marginalized? God's "preferential option
for the poor" comes out here. Is it reflected in
our mission?
Are we as passionate as God is for wiping out poverty
and the despair and sickness that come with destitution?
Who among us will become the St. Francis? the Mother
Theresa? of our day.
- people of deep faith committed to God's justice. Will
you? ….
Silence! The miracle of Bethlehem commands our awed
silence. (keep 20 seconds silence)
Sing: 47:1 & 3 "Still, Still, Still"
The greatest theologians know that encountering the
mystery of God, we are better off to keep silence.
If something is to be said, then it should come from
deep within and respond in awe to the amazing wonder
of God with us.
But not fearful awe.
Rather a joyful awe.
Truly awesome and we are happy about it.
We experience God's coming to us in this child as "glad
tidings", that quaint phrase for "good news"
for "Gospel."
Gospel to share.
When was the last time you said: isn't it great that
God comes to heal and transform the world?
That's what this birth is about!
The overflowing love of God for you and me and for all
the world is made real in Jesus' birth.
It means that God can't stop loving the world you and
I inhabit - even when it is only a speck of dust in
the universe and we are micro-dots on that speck of
dust - but totally loved!
That's worth proclaiming, announcing, publicizing,
communicating, - sharing and that's the message of our
final carol - sung together with the Sanctuary Choir
Sing: 43: "Go Tell It on the Mountain"
Those are the real marching orders - not this infernal
resorting to warfare because we think we can transform
the world by smart-bombs or super-sophisticated weapons
or weapons of mass destruction.
We won't make the world secure by killing another few
hundred thousand in those lands we have decided are
the bad guys because, of course, our side is the good
guys.
Jesus Christ is born: God's transforming love changes
hearts, transforms lives, calls into question power
and security, liberates people from their illusions
and their fears, opens the way to reconciliation, justice,
and sharing.
All that we sing about - all our carols are about God
- the world - and us.
Will you just sing them nostalgically, or will they
become real expressions of faith and commitment to God's
love, joy, peace, and hope for the world.
May Christ be born in us and among us today, now, and
for all eternity. AMEN
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Shaughnessy Heights United Church
congregation is a Christian faith community respecting
each other in our diversity and reaching out to all
who seek God’s love.
1550
West 33rd Avenue,
Vancouver, BC V6M 1A7
Canada SEE
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Tel:
604-261-6377
Email: admin@shuc.ca
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