December 20, Fourth Sunday of Advent

Lesson: Micah 5.2-5a; Luke 1.46b-55

Sermon Title: Out of Small Beginnings

Out of the acorn grows the mighty Oak. What comes from Bethlehem is greater and long-lasting?

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Turn It Over[1]

A parts manager for a small electronics shop, had occasion to order part No. 669 from the factory. But when he received it he noticed that someone had sent part No. 699 instead.

Furious at the factory’s incompetence, he promptly sent the part back along with a letter giving them a piece of his mind.

Less than a week later, he received the same part back with a letter containing just four words: “TURN THE PART OVER.”

 A.                  If we turn Christmas over what do we find

 B.                 Looking at it from all sides.

Some Kid[2]

At the end of my factory shift, I was asked to purchase some supplies. The machines’ conveyor belts needed talcum powder to prevent them from sticking, and we had run out of aspirin for workers with noise-induced tension headaches.

I drove to the nearest store and loaded a shopping cart with four cases of baby powder and several boxes of aspirin.

As the man behind me in the checkout line peered at my purchases, he laughed and exclaimed, “Must be one heck of a kid!”

INTRODUCTION

 I.                       It is some kid that is born on Christmas.

 A.                  One whom we come to appreciate and love

 B.                 This is because of who he is.

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MAIN BODY

 I.                     Phillips Brooks wrote O Little Town of Bethlehem

 A.                Brooks wrote about his horseback journey from Jerusalem to Bethlehem, where he assisted with the midnight service on Christmas Eve, 1865:

I remember standing in the old church in Bethlehem, close to the spot where Jesus was born, when the whole church was ringing hour after hour with splendid hymns of praise to God, how again and again it seemed as if I could hear voices I knew well, telling each other of the Wonderful Night of the Savior’s birth.

 B.               The words are familiar, but well-worth repeating for they emphasize what we have been given.

O little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie!
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep the silent stars go by.
Yet in thy dark streets shineth the everlasting Light;
The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.

For Christ is born of Mary, and gathered all above,
While mortals sleep, the angels keep their watch of wondering
            love.
O morning stars together, proclaim the holy birth,
And praises sing to God the King, and peace to men on earth!

How silently, how silently, the wondrous Gift is giv’n;
So God imparts to human hearts the blessings of His Heav’n.
No ear may hear His coming, but in this world of sin,
Where meek souls will receive Him still, the dear Christ enters in.

Where children pure and happy pray to the blessèd Child,
Where misery cries out to Thee, Son of the mother mild;
Where charity stands watching and faith holds wide the door,
The dark night wakes, the glory breaks, and Christmas comes once more.

O holy Child of Bethlehem, descend to us, we pray;
Cast out our sin, and enter in, be born in us today.
We hear the Christmas angels the great glad tidings tell;
O come to us, abide with us, our Lord Emmanuel!

 C.               What does the song teach us?

 II.                 The song teaches us that love came down at Christmas.

 A.                Love Came Down At Christmas

 B.               Christina Rossetti (1830-1894) Time Flies: a Reading Dairy, 1885 wrote a beautiful poem.

Love came down at Christmas,
Love all lovely, love divine;
Love was born at Christmas,
Star and angels gave the sign.

Worship we the Godhead,
Love incarnate, love divine;
Worship we our Jesus:
But wherewith for sacred sign?

Love shall be our token,
Love shall be yours and love be mine,
Love to God and to all men,
Love for plea and gift and sign.

 C.               The remarkable news is that we would not know love at all without Jesus Christ.

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 III.            Examine the way we sing and write about love.

 A.                Love songs

 1.                  Now I admit that I have been very selective.

 a)                 High Society, 1956 Musical

Sung by C. K. Dexter Haven and Tracy Samantha Lord (Bing Crosby and Grace Kelly.

True Love

Lyrics by Cole Porter

Suntanned, windblown
Honeymooners at last alone
Feeling far above par
Oh, how lucky we are

While I give to you
would you give to me
true love, true love
So on and on it will always be
true love, true love

For you and I have a guardian angel
on high with nothing to do
but to give to you and to give to me
love forever true

For you and I have a guardian angel
on high with nothing to do
but to give you and to give to me
love forever true
love forever true

 b)                Let's Fall In Love

Words by Ted Koehler and music by Harold Arlen
Title song from the 1933 film, sung by Art Jarrett and also by Ann Southern

Let's fall in love
Why shouldn't we fall in love?
Our hearts are made of it
Let's take a chance
Why be afraid of it?

Let's close our eyes
And make our own paradise
Little we know of it
Still we can try
To make a go of it

We might have been meant for each other
To be or not to be, let our hearts discover

Let's fall in love
Why shouldn't we fall in love?
Now is the time for it
While we are young
Let's fall in love

We might have been meant for each other
To be or not to be, let our hearts discover

Let's fall in love
Why shouldn't we fall in love?
Now is the time for it
While we are young

 c)                  Falling In Love, With Love

Rodgers And Hammerstein
Falling In Love With Love lyrics

(Stepmother) Spoken:
This isn't about Love! It's about Marriage!
Have I taught you girls nothing?!

Sung:
Falling in Love with Love is falling for make-believe!
Falling in Love with Love is playing the fool!
Caring too much is such a juvenile fancy!
Learning to trust is just for children in school.
I fell in Love with Love one night when the moon was full
I was unwise with eyes unable to see!
I fell in Love with Love with love ever-lasting.
But Love fell out, with me!!

(Stepsisters)
Falling in Love with Love is falling for make-believe!
Falling in Love with Love is playing the fool!

(Stepmother)
Caring too much is such a juvenile fancy!

(Stepsisters)
Learning to trust is just for children in school.

(Stepmother)
I fell in Love with Love one night when the moon was full
I was unwise with eyes unable to see!
I fell in Love with Love, Love ever-lasting!
But love fell out, with me

 2.               But I believe this is a representational sample.

 3.                 I looked up the 10 most popular rap love songs for 2009, but because of words and metaphors, could not use a one.

 4.                  What are we singing about?

 5.                  Swampy, syrupy hard to swallow.

 6.                  Nothing here that helps us to understand or apply love.

 B.                I looked at the poets and writers old and new and this is what I discovered.

 1.                  “A White Rose” by J B O’Reilly

The red rose whispers of passion,
And the white rose breathes of love;
O, the red rose is a falcon,
And the white rose is a dove.
But I send you a cream-white rosebud
With a flush on its petal tips;
For the love that is purest and sweetest
Has a kiss of desire on the lips

 2.                  Love Sonnet XVII by Pablo Neruda Nobel Prize in Literature 1971

I do not love you as if you were a salt rose, or topaz
or the arrow of carnations the fire shoots off.
I love you as certain dark things are to be loved,
in secret, between the shadow and the soul.

I love you as the plant that never blooms
but carries in itself the light of hidden flowers;
thanks to your love a certain solid fragrance,
risen from the earth, lives darkly in my body.

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where.
I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride;
So I love you because I know no other way

than this: where I does not exist, nor you,
so close that your hand on my chest is my hand,
so close that your eyes close as I fall asleep.

 3.                  “To My Dear and Loving Husband” by Anne Bradstreet

If ever two were one, then surely we.
If ever man were lov'd by wife, then thee.
If ever wife was happy in a man,
Compare with me, ye women, if you can.
I prize thy love more than whole Mines of gold,
Or all the riches that the East doth hold.
My love is such that Rivers cannot quench,
Nor ought but love from thee give recompense.
Thy love is such I can in no way repay;
The heavens reward thee manifold I pray.
Then while we live, in love lets so persever,
That when we live no more, we may live ever.

 a)               This is one of the most beautiful ande meaningful love poems.

 b)               What do we learn from it about love.

 c)                There is love.

 d)               I love you.

 e)                Where is love without the coming down of love at Christmas.

 IV.            A kid’s view of love:

Love is what’s in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen.

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CONCLUSION:

 I.                   Dr. Michael A. Halleen[3] in an email piece has given us a fitting conclusion.

"Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies?  Yet not one of them is forgotten by God....Don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows." (Luke 12:6, 7)

A radio news item reported the theft of a fleet of two hundred racing pigeons.  The owner estimated the loss at $75,000.  Noting the apparent increase in the value of birds since Biblical times, I took comfort again in the words of Jesus about our worth in the sight of God.

Like sparrows, we sometimes feel helpless in the face of difficult circumstances.  As birds are pushed or pulled by the wind's currents, we too endure forces and events we cannot control. 

I stood near a young couple during an early Christmas shopping rush.  Arms loaded with packages and bags, they were clearly exhausted.  The woman held up a pewter mug with a ship and some scrollwork designed into it, saying, her voice full of the weariness that only such shopping can produce, "You need something for your dad.  Maybe you can give him this."

The man reached for the price tag, then turned away with a scowl.  "He's not worth that much," he muttered.

I stared at this couple for a few moments longer than I should have.  What had the father done so to spoil his son's regard for him?  What price would have been right?  Perhaps the young man himself did not feel valued by his dad and so was unwilling to confer value in return.  How much difference would it have made if he had recognized his own worth - as well as his father's-in the sight of God?

 A.                We are known.

 B.               We are loved.

 C.               We are treasured by our Creator.

 D.               So also are our dads and our daughters, our customers and our colleagues, our sisters and our spouses.

 E.                 God cares profoundly for sparrows and racing pigeons, and each of us is worth more than many of them.

 II.               We do well to regard one another - and ourselves - in that light.

 III.          Remember Love Came down at Christmas.

AMEN!