What Went Down at Christmas

What Went Down at Christmas

A sermon delivered by Rev. Peter T. Atkinson

December 30, 2018

at Bethany Presbyterian Church, Zuni, Virginia

Psalm 148

Philippians 2: 5-11

Let us pray,

Help us to see despite our eyes

Help us to think outside our minds

Help us to be more than our lives

            For your eyes show us the way

            Your mind knows the truth

            Your being is the life.

Amen. 

We made the journey through advent

We circled in slowly towards Bethlehem

Stopping to think about Hope and what it means

Stopping to think about Peace and what it is

Stopping our thinking all together just to be joyous

And Stopping our self interested intents to Love

We listened to the Angel’s promises

We heard their singing and their calling

We saw the new star in the East and followed it across the sky to the West

And Somehow, Somehow we knew the right path to take

And in doing so we made our way to the Bethlehem Stall.

And found the God of all Creation lying in a trough where cattle and sheep might feed.

The Lord of all Creation, now a child, a human child, frail, vulnerable, weak, and in need.. . .

So much has gone down at Christmas. . . let’s stop for a moment and take it all in. . . .

Who is this God who is in this manger. . .

Let’s start with our Old Testament Reading, one of the Psalms of Praise Psalm 148

Psalm 148

¹ Praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord from the heavens;
    praise him in the heights above.
² Praise him, all his angels;
    praise him, all his heavenly hosts.
³ Praise him, sun and moon;
    praise him, all you shining stars.
⁴ Praise him, you highest heavens
    and you waters above the skies.

⁵ Let them praise the name of the Lord,
    for at his command they were created,
⁶ and he established them for ever and ever—
    he issued a decree that will never pass away.

⁷ Praise the Lord from the earth,
    you great sea creatures and all ocean depths,
⁸ lightning and hail, snow and clouds,
    stormy winds that do his bidding,
⁹ you mountains and all hills,
    fruit trees and all cedars,
¹⁰ wild animals and all cattle,
    small creatures and flying birds,
¹¹ kings of the earth and all nations,
    you princes and all rulers on earth,
¹² young men and women,
    old men and children.

¹³ Let them praise the name of the Lord,
    for his name alone is exalted;
    his splendor is above the earth and the heavens.
¹⁴ And he has raised up for his people a horn,
    the praise of all his faithful servants,
    of Israel, the people close to his heart.

Praise the Lord.

We can say praise God for so many things. . . for everything in fact

Think to your own lives, and think of everything that has been given

Think of every detail,

how things have just happened

How it couldn’t have happened any other way

How each event just pieced together so perfectly. . .

And by perfectly. . . I don’t mean easy. . . because there were hard times. . .

things that at the time didn’t make sense, but somehow with the gift of time and perspective

It just couldn’t have been any other way. . . as Spurrier said hindsight is 50/50

Think of the world and its perfection

I was listening to a podcast about Venus. . . our closest neighbor in our solar system. . . .

A planet very much like ours, but just a little bit closer. . . cosmically speaking to the sun

But who’s surface temperature is 864 degrees Fahrenheit. . . toasty huh, uninhabitable. . .

We stand at the fragile place where life is possible. . . amazing. . . and in that delicate balance

Is the perfection of a holy and amazing plan. . . .

That is the mystery of our existence, but it pales in comparison to the

The mystery of our consciousness

That we can know,

that we can speak,

that we can think,

that we can wonder,

and come to wonder,

and come to speak,

and come to think,

and come to actually know this God who makes it all possible. . .

that we can long for what we wonder about. . .

that we can yearn and thirst for more. . .

and that yearning and thirsting is natural in us,

because of our making, and because of how we are made,

and what we are made for,

for relationship. . . with each other though we are strangers to each other,

and to God. . . though we have been separated from him from our Sin.

Think of all he has done in this world from its Creation and beyond its falling

All of the covenants. . . pulling us closer. . . teaching us. . . revealing to us Himself

Noah. . . the rainbow

Abraham . . . the promise

Moses . . . the Law

He didn’t forsake Cain in his hatred. . . marking him and rendering him safe, but wandering

He didn’t forsake Jacob in his trickery. . . wrestling with him. . . keeping the promise

He didn’t forsake Joseph in the pit his brothers put him in

He didn’t forsake his people in the desert though they grumbled and pined for their chains

He didn’t forsake Ruth, but through her made a king

He didn’t forsake the people when they chose to be led like the other nations by a king

And when the time came for the lesson of exile

He left a shred of hope, a continued promise. . .through Prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel

Daniel in Babylon, Esther, Malachi, Micah

All pointing to a new possibility a new covenant written on the stone of our hearts

Could it crack through the stone?

What would it take to break the powers of the world. . .

For Xerxes had conquered, and Alexander pushed farther, and finally these Romans had created a solid steel trap administration, emperors who had brought strong armed peace. . .

But real peace could come

Real love

Real hope

Real Joy

And we find it in the Manger. . . this manger. . . this child. . . is He

'

What a Strange Way to Save the world. . .

I'm sure he must have been surprised   at where this road had taken him

'Cause never in a million lives   would he have dreamed of Bethlehem

And standing at the manger  He saw with his own eyes

The message from the angel come to life   and Joseph said·

Why me,       I'm just a simple man of trade

Why Him, with all the rulers in the world

Why here,     inside this stable filled with hay

Why her, she's just an ordinary girl

 Now I'm not one to second guess what angels have to say

But this is such a strange way   to save the world

To think of how it could have been,   if Jesus had come as He deserved

There would have been no Bethlehem     No lowly shepherds at His birth

But Joseph knew the reason Love had to reach so far

And as he held the Savior in his arms, he must have thought (Chorus)

Its this line I wanted to get at. . .

Joseph knew the reason Love had to reach so far --- but how

Why does love reach far this way?

What goes down at Christmas

Down

Down

Down

From heaven to a manger --- Condescend

Philippians 2: 5-11. . . but I want to hold out verse 5 till the end. . . so I’ll start with 6

⁵ In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

⁶ Who, being in very nature God,
    did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
⁷ rather, he made himself nothing
    by taking the very nature of a servant,
    being made in human likeness.
⁸ And being found in appearance as a man,
    he humbled himself
    by becoming obedient to death—
        even death on a cross!

⁹ Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
    and gave him the name that is above every name,
¹⁰ that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
    in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
¹¹ and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
    to the glory of God the Father.

Love had to reach far--- right. . . how far. . . that’s another song that was in last year’s cantata

How Far. . . how far. . . love has come to bring us home. . .

Or from this year’s ---

Oh, the wonder of it all

that He would reach so far

from Heaven down to Earth

to meet us where we are.

Oh the wonder of it all,

how great salvations cost!

and so what can we do

but stand in awe

Of the wonder of it all!

Why does love require such a fall?

Why a manger

Why was there no room

Why so poor

Why a baby

Nothing but a child

Steve Earle

Verse 1:

Once upon a time  In a far off land

Wise men saw a sign  And set out 'cross the sand

Songs of praise to sing They travelled day and night

Precious gifts to bring           Guided by the light.

Verse 2:

They chased a brand new star Ever towards the west

Across the mountains far  But when it came to rest

They scarce believed their eyes   They'd come so many miles

The miracle they prized           Was nothing but a child

Chorus:

Nothing but a child               Could wash those tears away

Or guide a weary world            Into the light of day

Nothing but a child               Could help erase those miles

So once again we all              Can be children for a while.

Because everything must be included. . . from the top to the bottom. . .

From the first to the last---

From Let there be Light

To no room in the Inn

It must be all the way to the bottom,

or one might claim or try to claim that someone doesn’t count

But love goes all the way down. . .

And if a shivering cold baby wasn’t enough

Wasn’t weak enough

Wasn’t vulnerable enough

Wasn’t far enough into the depths

There is always the cross as well. . .

This time I’ll include verse 5

⁵ In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

How could you not?

How could you not because how else could it have been?

With this God, how else could it have been?

And so how else could we follow?

Hope and Seek

Hope and Seek

A sermon delivered by Rev. Peter T. Atkinson

December 2, 2018

at Bethany Presbyterian Church, Zuni, Virginia

Matthew 2:1-2

Isaiah 9: 2-7

Let us pray,

Help us to see despite our eyes

Help us to think outside our minds

Help us to be more than our lives

            For your eyes show us the way

            Your mind knows the truth

            Your being is the life.

Amen. 

It is always a blessing and a challenge, or maybe the challenge is the blessing, thinking about how to get at the Advent season. . . Because there is so much there. . . but also it is so familiar. . .

So the great challenge is trying to come at the same old story in a way that brings it alive, that captures the mystery. . . because the truth is it is at the heart of all that we do. . . In the past I’ve looked at different characters leading up to Christmas, Mary, Joseph, the Shepherds, Wisemen. . . another year I pretended that I was the Ghost of Christmas Present Past and Future, like scrooge. . . and like Scrooge we needed to be changed by the visits. . . the past would be the BC time, ancient history, the present was right at Jesus birth, and the future would look to us. . . that was challenging. . . This year I want to take a line out of a Christmas Carol every week to use as the key to unlocking an idea about our journey to Christmas. . . So this week I thought. . .

I’d choose Go Tell It on the Mountain, which has many different verses. The one that always has made me think is often the first verse in the song, yet the version in our hymnal omits this verse, but I printed the words of these extra verses in the bulletin, The verse is:

When I was a seeker, I sought both night and day,

I sought the Lord to help me, and He showed me the way. 

And then I chose to preach from just two verses from the New Testament. . . Mathew 2: 1-2. . . from these verses you’ll see the connection, and picture the rest of the story. . . but today I just want to focus on the beginning. . .

In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, ² asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising,  and have come to pay him homage.” 

So the question that comes to mind from all this is. . . What is it do we seek? We are seekers, what is it that we are seeking? We’ve seen the star rising in the East, and we have decided to follow it, but why, what makes us go, what makes us leave behind what we have, what makes us decide to make ourselves vulnerable, seeking something. . . but what. . . what do we seek? What do you seek this morning? What do you seek at church? What do you seek in your life? What do you seek when you are out to find God? What do you hope to find?

And that brings us to the other side of this message. . . Hope. . . Hope and Seek, and we’ll be going back and forth between them a bunch. . . maybe because hoping and seeking are tied together in their meanings. . . they are both anticipatory, they are both about longing and setting our eyes on something beyond our present grasp, beyond our station, beyond this moment, to more, something, somehow more. . . And hope is the candle we lit this morning. . . What is it that you seek? And what do you hope for? And what gives you hope?

What gave the wisemen hope? Their wisdom? Or is it that they were Kings? Magi? It’s good to be a king for sure, but if kings, then why is their thoughts on the star and the promise different from Herod’s? If Magi, what powers are they hoping to find, what new tricks could they find up their sleeve? Who are these guys? I’ve always liked to put them as representing the other religions of the East and how they each seek and find something that was missing from their philosophies and religions in the person of Jesus? But is this what they seek? What they set off across the desert for? And did they know it when they found it? Did their initial seeking match their finding? Was the hope that fueled them refilled upon arrival, or was their tank left empty with a long journey home?

What about the other people at the time? It was though that the Jewish people expected a king, a military leader, who would restore a kingdom for the them on Earth, finally defeating the Romans, and restore to power the Jewish Davidic Monarchy that had long ago been displaced by the Babylonians, then again by the Persians, then the Macedonians, the Greeks, and finally the Romans.

Let’s take a look at our Old Testament Lesson, we can hear that hope of the time and where it comes from. . .  Isaiah 9: 2-9,

The people walking in darkness
    have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of deep darkness
    a light has dawned.
³ You have enlarged the nation
    and increased their joy;
they rejoice before you
    as people rejoice at the harvest,
as warriors rejoice
    when dividing the plunder.
⁴ For as in the day of Midian’s defeat,
    you have shattered
the yoke that burdens them,
    the bar across their shoulders,
    the rod of their oppressor.
⁵ Every warrior’s boot used in battle
    and every garment rolled in blood
will be destined for burning,
    will be fuel for the fire.
⁶ For to us a child is born,
    to us a son is given,
    and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
    Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
⁷ Of the greatness of his government and peace
    there will be no end.
He will reign on David’s throne
    and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
    with justice and righteousness
    from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the Lord Almighty
    will accomplish this.

It has been a long time to wait, but now the signs are all pointing to the time finally being upon them. The longed for looked for change is now finally going to come. . . they were seeking something, hoping for something, what did they get?

I wrote in the Weekly Welcome that Hope was a tricky thing. . .

The cynics and skeptics have a field day with hope

Talk about “Home” – Bad at math

Wishing and hoping – won’t get you into his arms

Wish in one hand --- something about seeing what fills up first

Greeks – Pandora’s box

Is hope a good thing or a bad thing? Maybe it depends on whom you ask. . . but one thing is for sure, without it there is no seeking. . . truthfully. . . you might journey, you might wander, you might walk around completely lost, but seeking has to have the guidance of hope. Or at least the catalyst of hope . . at least somehow they are connected together. . . but then they seem to work together, one needs the other, but then they play off eachother to keep it all going. . . Let’s look back at the Christmas Story. . .

Wisemen living in the east saw a new star in the sky and then they embarked on a journey, possibly seeking the answer to the cosmic question found in the new celestial changes. Ie. . . star. . . follow

Herod hear rumors. . . sent out his henchmen to search for a rival.

Shepherds were spurred on by the Angel Choir in the sky, and set off in amazement.

Each one of us has found our way to this seeking point as well. What is it that has spurred us on this faithful seeking? I imagine that each of us has our own story that has brought us to this day. For some of us it may be the story of faithful parents, who having brought us to church, having taught to us stories, having loved us a certain way, invited us to go seek, maybe as they did, maybe they gave us enough freedom to seek for ourselves. . . it seems like there is an important distinction there, a need to seek anew for ourselves. For others of us the journey has been different. Perhaps pain or challenges or loss has sent us out seeking for something more. Perhaps some of us looked inside ourselves and found an emptiness that just seemed to need filling and therefore went out seeking to fill. Some of us were following friends, some of us were trying to do the right thing, some of us were running away from something, others running to something, but all of us find ourselves here and seeking. Like the wisemen and like the prophets,   we are also not completely sure that what we actually actively seek lies at the end of our journey. Aye there is the rub. . . Again I ask, what do we seek?

You may say a savior. . . You know I want something in a savior. . . preacher dealer – often the same – have I got a beaut just for you!  Right, you’ve seen the signs, free trip to heaven details inside. . . yeah I’ve got this whole death thing coming up. . . it sure would be nice to get out of that. . .

NO seriously what are you looking for when you look for a savior? What in your life do you need saving from? What do you hope to find when you get to the getting place? Is it possible for it to be coming from a child in a manger of all places. . . wisemen, like we’ve been on this journey. . . and this is what we find?

It is an important question, but perhaps it is one we are often afraid to ask. What are we supposed to be looking for? What are the Sunday School answers? Salvation? A Change of Heart? The gift of faith? Eternal Life? Freedom from Sin? A Relationship with God? Perhaps one, perhaps all, but what do those mean in the practical real concrete truth of our lives?

Freedom from sin, are we ready for that, or would we rather push the sin cart down the road just a little bit further, you know one more day, one more hour, until next week, once I get through this next little stretch, then I'm ready to give up sin.

Eternal life, sure we look for that, but we have to die first, we have to risk a whole lot of loss for that to be attained.

A relationship with God, what will God have me do, maybe I should hold back. A change of heart, it's not me who needs to change. . . The world would be better if everyone else changed instead, I know how it all should work.

Do we really seek those things, or do we like to hear ourselves say that we do, while all the time we are seeking something else?
            As we said and saw before prophets like Isaiah and many of Christ's contemporaries were looking for a military leader to save them from the Romans, it is not what they got. What is our Rome? What do we want Jesus to save us from like that? What do we want Jesus to deliver us from? Is it financial security, the famous prosperity gospel? Do we seek Jesus to make our lives financially better? Maybe. Is it health? Do we think that if we go to church and live right, that we will have a leg up on others when diseases come around? Is it healthy, whole, perfect relationships? Do we think if we are Christians, seeking Christ that we will live functional lives, with functional families, and functional friends, that we can achieve the glorious status of perfection, and Jesus is a necessary component piece that perfection.  

Do we hope that Jesus will right the ship of our nation? Do we hope that Christ will instill the moral fortitude that we believe to be day by day slipping away? Is that why we so desperately fight against someone trying to call a Christmas Tree a Holiday Tree? Do we think that we need to protect the child we seek from being forgotten by others? It is hard to think of all the possibilities for this. I'm sure you have your own, and I hope you ponder it, perhaps question it, because often we seem to be seeking something other than what was born in Bethlehem. But we are not alone, many before us were just as much mistaken.

I'd like to share with you a poem by Lois Cheney called "They Were Mistaken"

They were mistaken.

Mary thought she knew her son. Mary loved and yearned for him. She followed and pleaded with him to come home. Mary wanted to protect him:

Mary was mistaken.

Peter thought he loved him most. Peter felt he knew him truly. Peter thought he would never fail his Master; Peter knew he would remain true to him no matter what happened:

Peter was mistaken.

Judas thought he should organize. Judas thought he should live up to his view of the ancient promise and hope, or give it all up. Judas began to be disappointed, and he began to distrust:

Judas was mistaken.

Thomas thought they were all very gullible. Thomas loved and revered him, and Thomas missed him; he grieved at his death. Thomas really didn’t believe he’d be back:

Thomas was mistaken.

Now, we know his ways. Given years of scholarship and prayerful perspective, we are ready to box and label this man from Galilee. He’s ready for the completed file.

We are mistaken. 

So how do you make your way to Bethlehem when all of the things you are seeking would  lead  you some where completely different than kneeling in a barn by a manger ? How does it work for the Wisemen? They seem to follow an open ended journey. They allow the sign to lead them. The star in the sky directs them, rather than their own concept of what the star means, they aren't looking for any one thing, just whatever happens to be at the end of the journey. They do not seem to be shaken when the thing they seek is lying in a cattle's food trough. They aren’t shaken, but you might infer that they didn’t expect what they would find based on their gifts. . . Gold Frankincense and Myrrh. . .  think of that Do You Hear what I Hear Song. . . a child a child shivers in the cold let us bring him silver and gold. . . um no a blanket and a room at the inn instead of this barn might have been a little bit more helpful. . . they sought a king, instead they find the baby where he is and let the journey stand for itself, and I'm sure the journey shaped them.

Is it possible for us to seek without defining the object of our seeking, so that when we find it we can be shaped by it completely, rather than it shaped and confined by us?  Can we be open at the end of the journey to what lies there, rather than what we hope to find, because again what we will find surpasses all of our expectations, though sometimes in difficult ways.

I realize that this is a difficult task. How do you open yourself to something beyond your mind's limits? One thing that the wisemen's trip shows us is that you can't stay at home. You can't stay in the safety of the routine, especially at Christmas. It is easy to fall into the routine of it all. I challenge you instead, this Christmas to do something different. To take a different path led outside of your norms and see where it leads.

Next week we will talk about the mystery, we’ll light that Peace candle, and search for Peace in that mystery. . . so this week we have seeking and hoping. . . in itself. . . and next week the Peace that can be found in the mystery, the Peace in not what we know, but that which we don’t know, that which challenges us. . . can we allow ourselves to be wondering, thirsting, craving, unsettled, and unable to piece it all together, and still be at peace. . . . quite a challenge, but so too is seeking and hoping for something, and allowing the something you seek to be more than what you could ever hope to find. . . only by trying something new. . . openness to something new. . .

A number of years ago when I was in Seminary,  I took a class on Celtic Christianity. One of our activities in that class was to pray a Celtic Daily Office. We took part in the Northumbria Community, which is a Monastery without walls, or a group of people who are dedicated to prayer four times a day. That is the only requirement. We were invited to take part in the practice during the semester while we were in class. It was great having a discipline like that of prayer, but quite difficult. I am going to try to do this during this advent season because it very much outside of my typical Christmas routine. If any of  you are interested in praying the office too, do so, let me know and I can get you the materials.  Let's look at one of the prayers, I think it is quite appropriate for the journey we are trying to make. The opening words of the Morning Prayer which is repeated verbatim each morning is our prayer of preparation this morning found in our bulletin.

One thing I have asked of the Lord,
this is what I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life;
to behold the beauty of the Lord
and to seek Him in His temple. 

And then it continues with a call and response.

Call: Who is it that you seek?
Response: We seek the Lord our God.
Call: Do you seek Him with all your heart?
Response: Amen. Lord, have mercy.
Call: Do you seek Him with all your soul?
Response: Amen. Lord, have mercy.
Call: Do you seek Him with all your mind?
Response: Amen. Lord, have mercy.
Call: Do you seek Him with all your strength?
Response: Amen. Christ, have mercy.

This is what we must seek this Christmas season, and if we are seeking Christ the Lord, our Christmas will be filled in ways beyond what we can imagine. Amen, may it be so.