Song – O Holy Night

 

Call to Worship by Joanna Harader

 

Glory to God in the highest!
And hope to every discouraged heart.
Glory to God in the highest!
And peace to every conflicted soul.
Glory to God in the highest!
And joy to every downcast spirit.
Glory to God in the highest!
And love to everyone.
Let us sing praises to our God.
Let us offer this light against the darkness.

 

Holy God of Love,
There is light in our lives
because of the abundance of your steadfast love.
A love so vast, so deep, so real,
that you became one of us.
May we live within the power of this love.
And may we share its light with a world
where too many dwell in darkness. Amen.

 

Song – Joy To The World

 

Scripture Reading – Luke 2:8-14

 

8 And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. 10 And the angel said to them,

 

 

13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

 

14 “Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

 

Song – Angels From the Realm of Glory

 

Prayer – by Roddy Hamilton

 

When all of time is crushed into a few moments
on the edge of everything
teetering on the brink of a new belief in the future
here is where we meet you, O God.

 

In the last moments of darkness
before the breaking in of the light
and the cry of a woman
and the birth of love
here is where we meet you, O God.

 

As silence deepens and the wonder stretches
and the ancient past, becomes our longed for future
and the word of the prophets
slip into fulfillment
here is where we meet you, O God.

 

Creating God
hold this moment
made of every time
and may we breath along with all those
who have been here before
to the heartbeat of hope
and know this moment
so full of expectation
is as sacred as they get
for contained here
is all the hope of the future
and the fulfilling of ancient longing

 

In the snarl of silence
as the universe bends with the weight of anticipation
where the worry is greatest
and the moment most urgent
here is where we meet you, O God,
in flesh.

 

Scripture Luke 2:15-21

 

15 When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another,

 

 

16 And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. 17 And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. 18 And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. 20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

 

 

Sermon Written by Diana Butler Bass

 

“The Most Famous Christian Sermon Ever”

 

A couple of nights ago, PBS showed the classic Christmas special, A Charlie Brown Christmas. I cried. Because I always do. Every year since 1965.

 

I wanted to share this small vignette from Freeing Jesus — my next book — with you. It recalls the first time I saw the cartoon, and how it opened my six-year old theological imagination.

 

I’ve always wondered how many people first heard the Christmas story this way. And I’m willing to bet that Linus’s homily might well be the most famous Christmas sermon ever.

 

A neon sign hung outside a storefront church at the edge of our neighborhood. Two words formed a glowing red cross: JESUS SAVES.

 

“Savior” may well be the most ubiquitous term that Christians use to describe Jesus. This is especially true in Western Christianity, and Protestant churches in particular, where the emphasis on Jesus as the One who saves us from sin and death is a primary focus of both preaching and piety. Whether one prays before a crucifix, recites vows of baptism and Confirmation, goes forward for an altar call, or falls to the floor with ecstatic utterance, “Jesus saves” is understood as the central and continued meaning of his work for both individual Christians and the life of the world.

 

Yet, oddly enough, “Savior” appears only twice in the gospels to describe Jesus. One is at the beginning of the gospel of Luke, and the other is in John 4:42, where neighbors of a Samaritan woman proclaim, “Indeed, this is the Savior of the world.” Other titles, like “teacher” and “rabbi,” appear far more frequently. Additional theological titles, like “Christ” (“anointed one”) and “Lord,” are also more prevalent in the gospels. If, however, you ask random Christians who Jesus is, I am willing to bet the answer “Jesus is my Savior” would be high on the list, and perhaps the top reply.

 

Although the neon cross grabbed my attention, “Savior” was not a term I typically heard as a child.

 

My first recollection of hearing Jesus called “Savior” comes from a much more mundane source—A Charlie Brown Christmas, the classic holiday cartoon, first aired on television in 1965. I was six, my little brother four, and my sister a toddler. We gathered around the new color television, turned to CBS, and watched. Poor Charlie Brown! No one remembered the true meaning of Christmas. He was so depressed! At the climax of the show, he cried out in frustration, “Isn’t there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?” His friend Linus stepped on stage and recited verses from Luke 2: “And the angel said unto them, Fear not . . . for unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior which is Christ the Lord.”

 

I looked over to the manger scene, newly purchased from Sears, that was set up in the living room. Mary, in her blue cloak, was on her knees leaning reverently toward her infant son, who was lying in a cradle of straw. Baby Jesus the Savior? My family did not talk this way, quoting scripture like that. People at my church would have shied away from expressing such religious sentiment in prime time—these words belonged in a pulpit or Sunday school classroom. I had no idea what I needed to be saved from and no clue what it meant, but it was a mysterious-sounding word, mesmerizing even. I liked it—“Savior”—and somehow I intuited what Linus was saying. This was the true meaning of Christmas. Born this day, a Savior. Born to Mary, born into each heart.

 

To understand at six and to understand when you are older are, of course, two different things, but learning a single word is often an invitation into a deeper faith, to go on a journey with an insight, an idea. At six, “Savior” invited me to wonder, to love Christmas. Eventually, “Savior” would prove the door into a much more encompassing faith, a way of belief that would, for a time at least, answer my questions.

 

Song – Angels We Have Heard On High

 

Benediction

May the salvation heralded by angels, be found in Christ our savior. Like Linus, may we continue to proclaim the good news!