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Christmas Morning Talks 2009: All Saints Minstead

Luke 2:1-7

Does anyone know how far it is from Nazareth (where Joseph and Mary lived) to Bethlehem? About 70-80 miles... about 4 days at the shortest! If Mary and Joseph avoided the rather dangerous area of Samaria... It would have been further and longer ... At least a week!

I’m not sure how many of us would walk for a week to register with the tax man?! Joseph and Mary were having to be obedient to the Roman authorities - being pregnant wasn’t an excuse to stay at home. They simply had to do what they were told.

And of course we know from the Gospel’s of Luke and Matthew, that both Mary and Joseph were being obedient to what God had said to them in different messages sent via angels - the baby that Mary gave birth to at Bethlehem was a very special gift for the world.

Has anyone been given some special gift this morning... (talk to kids about their presents.) Do you think there might be other children with those presents this Christmas. So special to you, but not one of a kind.

If you look closely at a tiny new-born baby, every single one is different, it’s why all grow up being different, what we call unique.

Let me help you, just for a minute, imagine that you are looking into the face of that baby born in Bethlehem 2,000 years ago, and see if you can recognise what was special about him.

(Read from the first of the ‘Three Faces of Christ’ by Trevor Dennis)

What was special about that baby was that he was God.

I don’t know about you, but if I try and look in the face of God, I am reminded of several things that often I fail to recognise and remember:

• God made himself incredibly vulnerable being born as a human baby - he’d tried getting his message of love and forgiveness, and his request for obedience across through the patriarchs and prophets, and people had ignored it. Coming himself, as a new born baby seems really risky... All for us!

• People that take risks because of their love for others, get noticed, but only if we hear about it. How, 2,000 years later are we still talking about the birth of this particular baby?

• I become acutely aware how I don’t quite meet up to the obedience levels of Mary and Joseph... and I certainly don’t meet up to the obedience levels of the baby himself! This little baby grows up to defy the nasty ideas that suggest he could make himself the most powerful being in the world, so that he acts only with love to bring healing and forgiveness to those he comes across, and to seek to correct the wrong ideas of those that have ‘lost the plot’ on what the patriarchs and prophets had taught. His final act of obedience to the purpose of his time on earth, when he says ‘not my will but yours’, is to die on the cross and to break the power of our rebellion and sin, permanently.

It’s exactly because we can see the contrast between ourselves and what this baby did, that he had to die. That was God’s demonstration of how important we are to him, that he would die to get us back from our wallowing in our faults and failures.

Which is why we’re going to turn now to say sorry to God for not remembering as frequently as we should, the importance of what he did in Bethlehem. And, that because of what he went on to do on the cross and at the resurrection we can set it all to one side, and move forward in a better relationship with God.

So, after a few moments’ silence, to perhaps look again at the face of that baby in Bethlehem, let us say together the words of confession inside the service sheet...

Luke 2:8-20

How many of you (especially the little ones) have been in a nativity play, either this Christmas or perhaps one in the last couple of years?

What parts did you play? (Wait for some responses)

Somehow, I always end up being an angel. Even just last year, I ended up as an angel... It’s amazing what use you can make of one these surplice things - they are great angel outfits!

When I was a girl of about 12, I was told a story about a church in a big forest where there were lots of wild animals. The church had a little village round it, and often at Christmas the children of the village would gather in the church to do a nativity play. One year, two little girls were chosen to be angels, and they had to stand up high for most of the play. They were meant to be good little angels, but almost all the way through the play they talked, and chatted and talked some more, much the amusement of the people gathered there, and probably to the embarrassment of their parents. For many years to come at least one of those little girls was often referred to at Christmas as the “talkative angel”!

That church was here, and that little girl was.... Who do you think? Me! It would seem that not much has changed over the years!!!!

One of the things that strikes me about the second part of Luke’s Christmas story, is how much talking there is. Firstly, it’s angels that do a lot of the talking! So there you go, I was right to be talking all those years ago!

I wonder how the angel got the shepherds’ attention. It’s quite common to see pictures of angels with trumpets or horns - they’re not just talkative, they’re noisy, they like to make themselves heard. Here’s one, it’s an old post horn, used by people with horses and carriages before we had cars, to warn people that they were coming. Shall we see how loud it is? Go on Dad... It’s yours, you blow it!................. (ow, enough thanks!) You get the idea.

However they did it, the angel got the shepherds attention, and then did a lot of talking. There was something about

“A Saviour has been born to you...This will be a sign to you:

You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

And then a bit more that said

“Today in the town of David, a Saviour has been born to you;

he is the Messiah, the Lord.”

The shepherds were Jews, and knew their local village, Bethlehem, was a special place where important things for their Jewish nation had happened in the past. For example their famous King, David, had started out as a shepherd near Bethlehem like them, before he'd slain that big bloke Goliath. There were also stories in their faith that said another special person would come from Bethlehem in the future:

“ Bethlehem... though you are small... out of you will come... one who will be ruler over Israel.” (Micah 5:2)

The shepherds wouldn't have anticipated being the ones to be told about the arrival of that ruler, but they would have known he was expected; they were looking forward to this new Jewish ruler - they wanted someone who would lead them to overthrow the Romans, to be their saviour if you like, a Lord or King to rule them like in the old days.

So what the angel said to the shepherds was something they understood, and they knew it was really important. But it was really startling, because it was addressed to them: God had sent this message to them to say that this new king, had been born, down the hill in their local village.

What the angel said was important enough, and odd enough, for the shepherds to leave their job with the sheep and go and find out if it was true. When they got there, they found the baby, and they knew it was the right baby, because it was in the animals’ feeding trough, just like the angel had said.

So, if the angel was right about the baby in the manger, then it was also right about the saviour king bit of the message too, which meant that suddenly it’s those shepherds that had a lot to talk about! The shepherds start telling everyone else about the angel, and what it had said, (speed up) and the fact that the angel was right, and they'd seen this baby in a manger, and God had said this baby was going to be their King, and save them, and .... (Deep breath) It was so important they had to tell everyone what they'd found, because the baby was “for all the people”, so all the people needed to know.

These days we've got lots of ways to talk, we have text messages, and email and Facebook and even blogs! Then there's the good old fashioned landline telephone, and perhaps even writing a letter – really old fashioned! We can tell people about what happens to us really quickly and easily.

There’s always a lot of talking and noise at Christmas. Some of it will be the sort that happens after Christmas lunch, that perhaps bores the kids or allows Grandad to doze off for a bit. Lots of people will phone their relatives today, in all sorts of far away places: perhaps a Granny in Scotland, and sister in Australia. Perhaps you've got Skype and will be able to see them as well as speak to them. But what will you say? Have you got some really important news to share with them this Christmas, like the shepherds had?

I wonder if the shepherds really realised that the baby in the manger that day wasn't just part of God's plan, nor just their new national leader, but was actually God. The little baby who the angels and shepherds were really great at talking about, was the only way that each person in the world, in every generation, was going to be offered their own special relationship with God.

I wonder if the shepherds really understood that?

I wonder if we do?

And I’ve got one last question: what was the last lot of talking that both the angels and then the shepherds do in the Christmas story?

When the angels get together in party mode, they all sing

“Glory to God in the highest.”

And once the shepherds have finished rushing around telling everyone that what the main angel had said was really true, they finally remember their sheep and go back to them

“Singing praises to God for all they had seen and heard.” The angels and the shepherds, praised God for what he was doing.

By being here this morning, we’ve taken the time to look the baby Jesus in the face, and recognise some of the many truths about what he came to do. God has come and met with us, which may or may not be a surprise, but is definitely more than a little bit special and extra-ordinary. Part of what we are here to do this Christmas morning, is to thank him and praise him for wanting us so much.

And, if we understand, better perhaps today than ever before, just who that baby in the manger really is, then what a story we've got to talk to everyone about this Christmas!!

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