Sermon Illustrations for Christmas 1 (2023)
Illustration
Isaiah 61:10--62:3
In his book Status Anxiety, Alain de Botton argues that much unhappiness in life is a function what others think of us – whether we matter, get attention, and are admired. It is as Austrian psychoanalyst William Stekel put it: “Anxiety is fear of oneself.”
Martin Luther understands that in Christian faith these needs are met, that we can be assured of our beauty. God’s love makes us lovely. As he once put it: “Sinners are lovely because they are loved; they are not loved because they are lovely.” (What Luther Says, p.819) We become jewels in God’s hand (61:10). Covered with this love, we truly begin to matter for we start living holy lives concerned about others, reflecting the beauty of God’s love in loving others.
In the same spirit, commenting on this lesson, Luther wrote:
He [God] has clothed me with garments, because the church is clothed for salvation... This is the church’s most beautiful adornment... Whoever is based on this rock will not be overcome. (Luther’s Works, Vol.17, pp.141-142)
Clothed with the beauty of God’s love, anxiety and self-doubt cannot overcome the Christian.
Mark E.
* * *
Isaiah 61:10--62:3
Loudly singing the praise of God does not come naturally to everyone. Some of us are a little shy about talking about our faith or expressing the joys and challenges of our faith. Yet, that is our call. That is what Isaiah is speaking about. Just as plants come through the earth and move into the air and the sun, we are called to lift our arms, our voices, and our singing to praise God and all God has done for us. What if this year, our New Year’s resolution was to share our faith with one person every day. To talk about God with confidence and courage, to share our personal relationship with God. And if we don’t have a personal relationship with God through Christ, maybe working on that relationship every day should be what we resolve. Imagine the difference we could make!
Bonnie B.
* * *
Galatians 4:4-7
Paul speaks of ta stoicheia tou kosmou, translated as “the elemental principles of the world” in the NSRVue and “this world’s system” in the Common English Bible. That intrigued me. The new Cambridge Greek Lexicon defined stoicheion as the “length of a shadow as a means of measuring time” (as in a sundial), an “indivisible sound,” an element as in a basic fundamental building block of the universe, and in general the fundamental principles of the universe. But by adding tou kosmou or “of the world” Paul makes it clear he is not talking about scientific principles or dismissing what was known scientifically about the universe. He is referring to the false standards the world uses to define the basic principles by which we live – things like, “Whoever dies with the most toys wins” or “Never back down,” “Don’t show weakness,” or “Kill them all and let God sort them out.” There are all kinds of false principles that end up on t-shirts or bumper stickers which are antithetically opposed to the true world that Christ’s birth heralds, one in which we are all adopted into a non-hierarchical family of God, all equals as part of God’s family, all dependent and interdependent with each other.
Frank R.
* * *
Galatians 4:4-7
One of my favorite Christmas carols is “What Child Is This?” The song ponders the nature and work of Jesus beginning on the night he was born. The tune is an English folk song called “Greensleeves, which first appeared in the year 1580. Originally the lyrics were about a young lady and her boyfriend, but Christmas texts for the melody emerged in the late 1600s and have stuck ever since.
“What Child Is This?” was written in 1865 by Englishman William Chatterton Dix, who experienced a spiritual renewal during a time of sickness. Each stanza is a progression. The words start by asking about the divinity of baby Jesus and finish by praising his name. The second stanza notes…
This, this is Christ the King,
Whom shepherds guard and angels sing:
Haste, haste to bring Him laud,
The babe, the son of Mary.
Jesus, it’s a simple, ordinary name with so much power and meaning. On the first Christmas long ago, the tiny baby, wrapped by Mary in swaddling clothes, waving little arms, hungrily sucking a fist, was like any other newborn baby. He was helpless and dependent, and Mary was his hope of survival, his nourishment, his very lifeline. God entrusted his most priceless gift to a very human, very young, earthly mother. Why? Because God so loved--that he gave. God intended for Jesus to leave the security of heaven to be placed in fragile human arms. He did it to redeem and save lost humanity. We can become a part of God’s family because Jesus came to be a part of the human family.
Bill T.
* * *
Luke 2:22-40
Commenting on this story, Martin Luther noted how amazing it is that an eminent man like Simeon would regard an infant as Savior (Luther’s Works, Vol.52, p.,103). And then he adds:
The story serves as an example of our faith; we too, should learn how marvelous God’s works are concerning us and that the beginning is nothing; the end is everything. Just as the infant Christ does not appear very significant and yet, in the end, He became Savior and light of all people. If Joseph and Mary had judged in accordance with what they saw, they would not have regarded Christ as more than a poor little child. But they disregarded the external evidence... In like manner we, too, must disregard the external evidence when contemplating God’s works and cling only to His word lest our eyes or senses offend us. (Ibid., p.104)
We might say that Simeon and Anna had dreams of what the child Jesus would become and do. Dreams and exploring new ideas are good in so many ways, even for your health; they keep you young, neurobiological research suggests. It seems that these mental exercises lead to the production of protein in the brain (neutrophic factors) that helps create new nerve cells and repairs those damaged by aging (Sherwin Nuland, The Art of Aging, pp.36-37). Cuban French author Anais Nin once profoundly echoed these themes claiming “Dreams are necessary to life.” African-American poet and novelist Langston Hughes made a similar point as he charged readers to “Hold fast to dreams, for if they die, life is a broken winged bird that cannot fly.”
Mark E.
* * *
Luke 2:22-40
This passage of Luke reminds us that Mary and Joseph bring their son to the temple to be blessed and purified. More than that, the servant Simeon, who has waited patiently at the gates of the temple for years and years, proclaims that he has seen the Messiah. Simeon knows that he can now rest. He has proclaimed that which God commanded him to proclaim. He has seen the anointed of God. He proclaims loudly and feels he can now rest. It is no coincidence that the song of Simeon is often read or sung at funeral services. These servants who have passed from this earthly life, can also see the presence of God, can feel the joy of divinity. What a blessing!
Bonnie B.
In his book Status Anxiety, Alain de Botton argues that much unhappiness in life is a function what others think of us – whether we matter, get attention, and are admired. It is as Austrian psychoanalyst William Stekel put it: “Anxiety is fear of oneself.”
Martin Luther understands that in Christian faith these needs are met, that we can be assured of our beauty. God’s love makes us lovely. As he once put it: “Sinners are lovely because they are loved; they are not loved because they are lovely.” (What Luther Says, p.819) We become jewels in God’s hand (61:10). Covered with this love, we truly begin to matter for we start living holy lives concerned about others, reflecting the beauty of God’s love in loving others.
In the same spirit, commenting on this lesson, Luther wrote:
He [God] has clothed me with garments, because the church is clothed for salvation... This is the church’s most beautiful adornment... Whoever is based on this rock will not be overcome. (Luther’s Works, Vol.17, pp.141-142)
Clothed with the beauty of God’s love, anxiety and self-doubt cannot overcome the Christian.
Mark E.
* * *
Isaiah 61:10--62:3
Loudly singing the praise of God does not come naturally to everyone. Some of us are a little shy about talking about our faith or expressing the joys and challenges of our faith. Yet, that is our call. That is what Isaiah is speaking about. Just as plants come through the earth and move into the air and the sun, we are called to lift our arms, our voices, and our singing to praise God and all God has done for us. What if this year, our New Year’s resolution was to share our faith with one person every day. To talk about God with confidence and courage, to share our personal relationship with God. And if we don’t have a personal relationship with God through Christ, maybe working on that relationship every day should be what we resolve. Imagine the difference we could make!
Bonnie B.
* * *
Galatians 4:4-7
Paul speaks of ta stoicheia tou kosmou, translated as “the elemental principles of the world” in the NSRVue and “this world’s system” in the Common English Bible. That intrigued me. The new Cambridge Greek Lexicon defined stoicheion as the “length of a shadow as a means of measuring time” (as in a sundial), an “indivisible sound,” an element as in a basic fundamental building block of the universe, and in general the fundamental principles of the universe. But by adding tou kosmou or “of the world” Paul makes it clear he is not talking about scientific principles or dismissing what was known scientifically about the universe. He is referring to the false standards the world uses to define the basic principles by which we live – things like, “Whoever dies with the most toys wins” or “Never back down,” “Don’t show weakness,” or “Kill them all and let God sort them out.” There are all kinds of false principles that end up on t-shirts or bumper stickers which are antithetically opposed to the true world that Christ’s birth heralds, one in which we are all adopted into a non-hierarchical family of God, all equals as part of God’s family, all dependent and interdependent with each other.
Frank R.
* * *
Galatians 4:4-7
One of my favorite Christmas carols is “What Child Is This?” The song ponders the nature and work of Jesus beginning on the night he was born. The tune is an English folk song called “Greensleeves, which first appeared in the year 1580. Originally the lyrics were about a young lady and her boyfriend, but Christmas texts for the melody emerged in the late 1600s and have stuck ever since.
“What Child Is This?” was written in 1865 by Englishman William Chatterton Dix, who experienced a spiritual renewal during a time of sickness. Each stanza is a progression. The words start by asking about the divinity of baby Jesus and finish by praising his name. The second stanza notes…
This, this is Christ the King,
Whom shepherds guard and angels sing:
Haste, haste to bring Him laud,
The babe, the son of Mary.
Jesus, it’s a simple, ordinary name with so much power and meaning. On the first Christmas long ago, the tiny baby, wrapped by Mary in swaddling clothes, waving little arms, hungrily sucking a fist, was like any other newborn baby. He was helpless and dependent, and Mary was his hope of survival, his nourishment, his very lifeline. God entrusted his most priceless gift to a very human, very young, earthly mother. Why? Because God so loved--that he gave. God intended for Jesus to leave the security of heaven to be placed in fragile human arms. He did it to redeem and save lost humanity. We can become a part of God’s family because Jesus came to be a part of the human family.
Bill T.
* * *
Luke 2:22-40
Commenting on this story, Martin Luther noted how amazing it is that an eminent man like Simeon would regard an infant as Savior (Luther’s Works, Vol.52, p.,103). And then he adds:
The story serves as an example of our faith; we too, should learn how marvelous God’s works are concerning us and that the beginning is nothing; the end is everything. Just as the infant Christ does not appear very significant and yet, in the end, He became Savior and light of all people. If Joseph and Mary had judged in accordance with what they saw, they would not have regarded Christ as more than a poor little child. But they disregarded the external evidence... In like manner we, too, must disregard the external evidence when contemplating God’s works and cling only to His word lest our eyes or senses offend us. (Ibid., p.104)
We might say that Simeon and Anna had dreams of what the child Jesus would become and do. Dreams and exploring new ideas are good in so many ways, even for your health; they keep you young, neurobiological research suggests. It seems that these mental exercises lead to the production of protein in the brain (neutrophic factors) that helps create new nerve cells and repairs those damaged by aging (Sherwin Nuland, The Art of Aging, pp.36-37). Cuban French author Anais Nin once profoundly echoed these themes claiming “Dreams are necessary to life.” African-American poet and novelist Langston Hughes made a similar point as he charged readers to “Hold fast to dreams, for if they die, life is a broken winged bird that cannot fly.”
Mark E.
* * *
Luke 2:22-40
This passage of Luke reminds us that Mary and Joseph bring their son to the temple to be blessed and purified. More than that, the servant Simeon, who has waited patiently at the gates of the temple for years and years, proclaims that he has seen the Messiah. Simeon knows that he can now rest. He has proclaimed that which God commanded him to proclaim. He has seen the anointed of God. He proclaims loudly and feels he can now rest. It is no coincidence that the song of Simeon is often read or sung at funeral services. These servants who have passed from this earthly life, can also see the presence of God, can feel the joy of divinity. What a blessing!
Bonnie B.
