Do You Hear What I Hear?
Sermon
Life Everlasting
The Essential Book of Funeral Resources
Object:
For a hearing-impaired person
Do You Hear What I Hear?
Luke 2:20
The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen.
-- Luke 2:20
So much of the Christmas experience is about hearing. "I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day" is a familiar Christmas hymn. "Do You Hear What I Hear?" is the refrain throughout another popular Christmas carol. Although the heart and soul of Christmas is in the child the shepherds saw with their eyes, an unforgettable part of their Christmas experience was the song of the heavenly choir of angels, a song they heard with their ears.
Until Wednesday, that part of Christmas was closed to Gerald. Gerald saw the baby in the manger. Gerald read the angelic witness, "To you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord" (Luke 2:11). The words and events of Christmas were no secret to Gerald, nor was the faith that causes us to kneel in worship before the Christ child. The one thing Gerald didn't have was the ability to hear the angels sing.
This year, Christmas was different for Gerald. Called from his bed in the nursing home by the one who gives sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, and resurrection life to those who have died in faith, Gerald was ushered into this year's Christmas by Christ himself.
What an indescribably wonderful moment it must have been for Gerald to not only see heaven's choir of angels, but to hear them, actually hear them, singing. Along with the angels he heard a voice we all look forward to hearing, the voice of Jesus. Jesus told Gerald what Gerald had always believed, but how wonderful it must have been for Gerald to actually hear his Lord saying it, "As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; [Gerald] abide in my love" (John 15:9).
So, now, Gerald joins the shepherds in glorifying and praising God for all he has seen and heard. We might not have heard the bells on Christmas Day, but Gerald did. Today it is Gerald who sings the refrain of the Christmas carol, "Do You Hear What I Hear?" No, Gerald, we don't. Not yet. Someday we will. Someday your wife, and all of us, will hear Christmas just the way you do. All those who were denied on earth the ability to hear the joyous sounds of Christmas will join with you in glorifying and praising God "for all they have seen and heard!"
Amen.
-- Gary W. Fehring
Do You Hear What I Hear?
Luke 2:20
The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen.
-- Luke 2:20
So much of the Christmas experience is about hearing. "I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day" is a familiar Christmas hymn. "Do You Hear What I Hear?" is the refrain throughout another popular Christmas carol. Although the heart and soul of Christmas is in the child the shepherds saw with their eyes, an unforgettable part of their Christmas experience was the song of the heavenly choir of angels, a song they heard with their ears.
Until Wednesday, that part of Christmas was closed to Gerald. Gerald saw the baby in the manger. Gerald read the angelic witness, "To you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord" (Luke 2:11). The words and events of Christmas were no secret to Gerald, nor was the faith that causes us to kneel in worship before the Christ child. The one thing Gerald didn't have was the ability to hear the angels sing.
This year, Christmas was different for Gerald. Called from his bed in the nursing home by the one who gives sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, and resurrection life to those who have died in faith, Gerald was ushered into this year's Christmas by Christ himself.
What an indescribably wonderful moment it must have been for Gerald to not only see heaven's choir of angels, but to hear them, actually hear them, singing. Along with the angels he heard a voice we all look forward to hearing, the voice of Jesus. Jesus told Gerald what Gerald had always believed, but how wonderful it must have been for Gerald to actually hear his Lord saying it, "As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; [Gerald] abide in my love" (John 15:9).
So, now, Gerald joins the shepherds in glorifying and praising God for all he has seen and heard. We might not have heard the bells on Christmas Day, but Gerald did. Today it is Gerald who sings the refrain of the Christmas carol, "Do You Hear What I Hear?" No, Gerald, we don't. Not yet. Someday we will. Someday your wife, and all of us, will hear Christmas just the way you do. All those who were denied on earth the ability to hear the joyous sounds of Christmas will join with you in glorifying and praising God "for all they have seen and heard!"
Amen.
-- Gary W. Fehring
