Christmas: A time for Recognizing God With Us

 

Isaiah 52:7-10
John 1:1-14

So, for us in the church, this is the Fourth Sunday of Advent – a time for us to contemplate why we celebrate Christmas anyway.

Again, this year, during these weeks before Christmas, we have been looking at the very earliest documents we have to ascertain just how those earliest Christians celebrated Christmas –
hoping to find clues as to how we might have a better understanding and actually experience a better Christmas this year.

The first week of Advent, we looked at the very earliest writings we have –
the letters of Paul and some of the writings that were found in the Dead Sea Scrolls and Nag Hammurabi and other places in the desert country of Egypt and Syria and Palestine,
and the very earliest Gospel in our Bible:
the Gospel of Mark – which was published around the year 70.

We actually have several texts now that were published during these early  years – during the first 75 years or so after Jesus was killed.
And, look as we may, it is obvious that none of these texts say anything at all about the birth of Jesus.  
It just was not important to those earliest believers.

Yes, Jesus was a pivotal figure in their history,
yes, Jesus was a pivotal figure in their faith,
yes, Jesus was a pivotal figure in their life experience –
in their understanding of who they were and what they to do.
Clearly, they each articulate a faith that in Jesus, they saw God incarnate – God in the flesh –
for them,  Jesus was Emmanuel – God with us.

The second week we looked at the second Gospel of Matthew, published some 15 years after Mark, and intended for a somewhat different audience.
Matthew begins his Gospel with a detailed genealogy setting Jesus firmly in the Jewish camp – a descendent of King David,
and even Father Abraham, himself.

In the 15 years between Mark and Matthew an interest in birth stories had developed.
Matthew’s community wanted to believe that their Jesus was no less a god than the mighty Caesar or any of the other gods they encountered among the cosmopolitan culture of the Roman Empire.
Every other god had a miraculous birth story to show their specialness, so, Jesus should have one, too.

The Gospel of Luke is the third Gospel of the collection in our Bible.
It was published some 15 years after Matthew.
And, again, it was intended for a different audience than Mark or Matthew.

Again, we are reminded that during these early years, indeed, for the first 100 to 150 years, there was no separate Christian church.
They were Jews who believed that Jesus was the Messiah and revered as Emmanuel – God with Us – and they would meet as small groups –
sometimes even sharing meals and resources and living arrangements –
but, when they worshiped, they went to the Temple.

We see Luke being addressed primarily to a predominately Gentile audience to show that belief in Jesus in Emmanuel conflicted in no way with their ability to serve as good citizens of the Roman Empire.

And, we see that each of the Gospels have a very different starting place.
Matthew starts very differently than Mark does – again with that long genealogy.
And Luke starts differently than either Mark or Matthew does with that miraculous birth story – not of Jesus, but of John.

And, here in the Gospel of John, we have an even stranger beginning.

Most scholars agree now that this Gospel of John was published no earlier than 110 years after the death of Jesus.
Clearly this Gospel was addressed to people under stress –
there was a conflict between the communities of believers in Jesus as Messiah
and the communities of believers in John as Messiah;
and there was a widening rift between these communities of Jesus believers
and the other believers of Judaism.
The break that we know today was occurring by the time John was published.
And this Gospel is written in that context.

Again, dwelling on establishing the specialness of Jesus with stories of his birth was not important to these people.
What was important, was how their faith in this radical new religion based on Emmanuel –
based upon the Incarnation –
based on God now being with us instead of dwelling from on high –
how life based on this new faith fits into the cosmic scheme of things –
and how it is different from the old ways of doing.

Curiously, we know from the writings of a Jewish Greek philosopher from Alexandria, Philo, that this concept of God as the Doer, the Speaker, the One who Acts, the Word
was emerging in Alexandria some 50 years before the Gospel of John was published.

Here, Jesus is remembered not primarily as a specific man at a specific time in history, but
as the embodiment of a wisdom, a sophia, that pervades all things and all people.

The Word has existed from the beginning, and the Word came and dwelt among people, “they knew him not.”

Here, John tells the story in a radically new way.

Jesus is identified with the Logos – the Word of God –   and becomes something other than a man from Nazareth born of flesh and blood –
but nothing less than a construct of God –
a part of Almighty himself –
a very part of the cosmos itself.

Like I concluded last week,
I think it is important for us to ask why each of the Gospels treat the birth of Jesus differently.
And to remember that the story that you and I have learned and could tell on a moments notice, actually does not occur in any of our gospels.

The story you and I learned,
and the story you and I tell,
is really a composite of the stories we see in the Gospels.
We tend to take a part from one and combine it with a part from another and a part from another, and lo, we have our story.

But, if we actually did what those early Christians did, we wouldn’t revere any of the details of any of these stories;
but, we would come up with our own story –
like they did.
A story that begins with an experience with Emmanuel –
an experience of God being with us –
and then coming up with an explanation as to how special that experience is.

For you and me to fully understand and celebrate Christmas, we have to seek out and identify times of Emmanuel for us:
times we have been in the presence of God,
times we when we have been absolutely convinced that God is with us.

And, so we say Where or where is Emmanuel today?
And we are on the lookout for signs of Emmanuel in our times:
for some, like the shepherds in Luke’s Gospel, it is in celestial music;
for some, it will be in coming to the Lord’s Table;
for some, it will be in helping feed the hungry at the food closet;
for some, it will be in sharing special time with loved ones;
however and whenever and wherever;
this Christmas will be the best you have ever had when you open yourself to the presence of Emmanuel and recognize God with us.
Amen.

The congregation of Christ Presbyterian Church in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, experienced this sermon during a worship service December 24, 2006

Christmas Is for Adults - About the Adult Jesus

The bottom line is this:
however touching they are to our heartstrings,
however much we love to hear them and to sing about them,
however much we enjoy the feelings prevalent this time of year,
the birth stories are not really about the baby Jesus.


The birth stories are told and remembered because of the adult Jesus –
and what people experienced with him during his earthly ministry,
and what people experienced because of him after his death –
and what people have experienced through him through the ages,
and what people continue to experience with him day and day out.


For me, at its essence, Christmas is really about Emmanuel.
That Hebrew word that means “God With Us”.


The Second Sunday of Advent

Isaiah 12:2-6
Matthew 1:17-25

For over 1500 years, the church has set aside this time before Christmas as a time of preparation –
a time for believers to engage in opportunities of study to better understand the enormity of what it is we celebrate at Christmas and its profound impact on the faith passed on to us from previous generations.

This year, in an attempt to help us focus on the real reason for the season –  what is so central to the faith we hold – I am trying to address what was important to those very earliest of Christians.

Last week we looked at the writings of some of the very earliest Christians and looked at what they had to say about the birth of Jesus.   
The very earliest writing we have in the New Testament is a letter from The Apostle Paul, written around the year of 35 AD.
The earliest Gospel we have is attributed to Mark.  The Gospel of Mark was most probably published around the year of 50 AD.
In the past 60 years, many other documents have been discovered that date back to the very first decades after Jesus’ death.
When we read these documents looking for what they say about the birth of Jesus, we discover one thing in common.
None of them have anything to say about the birth of Jesus.  Nothing.
It simply was not important to them.

Oh, for sure, they were all convinced that the experiences they recalled with this Jesus of Nazareth were extraordinary.
In fact, as the years went by, they were convinced that they had experienced nothing less than the in-dwelling of God Almighty.
That, for sure, they experienced the holy –
that, for sure, for a while, and even now, they experienced Emmanuel –
[a Hebrew word that means God With Us].

[As a side note: I related to the congregation an article that was published just the day before by Bayler University’s Center for Christian Ethics, wherein, the author spells out much of the same things I did in our sermon last week!
I just wanted them to know, and the reader to know, that really, I don’t make this stuff up!]

Now, the second oldest Gospel text is the Gospel of Matthew.
It was written about thirty years after Mark – around 80 AD.  

Matthew is somewhat different than Mark.
Matthew obviously knew about Mark’s Gospel.
Matthew includes the entire Gospel of Mark.
Yes, he edited freely and rearranged some of the scenes, but its all there.
Everything you read in Mark is in Matthew.
But, Matthew includes much more.
And, the editing and rearranging he does reflect his own emphasis, and are worthy of study and noting.

Matthew also includes writings and sayings from a second document that was circulating during those days –  
a document that Luke knew about and used also;
a document that Mark did not know about or didn’t care about.  
(Scholars call this the "quelle" document  – or “source” document.)
Matthew also knew and used material from a third source –
stories that were circulating among some circles that were becoming known as the infancy narratives – stories relating to the birth of Jesus.

I believe we are lucky to be living in these days, because we are discovering new source material all the time.
It seems that every month or so, something new crops us that provide new light on old documents, and old practices, and old beliefs.

One of the most exciting discoveries, to me, is that we are discovering that those earliest Christian believers were a pretty diverse bunch.
Contrary to what we may have taught, those early Christians, right from the beginning were not of one mind about their belief
or about their practices
or about their place in the world.

We know that after Jesus’ death, his followers scattered and hid.
But, shortly after, many came to the conviction that something extraordinary had happened – something that changed their perspective on who Jesus was and he would mean for the future of their movement.
It was their experience of the resurrection experience that led the disciples to come to think of Jesus as somehow more than just a prophet, but as the Messiah himself.   
And that’s when they began to organize around his memory.

But, we must remember, the earliest form of the movement was as a sect within Judaism.
Jesus was a Jew.
Jesus disciples were Jews.
Jesus was a Jewish Messiah.
They are followers of a Jewish apocalyptic tradition.
They are expecting the coming of the kingdom of God on earth.
It was a Jewish movement.

For sure, it was made up of small groups.
At least one of them was based in Jerusalem, but others were spread all over the countryside, including at least one or more in Galilee.
These were small, homebased groups, that met together weekly, studied together, ministered to one another, and prayed for and with one another.
But, when time came, they went to the temple for worship.

What we have discovered is that pretty much, each of these small groups developed their own take on what they experienced with Jesus of Nazareth and what had happened to him at the end of his public ministry.

Some groups seemed to be in competition with one another –
especially as they considered how closely they were to observe the Jewish laws of the Torah.

One historian writes, “Christianity, or one should rather say “Christianities,” of [the early years] were a highly variegated phenomenon.”
We can see from recent discoveries that there were very different views of Jesus in the various types of Christianity.
Another historian reminds us that it was “a time where there was no fixed formulation what the set of Christian beliefs should be.
What Christian rituals should be.
What they should think
or what they should tell about Jesus.”

The Christianity of Rome was different that Christianity of North Africa
and that was different from what we find in Egypt,
and that was different from what find in Syria
or back in Palestine.
So, we see each form of Christianity beginning to tell the story of Jesus in different ways.

And, so we see different “Gospels” emerging from these different groups.
You have heard about the Gospel of Thomas that has been translated and published with the last few years.
There is also the Gospel of Philip,
the Gospel of Truth,
The Gospel to the Egyptians,
the Apocryphon of John,
Secret Book of James,
Apocalypse of Paul,
the Letter of Peter to Philip,
the Apocalypse of Peter,
the Acts of Thomas, the Acts of Paul,
and the list goes on and on and on.
So far, some 52 different Gospels have been discovered – besides the four found in our Bible.

And within our Bible, we see how this gets played to a small degree.
We noted that Mark just wasn’t concerned about Jesus’ birth.

Matthew was.
Matthew was very concerned about showing Jesus as being the embodiment of Hebrew prophecy –
the presence of the long-awaited-for Jewish Messiah.

This was important to Matthew because at that time, another man, Simon bar Kochba, was leading a Jewish rebellion against the Roman Empire.  bar Kochba was imploring his kinsmen to take up arms: “Come join us to fight against the Romans.
You believe God is going to restore the kingdom to Israel, don’t you?  Join us.”  

bar Kochba was leading the revolt as the Jewish Messiah.

And, this set some of the Jewish Christians back a bit.
“Bar Kochba can’t be the Messiah – we already have one.”

And so, Matthew takes a clue from the Romans who gave all of their gods some sort of divine birth story.

Others were circulating birth stories of Jesus to show that Jesus was second to no Roman god.

So, Matthew includes some of the stories that were circulating at the time.
But, Matthew wanted to make clear that not only did Jesus have a special birth like the Roman gods,
but that Jesus was clearly a Jew.

The religious community that produced the Gospel of Matthew took pains to place their understanding squarely within its Jewish heritage
and portrays Jesus as one whose Jewish identity is beyond doubt.
After copying Marks first verse, Matthew begins by tracing Jesus’ genealogy.

Now, everyone knew, he only needed to show that Jesus was a descendent of King David.
But, Matthew takes no chances.
He traces Jesus’ lineage all the way back to Abraham.
It was that important to Matthew.

He wanted to show Jesus as even greater than Moses.
And, he edits his narrative to have Jesus constantly reinterpreting what was commonly known as Jewish law.
“You’ve heard it said . . . But, I say to you . . .”

The bottom line is this:
however touching they are to our heartstrings,
however much we love to hear them and to sing about them,
however much we enjoy the feelings prevalent this time of year,
the birth stories are not really about the baby Jesus.

The birth stories are told and remembered because of the adult Jesus –
and what people experienced with him during his earthly ministry,
and what people experienced because of him after his death –
and what people have experienced through him through the ages,
and what people continue to experience with him day and day out.

For me, at its essence, Christmas is really about Emmanuel.
That Hebrew word that means “God With Us”.  

For all those early Christians,
for all those writers of faith documents for their communities,
this word reflects what they affirmed had happened in this man from Nazareth –
what they continued to experience long after he had gone –
that Jehovah –
the Great I Am –
God Almighty –
Creator of the Universe and all the worlds that are –
the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob –
the One God of the faith of our fathers and mothers –
deigned to enter our world and become as we are
to let us know there is no separation now from holy and mundane,
from sacred and profane,
from work and ritual.
No.
In this man from Nazareth, we see Emmanuel!
Through this man of Nazareth, we know Emmanuel.
With this man of Nazareth, we experience Emmanuel.
God is With Us.
That’s what we hear.
God is with us.
That’s what we sing.
God is with us.
That’s what we believe.
God is with us.
That’s what we celebrate.
Each and every year at Christmas.
Each and every week in worship.
Each and every morning when we get up.

Emmanuel!  This Christmas.
Emmanuel!  All year long!
Emmanuel!  Every minute of every hour of every day of your life!

Amen.

 

The congregation of Christ Presbyterian Church of Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, USA, experienced this sermon as a part of their worship service Sunday, December 4, 2011 - the Second Sunday of Advent.

Christmas is About Emmanuel

The Christmas we celebrate-- and the world around us celebrates -- really has little to do with the Christmas that is so much a part of our faith history.

It may surprise you to know that for over 300 years nobody celebrated the birthday of Jesus.

The stories and pictures that you and I value about the birth of Jesus and all the events around that — simply were not important to the early Christians.
 
For 300 years they did not worship a baby.
They worshiped an adult "Emmanuel" —
through which they kept having encounters with the holy.
These encounters were important to them.
It was the basis of their new faith.

First Sunday in Advent

Isaiah 40:3-,9
Luke 3:1-11

Today is the  First Sunday of Advent —
a time the church has set aside for us to prepare for the coming of Christmas.
Christmas is the most universally loved holiday of all the church holidays.
It's hard not to get caught up in the "Christmas Spirit", [isn't it?] as the markers go up that announce to everyone that the holiday is approaching:

The Thanksgiving Day parade,
the shopping frenzy known as Black Friday,
carols on the muzak,
decorations on the street poles
lights in the yard,
lights on the house,
lights on the roof,
lights on the chimney,
lights in the trees,
Santa at the mall,
Santa at MacDonalds,
TV specials,
TV commercials, and, of course,
catalogs galore!

Everywhere you look you are reminded that Christmas will soon be here.
And the unannounced task is that "you'd better get ready."

For the most part, we like the feeling that comes with this season, don't we?
We like to see the smiles on children's faces.
We like to receive cards from people we haven't seen in ages.
We like to give gifts to special people in our lives.
We like to share time and meals with people we just don't seem to have time for at other times of the year.
For the most part, Christmas is a happy time.

But the Christmas we celebrate -- and the world around us celebrates -- really has little to do with the Christmas that is so much a part of our faith history.

We say, Christmas is for children, and so it has become in our American culture.
It may surprise you to know that in most cultures in the world, Christmas is NOT primarily a day for children.

In fact, throughout our faith history Christmas was and is for adults.

It may surprise you to know that for over 300 years nobody celebrated the birthday of Jesus.

But, there is ample evidence that Christians have always recognized and celebrated the specialness of Jesus — universally called the Christ — and identified in Matthew as Emmanuel — God With Us.

Each Sunday, from now until Christmas, I intend to look at how those earliest Christians celebrated Emmanuel —
and look for clues as how you and I can have the very best Christmas ever this year,
celebrating the Presence of Christ, God With Us, Emmanuel.
 
When we sing one of the most ancient of all our songs, 0 Come, 0 Come, Emmanuel,  we place ourselves squarely alongside Christians through the ages who approach this season with a profound faith.

Of course, we all know (intellectually, if not out front)
that none of our New Testament was written at the time of Jesus.
No one was going along taking it down in Gregg Shorthand – or what ever they had in those days.
No one was observing events all day and writing in a diary at night.

All of the writings we have about Jesus were written some years after Jesus was killed.

The very earliest writings we see in our New Testament are the letters of Paul.
The very earliest of these letters – I and 2 Thessalonians –
were written around 25 years after Jesus was killed.

The very earliest Gospel we have is Mark -- which can be dated to around 50 years after Jesus was killed.

All the other writings were later than that. Since the Bible was codified, we have discovered a whole slew of other writings of the time – you have heard about some of these found among “The Dead Sea Scrolls” or other places in the desert within the last 40-50 years.
The earliest non-cannonical gospel that has been found has been recently published as “The Gospel of Thomas.”

So, curiously, when we ask the question: what do these very earliest writings say about the birth of Jesus?
The answer is: Nothing. Zilch. Nada. Zero.  Nothing at all.

It was of no importance to them.


The fact that is was important to three of the Gospel writers is what we will be looking at in the weeks to come.

But, today, these very earliest writings — say nothing about the birth of Jesus.

They say nothing about the birth of Jesus, but they all write about the specialness of Jesus —
that through their experience with the adult Jesus, they were sure they were experiencing the holy — Emmanuel — God With Us.

No one celebrated Christmas at all for over 300 years after Jesus died!
It just wasn't done.

This was the time of the Roman Empire.
And Israel was part of the Roman Empire.

You know the Romans had a whole slew of gods
that were important to their life —
and each of the conquered territories usually came
with a whole slew of gods the indigenous people worshiped.
There were pagan gods everywhere.

To the Jews, and we need to remember, these early Christians were Jews,
these pagan gods were not even close to the One they knew and
experienced through a thousand year history.

And so, we have discovered writings from around 200 years after Jesus was killed, that deal with the fact that because the pagans celebrated the birthdays of their gods, it would be wrong for Christians to celebrate the birthday of Jesus.
Jesus was special.
Jesus was God with Us.
Jesus was Emmanuel.
But, Jesus wasn't like the pagan Gods.
And shouldn't be treated as such.
No birthdays for Jesus. (Out of principle.)

Of course, another issue was that nobody knew when Jesus was born.
Again, there were no records kept.
No one was around filling out forms to be filed.
We have no mention of the Disciples ever celebrating Jesus' birthday,
so we assume that it was not of great importance to Jesus.
Apparently, he didn't tell anyone when his birthday
was — and apparently no one asked.

But, as you can guess, that didn't keep folks from speculating.

After some 150 to 200 years passed, people starting trying to figure it out.
One popular writer wrote that Jesus must have been born on May 20.
Others presented convincing arguments that Jesus' birthday must be April 18,
others favored April 19,
others thought it more likely was May 28.

Within a few years it became a popular pastime to speculate on the date of Jesus birth.
The well-known Hippolytus thought, for sure, that Jesus was born on January 2.
But others carefully figured it must be November 17, or November 20, or perhaps March 25.
In  243 it was promoted that Jesus' birth should be celebrated on March 21, because that was believed to be the date on which God created the sun.
The debate went on for over a hundred years.
There was no agreed on date of Jesus' birth.
There was no celebration of Jesus birth.

In fact, it was the year 336, when the Christian church first celebrated Christmas –
and it was on December 25.

This was one of Constantine's first acts to make Christianity the religion of the empire.

So many other pagan religions already had some sort of celebration at this time, that it was natural to tell the people, "you are to stop these other celebrations to these other gods, and make this one common celebration of the birth of Jesus."

As one theologian wrote in 320 about December 25: "We hold this day holy, not like the pagans because of the birth of the sun, but because of him who made the sun."

And, so for nearly 1700 years now most Christians celebrate the birthday of Jesus on December 25. [Except for the Armenian Church and some Orthodox Churches —
the birth of Jesus is important to them, but it is celebrated on January 6 along with his baptism and Pentecost.]

As we look at these earliest writings reflecting the faith of the very earliest Christians, we find some common threads that speak to us and give us clues as to the kind of celebration that is appropriate for us.

First of all, it is clear that people had extraordinary encounters with this Jesus of Nazareth.
Jesus "connected" the people who encountered him with a life other than they knew --
where downtrodden were lifted up,
where the lame walked,
where the blind could see,
the lonely befriended,
transgressions forgiven.
Through encounters with this Jesus, people experienced "the Holy".

(Was it encounters of a third kind?]

Was it encounters with Yahweh — Jehovah — the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob — the Great I Am?

And, these encounters with Jesus - this experience of the Holy - didn't stop with Jesus' death.

The "People of the Way" still had "holy" encounters with and through this man they knew as Jesus.
They could explain it as "Emmanuel".
For them, Jesus was "God With Us".
For those that encountered him, Jesus was Emmanuel.
The heart of Jesus teaching was that anyone could -
and would - encounter Emmanuel when certain things were done.

For me, a crucial part of what we celebrate here at Christmas is Emmanuel

That our celebrations are just not complete until we go looking for Emmanuel.

It's kind of like those children's books, Looking for Waldo.  
 You and I are called to go looking for Emmanuel.

As we do, we need to put a few things aside:
first of all, forget what you think Jesus looks like.
Forget the pictures of Jesus.

Again, we don't know what Jesus looked like.
No one was there to take video of his birth or ministry.
No one was there to take a photograph.
No one was there to sketch a portrait.
Again, it wasn't important to them.

But, not only are we called to look for him, we are called to minister to him.
And we are given some very specific instructions.
This is what Matthew 25 is about.

Christmas can be truly special if we are purposeful about our decorations
purposeful about our trappings
purposeful about the stories we tell and read
purposeful about the movies and videos we see.

Christmas is really about encountering the holy.
But the truth of the matter is, that most of what we do —
most of what we will do between now and Christmas Day —
has nothing to do with encountering the holy at all!

My favorite Christmas Stories are ones in which the hidden Christ is revealed:
stories about encounters with ordinary people that turn out to be encounters with the holy —

So, stories and pictures that you and I value about the
birth of Jesus and all the events around that —
simply were not important to the early Christians.

For 300 years they did not worship a baby.
They worshiped an adult "Emmanuel" —
through which they kept having encounters with the holy.
These encounters were important to them.
It was the basis of their new faith.

And, as they found out,  anyone could have these encounters
by feeding the hungry,
clothing the naked,
tending the sick.

That's how they found Emmanuel.
That's how they knew Emmanuel.

And, today, that's where — that's how — you and I will know Emmanuel.

May this Christmas be your best ever.

Amen.

The congregation of Christ Presbyterian Church in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, USA, heard these words during a worship service on the First Sunday of Advent, November 27, 2011.

All Our Religious Experience Is for Naught Unless We Know and Experience Emmanuel – God With Us.

For many of us, Christmas can be a confusing time, can’t it? 
Bright lights, crowded stores, parties and obligations to keep track of, ads for this and ads for that – there is much that vies for attention, isn’t there?

In the midst of all of the busyness, it is difficult to know which way to turn. 
We may want to experience the joy and peace of the season, and yet we often don’t know were to begin.

Within the ever-present cacophony of the world around us, our church tries to focus attention on the real reason for the season.

Especially these days, I think, we are called to be alert, to watch out, to look around, to keep hoping, and to be proactive in welcoming Emmanuel. 
For indeed, all our religious experience is for naught unless we know and experience Emmanuel – God With Us.
That’s what Christmas is all about. 
That’s what we affirm.
That’s what we celebrate.

This year, promise yourself to take time periodically to read the stories of Emmanuel:
the stories of John the Baptist,
the story of Mary the mother of Jesus, the story of Joseph, the stories of the birth of Jesus,
the story of the wise men, the story of the shepherds,
the story of old Simeon,
the story of old Anna.

Once again, I ask, where are these stories being told today? 
Not on TV.
Not in school. 
Not in many family gatherings. 
It is so important to make church a part of our schedule – especially at this time of year. [Perhaps there should be a rule: no opening of presents until after the Christmas Eve Candlelight service of stories and songs.]

Children need to hear these stories. 
Adults need to hear these stories. 
We all need to hear these stories. 

Churches all over the country will be telling the story with song.
We will be telling the story with words.
We will be telling the story with prayer.
We will be telling the story with communion.
We will be telling the story with visual symbols.
We will be telling the story with graphic symbols.
We will telling the story with candlelight.
We will be telling the story in a hundred ways.

Yes, we affirm Emmanuel!
We celebrate Emmanuel!
Our God is with us!
Don’t miss his presence this year!

See you in church –
and bring someone with you.  

Christmas Not Primarily About the Birth of A Baby

The Christmas we -- and the world around us -- celebrates really has little to do with the Christmas that is so much a part of our faith history.

It may surprise you to know that for over 300 years nobody celebrated the birthday of Jesus.

The stories and pictures that you and I value about the birth of Jesus and all the events around that — simply were not important to the early Christians.

For 300 years they did not worship a baby.
They worshiped an adult "Emmanuel" —
through which they kept having encounters with the holy.
These encounters were important to them.
It was the basis of their new faith.
In most cultures in the world, Christmas is not primarily a day for children.

In fact, throughout our faith history Christmas is for adults.

Although the early believers simply did not celebrate the birthday of Jesus, there is ample evidence that Christians have always recognized and celebrated the specialness of Jesus — universally called the Christ — and identified in Matthew as Emmanuel — God With Us.

Especially in these days and times, I think it would do us well to look at how those earliest Christians celebrated Emmanuel —
and look for clues as how you and I can have the very best Christmas ever this year,
celebrating the Presence of Christ, God With Us, Emmanuel.

An Attribute for A New Church: Christ-ian

As I think about a new church for the days ahead of us, I think it needs to be Christian –
that is, adhering to  the priorities of God: mercy, forgiveness, hospitality, and compassion.

Micah 6:6-8
I Corinthians

Attributes for A New Church: 1. Christ-ian

There is no church other than the people who gather at a specific place and time “to celebrate Emmanuel (God Being With Us).”

All of the organizations and structures and buildings that we call “church”
fade to the background to this fundamental principal.
There is no church other than the people who gather at a specific place and time “to celebrate Emmanuel (God Being With Us).”

Each one of us in this room value our faith –
and it is obvious that this expression of our faith is important to us.

More than likely, each one of us probably arrived at our ideas of how faith is important to us in different ways:
– some folks learn by observation
– some remember lessons being taught (and rewards promised
– some learn by trial and error –
    and things seem to be better for us,
    we feel better about ourselves and our world
    and our life
    when we go to church
– some were influenced by mentors –
    a person (or persons) who lived their life in a way we want to emulate - as an example of a life well-lived.

Those of us who identify ourselves with the Christian faith, lift us the life, the teaching, the example of the Jesus that we know through the stories gathered in our Bible.

When we reflect on it, we know that Jesus knew himself and the world around him through the eyes of his Jewish faith.

At the risk of stating the obvious, there is no record of Jesus ever starting a church.
Jesus lived as and among the Jewish community.
Jesus was a Jew.
Jesus ministered and taught among Jews as a Jew.
About a year ago, a theologian and teacher,
Philip Gulley, published a book titled,
If The Church Were Christian. 
Early on in the book Philip Gulley reminds the reader that Everything [Jesus] said and did grew out of his Jewish faith. 
As in all religions, there were those in Judaism who’d forgotten and forsaken principles.
What first-century Judaism needed wasn’t a new revelation, but the reminder of a previous one.
The prophets preceding Jesus had described the priorities of God – mercy, forgiveness, hospitality, and compassion.
Jesus exemplified those virtues,
expanded their meaning for his generation,
and through the power of his good example,
urged others to not only imitate his works,
but to exceed them.  (P. 25)

Jesus argued for humility, modesty, and putting others before self.
This was a man committed to faithfully living out the priorities of God’s reign and helping others do the same.  (P. 25)

Mercy, forgiveness, hospitality, and compassion – the priorities of God .

This is what Jesus did.
This is what Jesus taught.
This is the way Jesus lived his life.
This is what Jesus proclaimed for folks in his day –
and this is what we hear for us in our day as well.

He was committed to faithfully living out the priorities of God’s reign
and helping others to do the same. [p. 25]

According to Philip Gulley, if the church were Christian, then Jesus would be a model for living rather than an object of worship.
If the church were Christian, then affirming our potential would be more important that condemning our brokenness.
If the church were Christian, then reconciliation would be valued over judgement.
If the church were Christian, then gracious behavior would be more important than right belief.
If the church were Christian, then inviting question would be valued more than supplying answers.
If the church were Christian, then encouraging personal exploration would me more important than communal uniformity.
If the church were Christian, then meeting needs would be more important than maintaining institutions.
If the church were Christian, then peace would be more important than power.
If the church were Christian, then it would care more about live and less about sex.
If the church were Christian, then this life would be more important than the afterlife.
Well, maybe you get the idea.

That’s his list.
But, if you thought about it, each of us could come up with our own list of attributes we might think of if the church were Christian . . .

So often our ideas of Church get hung up on definitions and explanations that were decided by committees –
the first being held over 300 years after Jesus lived and died –
a council of men appointed by the Emperor with the political charge to come up with an orthodoxy –
a system of faith –
that would unite all of the different Christian communities throughout the Empire.
Like today,
like those who gathered during the Constitutional Convention in 1787 in Philadelphia,
compromise was the name of the game.
Creative notions were explored to get most believers on board to support a new church.
Doctrines were developed.
A statement was written that spelled out the commonly accepted beliefs of the new church.

Invariably, there was some collateral damage –
some “Christian” communities could not,
would not, ascribe to the new orthodoxy.
And, they were disallowed to practice their faith with protection from the emperor.

Many of the “elements” of our belief that they came up with still exist today –
and we know them as “bed rocks” of our faith –
and in many ways have become to define what Christianity is today.

The outcomes of the council of Nicea stood unquestioned and defined the faith for over 1000 years.
In the 16th century, several factors came to bear that resulted in what is known today as the Protestant Reformation.
Faithful Christians questioned the old orthodoxy and came up new ways of being church,
new ways of being church,
new definitions of Christian faith.

Presbyterians were a direct outcome of that Reformation –
the motto became “a church that is reformed and always reforming.”

The Reformation, at its essence, was an effort to get the church to be more “Christian” –
more about the priorities of God
than the priorities of the political machinery.

But, alas, for many reasons I suppose, there are many who call themselves Christians today who focus more on defending the orthodoxy of our belief system,
than on striving toward faithful living out the priorities of God’s reign.

Today, it is not hard to find any number of examples of people calling themselves Christian and taking absurd actions that fly in the face of what Jesus understood and did.

Mercy, forgiveness, hospitality, and compassion – the priorities of God.

As I think about a new church for the days ahead of us, I think it needs to be Christian –
that is, adhering to  the priorities of God: mercy, forgiveness, hospitality, and compassion.

You and I get something out of the faith that gets fleshed out here Sunday after Sunday after Sunday.

You and I (and people all over the country and all over the world) are part of something much larger than ourselves.

When we acknowledge Jesus as prefector of our faith, we realize that our call is the same as what Jesus thought his was.
It’s what he did:
Our good news is that we can find life in his example – accepting the excluded,
healing the sick,
strengthening the weak,
loving the despised,
and challenging the powerful to use their influence redemptively.
Jesus accomplished what he did because of his steadfast dedication to the priorities of God.

It’s what you and I are to do, isn’t it?
It’s what we do do, isn’t it?
As we live the days of our lives – with all the vicissitudes each day brings.

I am more sure today than ever before, as we dream of a new church for the days ahead,
the first attribute to be considered is that it is to be based on the values of Jesus.

What if a church were purposely organized around  the priorities of God: mercy, forgiveness, hospitality, and compassion?
What if our new church reflected the example of the ministry of Jesus:
accepting the excluded
healing the sick,
strengthening the weak,
loving the despised,
and challenging the powerful to use their influence redemptively.

What if a new church for a new day were Christian?

Amen.

The congregation of Christ Presbyterian Church in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, USA, experienced this sermon during a worship service on Sunday, January 15, 2012.

Each Day is a God-Given Clean Slate

It’s good that we are here on the first day of the new year.

There is no real reason why one day on the calendar should bear more significance than any other day of the year.
Yet, still we invest the changing of the year with a great deal of meaning, don’t we?
It is a time of hope,
It is a time of planning,
It is a time of vision-casting,
And, of course, it is a time for resolutions.


Ecclesiastes 3:1-13
Revelation 21:1-6a

This is the Second Sunday of Christmastide – the eighth day of Christmas. 
Christmastide  is the shortest season of the Church year – just 12 days from December 25 to January 6 – the day of Epiphany. 
We will celebrate Epiphany next Sunday – as we remember the story of the Wise Men and their journey.

You remember the song, The Twelve Days of Christmas. 
I don’t know if you saw the newspaper article, but, obviously with the mergers and all, someone over at PNC Bank doesn’t have enough to do. 
Someone over there in the “wealth management department” has calculated the cost of one set of gifts – from the partridge in a pear tree to the 12 drummers drumming.   
If you were thinking of purchasing a set of gifts to send to your true love, it would set you back $24,263.18  this year.  (That’s up more than 3.5% from last year!)  

This year, each item in the PNC Internet Christmas Price Index is substantially higher due to increased shipping and handling costs.
The results of this year's survey indicate that the Seven Swans-a-Swimming, which typically provides the biggest swings from year to year in the PNC CPI, based on supply and demand, rose by 12.5 percent, almost double last year's rise of 6.7 percent, to $6,300. That was the biggest dollar increase this year, up $700, a 12.5 percent boost.

    Three French Hens, Eight Maids-a-Milking, Nine Ladies Dancing, and 10 Lords-a-Leaping were the same price as last year.

    The 11 Pipers Piping ($2,427.60) and 12 Drummers Drumming ($2,629.90) saw modest increases, both up 3.0 percent.

And, if you were wondering, if you were to purchase all of the gifts mentioned in the song: 12 partridges in pear trees, etc, the true cost of Christmas comes out to a rather staggering $101,119 and 84 cents, to be precise..  
Clearly, someone over at PNC has too much time on their hands, wouldn’t you say?

I have an old PEANUTS cartoon in which Lucy is in the outfield playing a baseball game.
Of course, Charlie Brown is on the mound pitching. Lucy calls out to him, "Hey, Manager! Ask your catcher if he still loves me!"
Charlie Brown interrupts his pitching and says to the catcher, "She wants to know if you still love her."
Then, in the next frame, he turns to Lucy and yells to Lucy, "He says, No!'"
Then Lucy wants to know why not.
He relays the information to Lucy again: "He says there are so many reasons he can't remember them all."

This upsets Lucy, and she responds, "Really? That's very depressing."
Finally, Charlie Brown, exasperated, cries out, "Do you mind if we get on with the game?"
Lucy's response is, "Game? What game?"
"The baseball game!" shouts Charlie Brown, to which Lucy responds, "Oh, that's right. I was wondering why I was standing out here." (1)


The beginning of a new year is a good time for reminding ourselves why we are "standing out here."
Another year gone, another year begun.
The questions are the same”
What are we to do now?
What is our purpose?
Why are we here?

Some people seem to dread a new year. 
Maybe you are one of them.
I heard one guy say "The holidays aren't quite over and already I'm about 90 days ahead on my calories and 90 days behind on my bills."
Some of you can identify with him.

Now, we know that our calendar was established by human minds.
There is no real reason why one day on the calendar should bear more significance than any other day of the year.
Yet, still we invest the changing of the year with a great deal of meaning, don’t we?
It is a time of hope,
It is a time of planning,
It is a time of vision-casting,
And, of course, it is a time for resolutions.
Ready or not, it is time to set yourself on a course of self-improvement.
  
One pastor suggests that our life would be better if we 7-UPS FOR THE NEW YEAR.
If you and I would concentrate on 7-UPS during the days to come, things would change for us, guaranteed.
First, each day,  WAKE UP – Begin the day the affirmation that this is the Lord’s Day – Rejoice in it.
Second, each day,  DRESS-UP – Put on a smile. It improves your looks. It says something about your attitude.
Thirdly, SHUT-UP – Watch your tongue. Don't gossip. Say nice things. Learn to listen.
Fourthly,  STAND-UP – Take a stand for what you believe. Resist  evil. Do good.
Fifthly, LOOK-UP – Open your eyes to the presence of God in our lives.  Emmanuel.  Clues are all around us, if we only look.    
Sixthly, REACH-UP – Spend time in prayer with your adorations, confessions, thanksgivings and supplications to the Lord.
And finally, LIFT-UP – Be available to help those in need – serving, supporting, and sharing.

     If you're going to make new year's resolutions this year, let me suggest the 7UPS.

     Why do you think we bother to make New Year's resolutions in the first place?
Why do we feel this need each January 1 to set new goals?
Maybe it is because resolutions help us to identify our priorities.
They answer the Question: how do I want to invest my time, energy, money, and talents in this new year?
The new year reminds us that time is passing.
It is up to each of us to maximize the potential of every moment.

     Someone wrote some thought-provoking words on the meaning of time:
To realize the value of "one month" ask a mother who gave birth to a premature baby.
To realize the value of "one week" ask the editor of a weekly newspaper.
To realize the value of "one hour," ask the lovers who are waiting to meet.
To realize the value of "one minute," ask the person who missed the train.
To realize the value of "one second," ask the person who just avoided an accident.
To realize the value of "one millisecond," ask the person who won a silver medal in the Olympics.

The coming of the new year forces us to face the question: what will be my priorities this year?

It’s good that we are here on the first day of the new year.
Each year at this time as we look back on the days of the year past, we are reminded that life is made up of seasons – times for this and times for that.
Stuff happens. 
Some bad.  Some good.
Some that overwhelm our emotions.
Some that bring us elation and joy.
And, if we are able to analyze ourselves, who we are at the end of 2011 is shaped in large part by how we reacted to the events of the days past.

You may know that New Year’s day was not always celebrated on January 1.  
In fact, much of the world still does not celebrate New Years on January 1.
The Chinese and Vietnamese celebrate the new year according to a different astronomical calendar that begins on a day between January 21 and February 21.
Several nations in Southeast Asia celebrate New Years in April.
The Jewish people celebrate the beginning of the new year in the Fall – usually in September.
Even among Christian people, the Eastern Orthodox Church celebrates New Year on January 14 of our calendar. 

In fact, we can thank the Roman Empire for standardizing the universal calendar so everyone no matter where you lived could agree on what day it was.
Originally, the roman calendar had only ten months, and New Year’s day was March 1.
When they added two months to the calendar they placed the two months at the beginning of the year – instead of at the end – and that’s how January 1 got to be the first day of the new year for all touched by the Roman Empire – and for us.  

As soon as they did that, they named the first month of the year January after the Roman god, Janus.
Everyone already knew this Janus because her distinction was that she had two heads and two pairs of eyes.
Each head faced in the opposite direction from the other and each pair of eyes looked in the opposite direction from the other –
so, she could see what lies in the past and what is to come –
what has been and what will be.

And, so from the beginning, almost, this time of year for most folks has been a time of looking back at the old year,
taking stock of the events that led up to where we are and of our situation,
and looking ahead with certain resolve to make correct the course, if necessary, to make any changes needed to have more positive outcomes in the days ahead.

By chance, has anyone here been in Rome on New Year's Eve? 
Well, sources tell me that the celebrations there are unlike anything you and I might have experienced last night.
The celebrations there begin at noon on December 31 with a booming cannon and a mounting crescendo of noisemakers.
As night comes on, bright tracer flashes cut across the sky and, finally, at midnight, the cheers go up and there is lots of hugging and kissing and dancing in the streets. But that's not all ...

The Romans think that New Year's Eve is an appropriate time to rid themselves of the old and take on the new, not just symbolically, but actually, by throwing out their windows old or worn-out things –  a torn dress, a frayed suit,
a pair of socks with holes in the toes,
a cracked dish, a broken-down chair, and so on.

Visitors are warned, quite seriously, to stay in their hotel rooms to avoid being hit by one of these flying objects during "Throw Away Time."

What a great idea! 
Maybe you and I should resolve this New Year's Day to adopt a "Throw Away Time" for the disposal of old, tired, depressing, fearful, gloomy thoughts and attitudes.
A good resolution might be to establish a nightly ritual of deliberate thought-emptying in order to put our minds and hearts in good working-order for the coming day.
We could summon up all the jealousies, over-anxieties, hostilities and feelings of depression of the previous twenty-four hours and visualize them being thrown out of the window of our consciousness.

For me, Ralph Waldo Emerson spoke basic truth when he wrote:
Write it on your heart that every day is the best day of the year.
He [or she] is rich who owns the day,
and no one owns the day who allows it to be invaded with fret and anxiety.
Finish every day and be done with it.
Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in.
Forget them as soon as you can;
tomorrow is a new day;
begin it well and serenely,
with too high a spirit to te encumbered with your old nonsense.
The new day is too dear, with its hopes and invitations,
to waste a moment on the yesterdays.

What a great thought for the new year, don’t you think?
It couldn’t be more biblical.
We read in the Psalms:
This is the day the Lord has made,
rejoice and be glad in it.
That’s how we begin our services nearly every Sunday.
If you do not already do so, I suggest that you resolve to begin each day of the new year with this greeting. 
As many others can attest to, this resolution can literally change your life!

Seeing each day as a clean slate, we are free for new hopes, new invitations, new chances.
Begin it well and serenely, Emerson charges.
Our yesterdays are history.
We are not well served by anxiety and fret and remorse and guilt.
Don’t waste a moment on the yesterdays! . . .
Forget them as soon as you can! . . .
Finish each day and be done with it!

Richness and wealth and the good life, ultimately are not measured in monetary units.
Accumulations of things and annuities and stocks provide for little security in God’s economy.

No, richness and wealth and the good life, are by-products of owning the day.
That is, recognizing it for what it is: a gift from God.
Paying homage for the day helps the soul focus on what is really important – and what is not.

The Psalmist reminds us that each of our days are God-given. 
What we do with them is up to us.
How we spend them is up to us.
How we get through them is up to us.
And it makes a difference.

Frets and anxieties and regrets have a way of festering and infecting our lives with unhealthiness.
Misplaced allegiances and unrecognized debts foster unhappiness, unpleasantness, and,
ultimately, an unfulfilled life.

So, today, at the beginning of this new year,
write it on your heart that every day is the best day of the year!

Our Scripture tells us that every day we have a chance to encounter Emmanuel. 
And we are given specific instructions how – and where – and when.
Brothers and Sisters in Christ, pay attention,
heed the clues,
and every day in this new year can be a holy day for you.  Amen.

The Congregation of Christ Presbyterian Church in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, USA, experienced this sermon during a worship service, during Christmastide, January 1, 2012.

The Birth of Jesus and The Gospel of John

Dwelling on establishing the specialness of Jesus with stories of his birth was not important to [the earliest believers].
What was important, was how their faith in this radical new religion based on Emmanuel –
based upon the Incarnation –
based on God now being with us instead of dwelling from on high –
how life based on this new faith fits into the cosmic scheme of things –
and how it is different from the old ways of doing.

 Isaiah 52:7-10
John 1:1-14

So, for us in the church, this is the Fourth Sunday of Advent – a time for us to contemplate why we celebrate Christmas anyway.

Again, this year, during these weeks before Christmas, we have been looking at the very earliest documents we have to ascertain just how those earliest Christians celebrated Christmas –
hoping to find clues as to how we might have a better understanding and actually experience a better Christmas this year.

The first week of Advent, we looked at the very earliest writings we have –
the letters of Paul and some of the writings that were found in the Dead Sea Scrolls and Nag Hammurabi and other places in the desert country of Egypt and Syria and Palestine,
and the very earliest Gospel in our Bible:
the Gospel of Mark – which was published around the year 70.

We actually have several texts now that were published during these early  years – during the first 75 years or so after Jesus was killed.
And, look as we may, it is obvious that none of these texts say anything at all about the birth of Jesus. 
It just was not important to those earliest believers.

Yes, Jesus was a pivotal figure in their history,
yes, Jesus was a pivotal figure in their faith,
yes, Jesus was a pivotal figure in their life experience –
in their understanding of who they were and what they to do.
Clearly, they each articulate a faith that in Jesus, they saw God incarnate – God in the flesh –
for them,  Jesus was Emmanuel – God with us.

The second week we looked at the second Gospel of Matthew, published some 15 years after Mark, and intended for a somewhat different audience.
Matthew begins his Gospel with a detailed genealogy setting Jesus firmly in the Jewish camp – a descendent of King David,
and even Father Abraham, himself.

In the 15 years between Mark and Matthew an interest in birth stories had developed.
Matthew’s community wanted to believe that their Jesus was no less a god than the mighty Caesar or any of the other gods they encountered among the cosmopolitan culture of the Roman Empire.
Every other god had a miraculous birth story to show their specialness, so, Jesus should have one, too.

The Gospel of Luke is the third Gospel of the collection in our Bible.
It was published some 15 years after Matthew.
And, again, it was intended for a different audience than Mark or Matthew.

Again, we are reminded that during these early years, indeed, for the first 100 to 150 years, there was no separate Christian church.
There were Jews who believed that Jesus was the Messiah and revered as Emmanuel – God with Us – and they would meet as small groups –
sometimes even sharing meals and resources and living arrangements –
but, when they worshiped, they went to the Temple.

We see Luke being addressed primarily to a predominately gentile audience to show that belief in Jesus in Emmanuel conflicted in no way with their ability to serve as good citizens of the Roman Empire.

And, we see that each of the Gospels have a very different starting place.
Matthew starts very differently than Mark does – again with that long genealogy.
And Luke starts differently than either Mark or Matthew does with that miraculous birth story – not of Jesus, but of John.

And, here in the Gospel of John, we have an even stranger beginning.

Most scholars agree now that this Gospel of John was published no earlier than 110 years after the death of Jesus.
Clearly this Gospel was addressed to people under stress –
there was a conflict between the communities of believers in Jesus as Messiah
and the communities of believers in John as Messiah;
and there was a widening rift between these communities of Jesus believers
and the other believers of Judaism.
The break that we know today was occurring by the time John was published.
And this Gospel is written in that context.

Again, dwelling on establishing the specialness of Jesus with stories of his birth was not important to these people.
What was important, was how their faith in this radical new religion based on Emmanuel –
based upon the Incarnation –
based on God now being with us instead of dwelling from on high –
how life based on this new faith fits into the cosmic scheme of things –
and how it is different from the old ways of doing.

Curiously, we know from the writings of a Jewish Greek philosopher from Alexandria, Philo, that this concept of God as the Doer, the Speaker, the One who Acts, the Word
was emerging in Alexandria some 50 years before the Gospel of John was published.

Here, Jesus is remembered not primarily as a specific man at a specific time in history, but
as the embodiment of a wisdom, a sophia, that pervades all things and all people.

The Word has existed from the beginning, and the Word came and dwelt among people, “they knew him not.”

Here, John tells the story in a radically new way.

Jesus is identified with the Logos – the Word of God –   and becomes something other than a man from Nazareth born of flesh and blood –
but nothing less than a construct of God –
a part of the Almighty himself –
a very part of the cosmos itself.

Like I concluded last week,
I think it is important for us to ask why each of the Gospels treat the birth of Jesus differently.
And to remember that the story that you and I have learned and could tell on a moments notice, actually does not occur in any of our gospels.

The story you and I learned,
and the story you and I tell,
is really a composite of the stories we see in the Gospels.
We tend to take a part from one and combine it with a part from another and a part from another, and, lo, we have our story.

But, if we actually did what those early Christians did, we wouldn’t revere any of the details of any of these stories;
but, we would come up with our own story –
like they did.
A story that begins with an experience with Emmanuel –
an experience of God being with us –
and then coming up with an explanation as to how special that experience is.

For you and me to fully understand and celebrate Christmas, we have to seek out and identify times of Emmanuel for us:
times we have been in the presence of God,
times we when we have been absolutely convinced that God is with us.

And, so we say Where or where is Emmanuel today?
And we are on the lookout for signs of Emmanuel in our times:
for some, like the shepherds in Luke’s Gospel, it is in celestial music;
for some, it will be in coming to the Lord’s table as we do today;
for some, it will be in helping feed the hungry at the food closet;
for some, it will be in sharing special time with loved ones;
however and whenever and wherever;
this Christmas will be the best you have ever had when you open yourself to the presence of Emmanuel and recognize God with us.

Amen.

The congregation of Christ Presbyterian Church in Dexel Hill, Pennsylvania, USA, heard this sermon on the Fourth Sunday of Advent, December 18, 2011.

Christmas Is for Adults - About the Adult Jesus

The bottom line is this:
however touching they are to our heartstrings,
however much we love to hear them and to sing about them,
however much we enjoy the feelings prevalent this time of year,
the birth stories are not really about the baby Jesus.


The birth stories are told and remembered because of the adult Jesus –
and what people experienced with him during his earthly ministry,
and what people experienced because of him after his death –
and what people have experienced through him through the ages,
and what people continue to experience with him day and day out. 


For me, at its essence, Christmas is really about Emmanuel. 
That Hebrew word that means “God With Us”.


The Second Sunday of Advent

Isaiah 12:2-6
Matthew 1:17-25

For over 1500 years, the church has set aside this time before Christmas as a time of preparation –
a time for believers to engage in opportunities of study to better understand the enormity of what it is we celebrate at Christmas and its profound impact on the faith passed on to us from previous generations. 

This year, in an attempt to help us focus on the real reason for the season –  what is so central to the faith we hold – I am trying to address what was important to those very earliest of Christians.

Last week we looked at the writings of some of the very earliest Christians and looked at what they had to say about the birth of Jesus.   
The very earliest writing we have in the New Testament is a letter from The Apostle Paul, written around the year of 35 AD.
The earliest Gospel we have is attributed to Mark.  The Gospel of Mark was most probably published around the year of 50 AD. 
In the past 60 years, many other documents have been discovered that date back to the very first decades after Jesus’ death.
When we read these documents looking for what they say about the birth of Jesus, we discover one thing in common. 
None of them have anything to say about the birth of Jesus.  Nothing.
It simply was not important to them.

Oh, for sure, they were all convinced that the experiences they recalled with this Jesus of Nazareth was extraordinary. 
In fact, as the years went by, they were convinced that they had experienced nothing less than the in-dwelling of God Almighty. 
That, for sure, they experienced the holy –
that, for sure, for a while, and even now, they experienced Emmanuel –
[a Hebrew word that means God With Us].

(As a side note: I was particularly interested in an article that was published just yesterday by Bayler University’s Center for Christian Ethics, wherein, the author spells out much of the same things I did in our sermon last week! 
So, really, I don’t make this stuff up!)

Now, the second oldest Gospel text is the Gospel of Matthew. 
It was written about thirty years after Mark – around 80 AD.  

Matthew is somewhat different than Mark.
Matthew obviously knew about Mark’s Gospel.
Matthew includes the entire Gospel of Mark. 
Yes, he edited freely and rearranged some of the scenes, but its all there. 
Everything you read in Mark is in Matthew.
But, Matthew includes much more.
And, the editing and rearranging he does reflect his own emphasis, and are worthy of study and noting.

Matthew also includes writings and sayings from a second document that was circulating during those days –  
a document that Luke knew about and used also;
a document that Mark did not know about or didn’t care about.  
(Scholars call this the quelle document  – or “source” document.)
Matthew also knew and used material from a third source –
stories that were circulating among some circles that were becoming known as the infancy narratives – stories relating to the birth of Jesus. 

I believe we are lucky to be living in these days, because we are discovering new source material all the time. 
It seems that every month or so, something new crops us that provide new light on old documents, and old practices, and old beliefs.

One of the most exciting discoveries, to me, is that we are discovering that those earliest Christian believers were a pretty diverse bunch. 
Contrary to what we may have taught, those early Christians, right from the beginning were not of one mind about their belief
or about their practices
or about their place in the world.

We know that after Jesus’ death, his followers scattered and hid. 
But, shortly after, many came to the conviction that something extraordinary had happened – something that changed their perspective on who Jesus was and he would mean for the future of their movement.
It was their experience of the resurrection experience that led the disciples to come to think of Jesus as somehow more than just a prophet, but as the Messiah himself.   
And that’s when they began to organize around his memory. 

But, we must remember, the earliest form of the movement was as a sect within Judaism.
Jesus was a Jew.
Jesus disciples were Jews.
Jesus was a Jewish Messiah.
They are followers of a Jewish apocalyptic tradition.
They are expecting the coming of the kingdom of God on earth.
It was a Jewish movement.

For sure, it was made up of small groups.
At least one of them was based in Jerusalem, but others were spread all over the countryside, including at least one or more in Galilee.
These were small, homebased groups, that met together weekly, studied together, ministered to one another, and prayed for and with one another.
But, when time came, they went to the temple for worship.

What we have discovered is that pretty much, each of these small groups developed their own take on what they experienced with Jesus of Nazareth and what had happened to him at the end of his public ministry. 

Some groups seemed to be in competition with one another –
especially as they considered how closely they were to observe the Jewish laws of the Torah. 

One historian writes, “Christianity, or one would rather say “Christianities,” of [the early years] were a highly variegated phenomenon.” 
We can see from recent discoveries that there were very different views of Jesus in the various types of Christianity. 
Another historian reminds us that it was “a time where there was no fixed formulation what the set of Christian beliefs should be. 
What Christian rituals should be. 
What they should think
or what they should tell about Jesus.”

The Christianity of Rome was different that Christianity of North Africa
and that was different from what we find in Egypt,
and that was different from what find in Syria
or back in Palestine.
So, we see each form of Christianity beginning to tell the story of Jesus in different ways.

And, so we see different “Gospels” emerging from these different groups. 
You have heard about the Gospel of Thomas that has been translated and published with the last few of years.
There is also the Gospel of Philip,
the Gospel of Truth,
The Gospel to the Egyptians,
the Apocryphon of John,
Secret Book of James,
Apocalypse of Paul,
the Letter of Peter to Philip,
the Apocalypse of Peter,
the Acts of Thomas,
the Acts of Paul,
and the list goes on and on and on.
So far, some 52 different Gospels have been discovered – besides the four found in our Bible.

And within our Bible, we see how this gets played to a small degree.
We noted that Mark just wasn’t concerned about Jesus’ birth. 

Matthew was.
Matthew was very concerned about showing Jesus as being the embodiment of Hebrew prophecy –
the presence of the long-awaited-for Jewish Messiah.

This was important to Matthew because at that time, another man, Bar Kochba, was leading a Jewish rebellion against the Roman Empire.
Bar Kochba was imploring his kinsmen to take up arms: “Come join us to fight against the Romans.
You believe God is going to restore the kingdom to Israel, don’t you?  Join us.” 
Bar Kochba was leading the revolt as the Jewish Messiah.

And, this set some of the Jewish Christians back a bit. 
“He can’t be the Messiah – we already have one.”

And so, Matthew takes a clue from the Romans who gave all of their gods some sort of divine birth story.

Others were circulating birth stories of Jesus to show that Jesus was second to no Roman god.

So, Matthew includes some of the stories that were circulating at the time.
But, Matthew wanted to make clear that not only did Jesus have a special birth like the Roman gods,
but that Jesus was clearly a Jew. 

The religious community that produced the Gospel of Matthew took pains to place their understanding squarely within its Jewish heritage
and portrays Jesus as one whose Jewish identity is beyond doubt.
After copying Marks first verse, Matthew begins by tracing Jesus’ genealogy. 

Now, everyone knew, he only needed to show that Jesus was a descendent of King David. 
But, Matthew takes no chances. 
He traces Jesus’ lineage all the way back to Abraham. 
It was that important to Matthew.

He wanted to show Jesus as even greater than Moses. 
And, he edits his narrative to have Jesus constantly reinterpreting what was commonly known as Jewish law. 
“You’ve heard it said . . . But, I say to you . . .”

The bottom line is this:
however touching they are to our heartstrings,
however much we love to hear them and to sing about them,
however much we enjoy the feelings prevalent this time of year,
the birth stories are not really about the baby Jesus.

The birth stories are told and remembered because of the adult Jesus –
and what people experienced with him during his earthly ministry,
and what people experienced because of him after his death –
and what people have experienced through him through the ages,
and what people continue to experience with him day and day out. 

For me, at its essence, Christmas is really about Emmanuel. 
That Hebrew word that means “God With Us”.  

For all those early Christians,
for all those writers of faith documents for their communities,
this word reflects what they affirmed had happened in this man from Nazareth –
what they continued to experience long after he had gone –
that Jehovah –
the great I Am –
God Almighty –
Creator of the Universe and all the worlds that are –
the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob –
the One God of the faith of our fathers and mothers –
deigned to enter our world and become as we are
to let us know there is no separation now from holy and mundane,
from sacred and profane,
from work and ritual.
No. 
In this man from Nazareth, we see Emmanuel! 
Through this man of Nazareth, we know Emmanuel.
With this man of Nazareth, we experience Emmanuel.
God is With Us.
That’s what we hear.
God is with us.
That’s what we sing.
God is with us.
That’s what we believe.
God is with us.
That’s what we celebrate.
Each and every year at Christmas.
Each and every week in worship.
Each and every morning when we get up.

Emmanuel!  This Christmas.
Emmanuel!  All year long!
Emmanuel!  Every minute of every hour of every day of your life!

Amen.

The congregation of Christ Presbyterian Church of Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, USA, experienced this sermon as a part of their worship service Sunday, December 4, 2011 - the Second Sunday of Advent.