FOUR WORDS

December 24, 2013
Isaiah 7:14
Luke 2:8-14

Here's a sampling of the simple rhymes that told of amazing things:

John, Levi or Joseph: that I could see.

Good common names for any baby.

But Ahaz was told it was time to renew

And none of the old names were going to do.

The birth, a sign, with promise to tell.

"The young woman's child will be Immanuel."

A special name - worthy to discuss.

Immanuel means "God is with us!"

In English: four words, that roll off the tongue

God is with us: me, you, everyone.

In the fullness of time, under Torah, in flesh,

Isaiah's old words find a new place to rest.

A borrowed cave-stable, was where it would be.

God is with us anew - in Jesus, you see.

You are never alone, I tell you in rhyme

The promise stepped out of eternity and into our time.

This Christmas Eve story, we share once again:

In Jesus, God-With-Us.  Hallelujah.  Amen.

DON'T GET DISTRACTED

December 22, 2013

Advent 4

Isaiah 7:10-16

Matthew 1:18-25

(prayer)

As a kid, I was told “sticks and stones will break your bones, but...  words will never hurt you.”

It was the pretty standard parental advice to the child who was being made fun of or called names.  It wasn’t quite as crass but had the same message as another comment of childhood - ‘just suck it up, princess’.  “Sticks and stones will break your bones, but words will never hurt you.”

We try to pretend that words don’t matter - that they can’t hurt.

//

While it is true that physical bullying and assaults may leave more obvious marks, we are learning that psychological bullying and assaults can certainly ‘hurt you’.

Words - how we say things - for positive or negative purposes - matter!  Words are powerful.  They can inspire, uplift, inform, empower.  And yes, words can hurt you.

//

Today, I want us to pay close attention to the words of our scriptures and be open to the power that they have with-respect-to the way we express and live out our faith.

//

Let’s start with the name of Mary and Joseph’s child.  In Matthew, (as we read) a dream angel tells Joseph to “to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins”.  Luke’s gospel has a very similar story: an angel named Gabriel appears to Mary in the waking world and tells her “you will... bear a son, and you will name him Jesus”.

You may or may not know that the word “Jesus” is not an accurate translation of what an angel told the parent.  Mary and Joseph were (by all accounts) peasant folk.  They were likely uneducated and probably could not read or write.  The day-to-day language they likely spoke would have been Aramaic: a sister language to Hebrew (using the same alphabet and sharing a few common root words, but a distinct and unique language; think of comparing Spanish to French) - even Hebrew (by the time of Jesus’ birth) was a language pretty much limited to the Scriptures and Hebrew scholars - it was not commonly spoken in everyday life.  Even so, given names were Hebrew and often had special meaning in their linguistic origins.

So, the Hebrew name that was most likely given by Mary and Joseph to their child would have been ‘Yehoshua’.

יְהוֹשֻׁעַ - Hebrew

We know this because (in Matthew), the name has a special word-play meaning - you shall name him Yehoshua because he will save people. Yehoshua literally means “Yahweh (God) Saves”.

Words matter.

In his life time, Jesus may have been called by the shorter (nickname-like) Aramaic version - Yeshua.

If we simply used Yehoshua as the root name of Jesus, we would known him by the more direct English translation of the Hebrew: Joshua.  Yes, Mary and Joseph’s son was named after Moses’ assistant, who completed the exodus by leading the people into their promised land.  Sadly that obvious connection and meaning is lost in our use of Jesus, as the name.

So, why do we use Jesus?  I have mentioned this before, but it warrants saying it again: the path to our use of Jesus as the name of Joseph and Mary’s son goes through Greek and Latin. 

Since the New Testament was written in Greek, the Hebrew name Yehoshua is rendered by its Greek counterpart: Iesous.

Ἰησοῦς - Greek

When the Greek pronunciation is transliterated later into Latin: Iesous become Iesus: basically the same pronunciation, but using Latin lettering.

Iēsus - Latin

Sift that Latin version over time into other languages that use the Latin alphabet and we eventually settle out to J...E...S...U...S.  In English, we pronounce that Jesus

Jesus - English

Jesus is not any version of the name that Mary and Joseph’s son would have ever heard in his life time. 

None of the early Christians would have used that name.  It has lost the obvious Hebrew word play over time.  But, it is good for us to realize that behind the commonly used but strange version of the name of the Christ-child is a message of safety and salvation.

But don’t get distracted by the fact that the one we call “Jesus and Christ” was never actually called either (Christ is the Greek version of the Hebrew Messiah).

//

Today, from the gospel of Matthew, we heard one of the Christmas stories from the New Testament.  Did you know there were two Christmas stories in the Bible?  The other is found in Luke’s gospel.

Some people are surprised to learn that they are not the same.  The fact is that our bibles do not tell just one version of Jesus’ birth narrative, but two.  They are unique from each other.  While they clearly draw on a few points of common tradition, they paint a different picture.  In spite of our best efforts, they do not fit well together on the same Christmas card.  Not if we want to be true to the actual Bible.

Even so, we do tend to combine them and mix together the details into one narrative for our Christmas pageants and cards and carols and manger scenes, but let’s be clear it is not biblical:

• to have a star above the manger;
• to have the magi visit Jesus on the day he was born.  Matthew clearly states they came to a house, not a manger.  Up to two years may have passed since Jesus was born.

As well, in Matthew’s version, Joseph, Mary and Jesus only move to Nazareth years after Jesus is born.  If all we had was Matthew, we would say that Mary and Joseph probably lived in Bethlehem before Jesus was born, moved to Egypt and then after a number of years abroad they moved up to Nazareth.  If all we had was Matthew, we would know nothing about a roman census or a manger. 

The way Luke tells it Mary and Joseph lived in Nazareth before Jesus was born and it was just a case of a bad timing (i.e. the census) that they just happened to be in Bethlehem when Jesus was born.  If all we had was Luke, there would be no wise men in the Christmas story.  No gold, no frankincense, no myrrh.

Read the gospels.  The words are there. 

The common traditions (espoused in both stories) are that the child’s name was Jesus (but did the angel tell Joseph or Mary to name him that); the tradition held in both versions says that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, but grew up in Nazareth (but they tell different tales of how that came to be).

While I am already bursting some common Xmas bubbles you might want to read the texts and learn: did Mary and Joseph get married before Jesus was born or not; do angels sing to crowds from the sky or do they whisper to people in dreams?  Read the actual words of the Bible.

//

The simple truth is that we have amalgamated two distinct biblical traditions about Jesus’ birth into one.

But don’t let the words (missing from one version or another) bother you; don’t be distracted from the fact that, years later, to his disciples, Jesus was the embodiment (the incarnation) of God and (even after Jesus was crucified) they proclaimed him as the Risen Messiah and wrote about him in Greek as the Christ.  They passed that message on to a new generation that were so convinced of the truth of their mentors’ words that people (who never met Jesus in the flesh) would risk their own lives to hold true to this belief that Jesus was the Word of God made flesh and remained, even in their day, a spiritual presence in their midst.

Don’t get distracted from that just because two authors (about 40 years after Jesus died) told different stories of Jesus’ birth.

//

//

In the Matthew Christmas story, the gospel writer quotes the prophet Isaiah to make a point about the specialness of Jesus’ birth.

“Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel.”

That is an accurate English translation of the Greek text of the gospel: the virgin shall conceive.  It is clear that Matthew intended his readers to see that Mary was pregnant even though she was a virgin.  When Matthew first mentions the pregnancy, he immediately footnotes it to say that she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.  Matthew’s story includes a dream angel convincing Joseph to not break off the engagement; as well the Matthew text is specific that Joseph did not “know” Mary in the biblical sense, until after Jesus was born (which implies they consummated their relationship, eventually, but just not before Jesus was born - so much for doctrines of Mary’s perpetual virginity).  Anyway, Matthew was making a very clear statement:  Mary was the virgin that the prophet Isaiah spoke about.  And therefore: Jesus is “Emmanuel” - meaning God-With-Us.  More word play: Yahweh saves and now God is with us.

Luke doesn’t directly quote Isaiah, but does call Mary a virgin (twice); that gospel also includes very specific language that implies Mary’s pregnancy was not a result of human sexual contact.

//

We have inherited this language and it is one of the assumed facts of the Christmas story that “all was calm [and] bright ’round yon virgin mother and child.”

//

About 300 years before Jesus was born, even as the Roman Empire grew, Greek Culture dominated the lands of Europe, Asia and northern Africa.  Around that time, major translation project took place.  The story goes that the Egyptian king, Ptolemy II, sponsored a translation of the Hebrew Bible (known to Jews as “The Scriptures” and later known to Christians as the Old Testament) in to Koine Greek for the benefit of Jews living in Alexandria who were not fluent in Hebrew.  It began with just the first five books (The Torah), but eventually the entire Hebrew Bible and other related texts were translated into Greek and placed in the Library at Alexandria.  It became known as the Septuagint (LXX), based on a legend that 72 Jewish scholars, working independently on the first five books, all came up with identical translations.

The Septuagint (the Greek version of the Hebrew Scriptures) was popular among Jews living beyond Judea and Galilee; over the decades that followed, copies circulated throughout the world.

Citations from these translations begin to appear two centuries before Jesus.

Since the various documents of the New Testament were written in Greek, most of the quotations in the NT of passages from the OT come from the Septuagint: it was the Hebrew Bible known in the Greek-speaking world.  The quote from Isaiah 7:14 in Matthew 1:23 comes from the Septuagint: “A virgin shall conceive and bear a son”.

Now, don’t get distracted, but guess what?  The older, more reliable Hebrew version of Isaiah is not quite the same as the newer Greek translation.  Earlier we heard Isaiah 7:14 (directly translated from the Hebrew) as part of our other scripture reading:

¹⁴Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel.

‘Young Woman’, not ‘Virgin’.

//

The thing is both Hebrew and Greek have different words for both ‘virgin’ and ‘young woman’.  If Isaiah wanted to say virgin, he could have, but he didn’t; if the Septuagint wanted to say ‘young woman’, it could have, but it didn’t.  We don’t know why.  Was this Isaiah already part of a Messianic miraculous birth tradition or was it just an error in translation?  We don’t know.

But search the internet and you will find dozens of sites that will explain that the whole idea that Mary was a virgin simply comes from a bad translation made some 200 years before Jesus was even born.

Of course, I would be remise if I didn’t point out that the original context of the Isaiah passage was more current to its time.  King Ahaz was told that his fortunes would improve soon (within a couple of years) - to metaphorically make that point, the prophet said that things will be better for Israel before the child of a woman (who is pregnant now) learns the first lessons of right and wrong.  When is that around two years?  When do they learn that “no” is a powerful word?

When will things improve, King Ahaz?  Two years; three at the most.

Likely, there was a pregnant woman in the King’s Court, perhaps even his own wife that gave Ahaz a tangible timeline to the prophet’s promise.

As they did with other Old Testament passages, early Christian authors saw in this old story of pregnancy, some truth for how they wanted to talk about Jesus.  There was nothing wrong with that.  In the Hebrew tradition of Midrash, old stories were often retold in a new context: to express new truths and meaning for a new time.

//

I have been reading Dom Crossan and Marcus Borg’s book “The First Christmas”, subtitled “What the Gospels Really Teach About Jesus’ Birth” and they don’t quite take the view that virgin birth conversation was based on an unintentional (or even intentional) translation error of Isaiah 7.  First of all, they note that since Matthew and Luke both describe a virgin becoming pregnant in different ways, they are most likely drawing on an earlier tradition that both author’s knew independent of each other.  Borg and Crossan do see Matthew relying on the Septuagint’s version of Isaiah, but sees Luke rather drawing a comparison between the conception of Jesus and the conception of John (told earlier in Luke). 

Miraculous conceptions happen several times in the Scriptures - but they are always in situations where the woman is either barren or post-menopausal (cf. Hannah, the mother of Samuel; Sarah, the mother of Isaac).  Elizabeth’s pregnancy with John the Baptist is similar to both Hannah Sarah - she had never had children (barren) and was elderly (post-menopausal).

For Luke, Jesus’ conception was to be seen as similar to unexpected births in the past, but taken to an even more miraculous level.

Sarah, Hannah and Elizabeth had been sexually active and all had ‘tried’ to have children.

Mary, Luke proposes, had never even tried.  And he does this without relying on the curious Greek translation of Isaiah, chapter seven.

// // //

This is all interesting to study and discuss, but don’t get distracted.  Mary’s virginal conception may be based on an historical fact, or a tradition based on a bad translation or it may be a literary device created by a gospel author to hold Jesus’ birth as the most ever that involed the interaction of God, or it may have been a story invented to cover up that Mary had had an affair or perhaps was raped by a Roman soldier, named Pantera (yes, there was some discussion of those possibilities at least as early as the 2^nd century). 

But we can get distracted in all of those discussions.

//

Ask yourself:

Can Jesus’ birth be a sign of the presence of God in the world, even if Mary wasn’t a virgin? 

Does Jesus need to literally be from the sperm of God to be the Son of God?

//

Here’s what the gospel stories of Jesus’ birth do tell us - even if we ignore the theme of virginity:

Jesus was born into a poor peasant family.  We know this because Luke tells us that when Mary went to the temple 33 days after the birth for her rite of purification, she offered two small birds as a sacrafice, as required by the Torah.  Leviticus 12 says:

⁶When the days of her purification are completed... she shall bring to the priest... a lamb in its first year for a burnt-offering, and a pigeon or a turtle-dove for a sin-offering...  ⁸If she cannot afford a sheep, she shall take two turtle-doves or two pigeons, one for a burnt-offering and the other for a sin-offering; and the priest shall make atonement on her behalf, and she shall be clean.

Mary and Joseph couldn’t afford a sheep. They were poor peasants.

• His birth is described as humble - perhaps in a borrowed stable.
• Even if we ignore the declaration of a virgin birth, Mary’s pre-marital pregnancy was controversial.  We could read her “trip” to go stay with relatives in the Judean hill country as a case of hiding the unplanned pregnancy from potential gossip.
• Jesus’ parent’s relationship was in jeopardy as a result: Mary was on the cusp of being rejected by her fiancé.
• John’s gospel, which ignores any attempt to tell a birth story, simply proclaims that Jesus is the eternal Word of God - which has existed since “before the beginning”.  And that this Word Became Flesh. God chosen way for Jesus’ entry into the world (the process of the Word becoming flesh) was that of pure vulnerability.  A newborn child, dependant on the designs of nature, on nourishment from Mary and on compassion from Joseph to merely survive, the first moments, days and years.

Don’t get distracted by the debates over exactly how and where and focus on the wonder and the life that begun that day.

A life that would call people into new ways of being (hey fishermen, come with me and let’s catch people with the Spirit); a life that would show what true welcome and hospitality is (let the children come to me, don’t block them); a life that would challenge what people believed about power and wealth and ritual and mercy.

In all of the Christmas fuss, let us not lose sight of the wonder of this season.

Jesus, Christ, Emmanuel is born. 

Hallelujah and Amen.

Let us pray:

God, grant us the light of Christmas, which is hope; 
the warmth of Christmas, which is purity; 
the righteousness of Christmas, which is justice; 
the belief in Christmas, which is faith; 
the ALL of Christmas, which is Jesus, our Christ.  
Amen.

#161MV

“I Have Call You by Your Name”

ALL EARTH IS WAITING

Today’s service was based on materials shared by 

the Rev Ruth Lumax of First United Church in Wetaskiwin AB.

News and Announcements:

* Singing:   #5VU     “All Earth is Waiting” (v1-3)

Pat and Chris wander in from the back

Pat:         G’day eh?

Chris:      G’day.  We’re here for the Christmas story.

Pat:         Yah, the Christmas story.  We get to be the readers. Got my part right here! (pulls out a pile of paper)

Chris:      It looks kinds long, eh?

Pat:         Well, there’s a lotta instructions, eh?  Like when to stand and sit and sing and all that.

Chris:      We’re gonna sing?

Pat:         Well sure. This is church isn’t it?  Ya gotta sing in church, it’s like a rule or something.

Chris:      Really?  I didn’t know that.

Pat:         There’s lots of things you don’t know.

Chris:      Like what do you know that I don’t know?

Pat goes up to pulpit.

Pat:         Like... like...like... oh, just take off eh?  I think we’re getting a little off topic here.  This is supposed to be the Christmas story.  So, here we go. (shuffles papers)  Matthew, chapter one “An account of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham was the father of Isaac…”

Chris:      (interrupting)  Excuse me.

Pat:         Shut up, can’t ya see I’m reading my part, eh?  “Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and…”

Chris:      (interrupting)  Excuse me.

Pat:         Leave me alone!  I’m reading my part, eh?

Chris:      But it’s not your turn.

Pat:         It’s not?

Chris:      No! (holds up bulletin)  This paper says we gotta do a bunch of other stuff first.

Pat:         Really? Like what?

Chris:      Like some words to call us together, and a prayer, and we’re gonna light some candles.  I thought you said you knew stuff about church.

Pat:         Candles?  I like candles.  Especially the smelly kind.  Makes for a real festive kinda atmosphere.

Chris:      Yah, and they cover the smell of your dirty socks!

Pat:         Hey, my socks aren’t… dirty!

Chris:      Oh yah?  When was the last time you washed them?

Pat:         That is none of your business.  And, we’re getting of topic again.  If it’s not our turn maybe we should just sit down and get started.

Chris:      Sorry about that.  You’re right.  We’ll be back when we get to the Christmas story part.

Pat and Chris sit.

The Advent Wreath: #7VU (v1-3)

Coming Together:

Come join in the journey.

We’re on a journey into JOY!

Come to the place where God comes close to us.

We’re on a journey into JOY!

Come ready to wonder.

We’re on a journey into JOY!

Come with thankful hearts.

We’re on a journey into JOY!

Come and worship: in song, in prayer, in community.

We’re on a journey into JOY!

 (Prayer together) Creator God, you call us to this time and place.  You show us the Way to live.  You wait for us to say “yes” to you.  You bring good news to the least and lonely, to those who wait in the dark, searching for the light.  As your people, may we be the good news for others.  Help us in this time of worship, to come close to the mystery of your love.  Amen.

Dress Rehearsal:

Pat and Chris stand up.

Pat:         Okay, I’m ready now.  Matthew, chapter one: “An account of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David …”

Chris:      (interrupting)  Excuse me.

Pat:         Not again.  What now?  I’m readin’ my part here!

Chris:      You’re still early, eh?

Pat:         Still early?

Chris:      Yah, we’re not quite ready to start yet.  We’ve gotta make sure everybody’s ready first.

Pat:         I can do that.  (to the congregation)  IS EVERYBODY READY?!!

Chris:      (interrupting)  No, no, no.  They need costumes and parts.

Pat:         Yay, we get costumes.

Chris:      Nah, not us; we’re the Narrators.  (points to congregation)  Them!  (to the congregation) Okay, did everyone get a costume when you came in?  We got some kids out there who’ll bring you a costume, if you didn’t, ‘cause we need some help with our story.

Pat:         (to the congregation) Yah, there’s only so much we can do on our own, eh?

Chris:      But don’t worry.  Your part’s not hard.  We’re gonna go over it right now.

Pat:         Yah, like we’ll be right here showing ya what to do the whole time.  We’ll go through your lines once everyone has their costume on.  (to Chris)  So, I’ve been looking at my part, eh, and there’s some big words in here.  What if I don’t say ‘em right?

Chris:      You’re the one who wanted to do this!

Pat:         I know.  But there’s some really, REALLY big words.  I wasn’t expecting that, eh?

Chris:      There’s always big words in the Bible.  Didn’t you know that?

Pat:         Well sure, what if you don’t say ‘em right?

Chris:      I dunno.  Maybe you should just say ‘em real loud, like you know how they’re s’posed to be said.  And everyone will think you’re real smart.  It’s not like anyone else how to say’ em either.

Pat:         D’ya think that’ll work?

Chris:      Sure!  Why not?  That’s what Rev. Gregg does all the time.

Pat:         (looking over his part, speaking loudly)  Aminadab… Nashon… Rehoboam… Jehoshaphat… Salathiel…Zerubbabel… Jeconiah… (repeat names until everyone is ready)

Chris:      Okay, okay, they’re ready.  It’s time to practice the lines.

Pat:         But, I’m not ready!

Chris:      Don’t worry about it.  (to congregation)  Now, you out there!  With the tin foil on your heads…

Pat:         (to Chris) That’s not tin foil.  It’s tinsel.  And those are ‘halos’, eh?

Chris:      (to Pat) Yah, yah whatever.  (to congregation)  You with the… halos.  You’re angels.  When we hold up a cue card, you just repeat what it says.  Easy, right?

Pat:         Right.

Chris:      (to congregational angels)  All ya gotta say is… (to Chris) um, what do they say?

Pat:         (flips through his papers)  (to congregational angels) Okay, you got two different lines, but they’re easy, ‘cause you just gotta follow the cue cards:  “don’t be afraid” and “glory to God in the highest”.

Chris:      (to congregation)  You think you can do that?  We’ll show ya.  (to Pat)  I’ll be the angels and you be (points to congregation) them.  “Don’t be afraid”

Pat:         Don’t be afraid!

Chris:      Glory to God in the highest.

Pat:         Glory to God in the highest.

Pat:         Don’t be afraid!

Chris:      Okay, I think they got it.  (to congregation)  Anyone out there got a towel on your head?  Well get ‘em on now.  You’re shepherds; that’s your headscarf.  All you’ve got to say is: “Let’s go to Bethlehem.”  Let’s try that. “Let’s go to Bethlehem.”

ALL:     Let’s go to Bethlehem!

Chris:      (to congregational shepherds)  Remember to look excited, eh?  It’s an important part.

Pat:         That’s right.  So, who’s left?  (looks through papers)  Oh yah, the animals:  sheep, cows, goats, donkey, pigs… whatever you find in a stable.  (to congregation) We’ve got ears for you to where.

Chris:      Oh, oh, oh.  Can I be a pig?

Pat:         Are you serious?  No!  (Chris looks disappointed) You’ve already got a part.  (to congregation)  Okay, you animals, whenever you hear the word “stable” make your animal noise.  Now, let’s try this.  Stable. (do it again to encourage people to be loud)  Stable.  Excellent!

Chris:      Okay.  I’m ready.  You’re ready.  They LOOK ready.  Let’s sit down until it’s time to start.

Pat:         It’s still not time!

Chris:      We’ve got one more thing to do first.

Giving Our Offerings:  see announcement for info

* Offering Song (#541VU) and Prayer:

* Singing:   #64VU   “O Little Town of Bethlehem” (v1-2)

Reading from Scripture:

Chris:      You ready?

Pat:         I’ve been ready since we got here.

Chris:      (pause)  So… go then!

Pat:         What?  Now?  Are you sure?

Chris:      Yah, now!

Pat:         (opens Bible, clears throat)  Ahem.  Matthew, chapter one: “An account of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Aram, and Aram the father of Aminadab, and Aminadab the father of Nahshon…”

Chris:      (interrupts anytime during reading)  So, like are you almost done?

Pat:         What?  No!  There a whole long list here.

Chris:      No offence, but it’s kinda boring.  Who are all those people?

Pat:         I dunno.  Bunch of guys, I guess.  They all seem to be related to each other.

Chris:      You don’t know any of them?

Pat:         I think I heard of the first couple, but after that, nah.  D’you know any of them?

Chris:      Not really.  (to congregation)  Anybody out there know these guys?

Pat:         (to Chris) Maybe we should just skip over this part.  Do you think it’s against the rules?

Chris:      (looking at the congregation) I don’t they’ll mind, eh?

Pat:         (to congregation)  Okay, so, I’ll just skip to the end of the list.  You can read it for yourself later, if you really want.  (looking at Bible) Let’s see: “and Matthan the father of Jacob,  and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called the Messiah.  So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations; and from the deportation to Babylon to the Messiah, fourteen generations.”

Chris:      Wow!  That’s a lot of fourteens.

Pat:         Fourteens always make me tired.  I think we should sing for a bit so I can catch my breath.

Chris:      Let’s sing the rest of the last song.  I think there were some verses we missed. 

* Singing:   #64VU   “O Little Town of Bethlehem” (v3-4)

Mary and Joseph with baby come sit by the manger

Reading from Scripture:

Reader:   Matthew, chapter one, verses eighteen to twenty-one: “Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.’”

Pat:         (to Chris) That’s gotta be tough.

Chris:      What?

Pat:         Bein’ engaged to a girl and getting her pregnant and all that before the wedding happened.

Chris:      The same thing happened to my cousin.

Pat:         It happens all the time, dude.  Don’t you pay attention in ‘health’ class.  (slight pause)  I wonder what was different about Mary.

Chris:      Dunno.  She must have been really scared.  Joseph probably thought she was crazy.

Pat:         Ya got that right!  (looks at the kids at the back)  Oh, they’re getting restless, we better let them sing something.

* Singing:   #69VU   “Away in a Manger” (children v1; all v2-3)

Shepherds:

shepherds and sheep come down front

Shepherd 1:  It was just like any other night.  Minding our own business, eh?

Shepherd 2:  Yah, just keepin’ watch o’er our flocks by night, like the song says.  And suddenly, there was this bright light!

Shepherd 1:  Wow.  It was amazing.  Just like the time when the cops came…

Shepherd 2:  (interrupting)  Not now!  And then we heard voices.

Shepherd 1:  Not just any voices.  Angel voices!

Angel Cue:   Don’t be afraid.

ANGELS:   Don’t be afraid.

Shepherd 1:  As if we were afraid.

Shepherd 2:  Yah, as if…  Okay, we were terrified.  But that wasn’t all they said. 

Angel:          We bring tidings of great joy.  Peace and goodwill to everyone.  A child was born.  Go, hurry, run to Bethlehem to see the child who will change everything.

Angel Cue:   Glory to God in the highest.

ANGELS:   Glory to God in the highest.

Shepherd Cue:  Let’s go to Bethlehem!

SHEPHERDS:  Let’s go to Bethlehem.

Reading from Scripture:

Reader:   Luke, chapter two, verses sixteen to twenty: “So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.”

* Singing:   #38VU   “Angels We Have Heard on High”

Storyteller:   Look, there is something different about this candle.  It is the colour of roses.  It is to remind us of the great joy the angels sang of.  It reminds us of the celebration of the shepherds.  Even in our serious work of getting ready for the mystery of Christmas, we celebrate!

Angels:

Pat:         So, is that it?

Chris:      Isn’t that enough?

Pat:         Yah, I s’ppose, but what happened next?

Chris:      Whaddaya mean?

Pat:         Well, like does the kid ever leave the ‘stable’?  (wait for animal noises, remind them if they forgot)

Chris:      Duh!  Whoever grew up in a ‘stable’? (animal noises)

Pat:         But, after the ‘stable’ (wait for animal noises), does the kid go to school?  Do the angels keep hanging around?

Angel Cue:      Glory to God in the highest.

ANGELS:      Glory to God in the highest.

Chris:      Yah, yah, we got it, angels.  We’re running out of time here.

Pat:         But, I wanna know what happens next.  Did the shepherds tell anyone else what they saw in the ‘stable’? (animal noises)

Shepherd Cue:  Let’s go to Bethlehem!

SHEPHERDS:  Let’s go to Bethlehem.

Chris:      Well, if I could get a word in here (pauses and glares at cast and congregation).  That’s too much to tell you now.  These people gotta go home.  It’s almost lunch time.  And they gotta come back for the concert this afternoon.

Pat:         Will we learn at the concert what happens next to the kid?

Chris:      Not really.  But if you keep coming back to church, you’ll hear more.

Pat:         What?  Here?

Chris:      Sure, they talk about Jesus at church all the time.  If you wanna learn more, just come back another time.  You’ll find out all kinds of stuff.

Pat:         Really?

Chris:      Would I lie to you?  But, like, it’s time to go.  We’re done.

Pat:         Um, not quite.  You forgot the last song, eh?

Chris:      Oh yah, the song.  And it’s a real good one.  (to congregation)  We’re gonna sing number fifty-nine in Voices United, “Joy to the World”.  Oh… and have a Merry Christmas, eh?

Pat:         Yah, have a Merry Christmas!

* Singing:                  #59VU            “Joy to the World”

(Chris, Pat and rest of cast leave during singing)

* Changing the Light:

* Sending Out:

Go with joy.

ANIMALS:  All creation sings God’s praise!

SHEPHERDS:  We will share the good news!

ANGELS: Don’t be afraid.

May the love of God watch over you;

May the peace of Christ fill your heart;

May the peace presence of the Holy Spirit fill your life

and speak in your dreams.  Amen.

* Sung Response:  #19MV