shepherds and angels (oh my)

Good morning and Merry Christmas (Eve),
Our last night of living nativity was a lot of fun and I'm excited about Christmas Eve. Just a reminder, our Christmas Eve service will begin at 7pm tonight (Saturday). I'm looking forward to seeing friends and family and new faces. Feel free to bring a friend to hear the good news of God's love appearing in a manger. Of course, that's the story we read together for our morning reading. Jesus is born, and right away God sends an angel to tell the shepherds. Jesus' birth means good news for everyone, including you and me.

Blessings this Christmas and every day,
Sam

Luke 2:8-20

⁸In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. ⁹Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for see — I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: ¹¹to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. ¹²This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.”

¹³And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying,

¹⁴ “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!”

¹⁵When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.” ¹⁶So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. ¹⁷When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; ¹⁸and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. ¹⁹But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. ²⁰The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

first prophets, then a son

Good morning friends,
Our reading this morning is from Hebrews. Hebrews is an interesting book because tradition has called it a letter, but it really doesn't have that shape. It was written to explain Christ's ministry to believers, it seems especially to believers who were Jewish (hence the title). One of my teachers had a theory that the author had been a priest in the temple before coming to know Christ, because the book makes lots of reference to Jewish sacrifice and other worship ceremonies. Throughout Hebrews one notices lots of scripture quoted. Whenever scripture is quoted in the New Testament, it is from the Old Testament. Our ancestors in the faith only had the Old Testament; the writings that became the New Testament weren't considered scripture yet.

The most quoted piece of scripture in Hebrews is Psalm 110, so much so that some writers think of Hebrews as an interpretation of Psalm 110. Our passage this morning also has quotes from other Psalms (Google is a great tool to find out where these quotes come from). Our passage today seeks to show how Christ is much greater than the angels. In a nutshell, angels (and prophets) are servants of God, Christ is God's firstborn son. Some of this seems obvious to us today, but remember our ancestors had to figure out how to think about Christ's ministry. It's interesting to look at how they used the scriptures to figure that out.

God bless,
Sam

Hebrews 1:1-12

Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, 2but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds. 3He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word. When he had made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.


5For to which of the angels did God ever say, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you”? Or again, “I will be his Father, and he will be my Son”? 6And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says, “Let all God’s angels worship him.” 7Of the angels he says, “He makes his angels winds, and his servants flames of fire.” 8But of the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, and the righteous scepter is the scepter of your kingdom. 9You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.” 10And, “In the beginning, Lord, you founded the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands; 11they will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like clothing; 12like a cloak you will roll them up, and like clothing they will be changed. But you are the same, and your years will never end.”

a child is born

Good morning sisters and brothers,
Our Advent waiting and preparation comes to an end tonight as we finally see the baby born in Bethlehem. Luke is the only one of the Gospels that tells the story of Jesus' birth in this kind of detail. From Matthew we learn of Joseph's part in the story and of the wise men visiting later. But only Luke shows us the manger scene, the birth of our Lord. Many of us have grown up hearing this story every year and the temptation is to get so comfortable with it that the story looses its amazement and power. The challenge is to see it with new eyes, with hearts and ears open to hear the amazing love of God. I saw a video clip of many different families, each reading the story aloud. An African American daughter reads to her parents and brother, a Latino father reads to his wife and child, a German father reads to his family. It was great to see the power of that story to awaken amazement and bind families together. So read the story together if you can; listen for what new thing God may be telling you this year.

God bless,
Sam

Luke 2:1-20

1In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3All went to their own towns to be registered. 4Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. 5He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. 6While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. 7And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.


8In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid; for see-I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: 11to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. 12This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger." 13And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, 14"Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!"


15When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us." 16So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. 17When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; 18and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. 19But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. 20The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.