Christmas Carols (3) Series

Christmas Carols (Angels)

Scott Bayles, pastor

Blooming Grove Christians Church: 12/13/15

For the past couple of weeks, we’ve been delving into the Carols of Christmas. Like I said before, even if you wanted to, there is no possible way for you to escape hearing Christmas songs over the next few weeks. Here in church, on the radio, while you’re shopping, out of the mouths of carolers… you’re going to be inundated with Christmas carols. But this isn’t anything new. Musical expression is an integral part of the Christmas season and, I think, the songs of Christmas are needed today. I don’t mean the contemporary carols like Mariah Carey’s "All I Want For Christmas Is You" or Eartha Kitt singing “Santa Baby.” I’m not talking about the silly songs, like Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer or Frosty the Snowman, as enjoyable as it is to belt them out while driving down the road. I don’t even mean the classic carols like Silent Night or It Came Upon a Midnight Clear, though I think need those too. No, I’m talking about the original Carols of Christmas—the divinely inspired, wondrous lyrics recoded in the pages of Luke’s Gospel as part of the Nativity story itself.

Now, there are no musical notes given to these “Christmas Carols” in the Bible. In truth, they were probably more like rhythmic chants. But when I read of the spontaneous, poetic and profoundly theological response of Mary bursting forth onto the pages of God’s Word, I cannot help but call that a song. When I read of John the Baptist’s father, Zachariah filled with the Holy Spirit, and breaking forth from a previously mute voice with the voice of rejoicing and prophecy, I call that a song. Likewise, the sight of angels appearing to shepherds in a night sky and praising God in a heavenly chorus is a Song of Christmas. And it’s that song—the song of Angels—I’d like to focus on today.

Before we get to their carol, however, we need to set the stage. A lot has happened since we left Mary at the home of Zechariah and Elizabeth. After the birth of John, Mary returned home to Nazareth—now in her second trimester. While she was away, it seems, her soon-to-be ex-fiancée Joseph received a heavenly vision. The Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, reassuring him that Mary had not been unfaithful, that she was indeed pregnant by the power of the Holy Spirit, and that Joseph should take her as his wife and name their son Jesus. Of course, Joseph is still in love with her and wants to do God’s will so he does just what the Lord says.

However, the newlyweds’ honeymoon was cut short by an announcement from Emperor Augustus that a census should be taken throughout the Roman Empire and everyone must register in their ancestral city. For both Mary and Joseph that city was Bethlehem. From Nazareth, it was a four day journey. Just imagine hiking twenty miles a day for four days in wooden sandals through barren lands. Then imagine being nine months pregnant the whole time! It’s possible that Mary and Joseph traveled in a caravan of family and friends, but we don’t know. With the rumors Mary’s pregnancy had stirred and the ruined reputation Joseph had earned, they may not have had any family or friends left. The truth is—the Bible doesn’t tell us anything about their journey, but it does tell us of their arrival!

Luke sums up the first Noel in two sentences: “And while they were there, the time came for her baby to be born. She gave birth to her first child, a son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no lodging available for them.” (Luke 2:6-7 NLT).

Can you imagine what it was like that first Christmas morning?

The stable stinks like all stables do. The stench of urine, dung, and sheep reeks pungently in the air. The ground is hard, the hay scarce. Cobwebs cling to the ceiling and a mouse scurries across the dirt floor. A lowlier place of birth could not exist. Yet, it was in these humble circumstances that the impossible happened.

God had entered the world as baby.

Two thousand years later, we still celebrate the wonder, the humble beginnings, and the joy of Jesus’ birth. But that first Christmas was a quiet celebration. No trees to trim. No decorations. No party. No hype. No hoopla. In fact, were it not for a group of certain poor shepherds watching their sheep in the fields where they lay, there would have been no reception at all.

On December 9, 1965 Charles Schulz made TV magic when Linus recited the story of these shepherds and the heavenly host who appeared to them in A Charlie Brown Christmas. My family watches it every year. It’s one of my favorite things about Christmas. So rather than read this passage myself, I want to invite you to listen carefully as Linus recites it for us.