Sermon Central
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Blue Christmas 2010
Contributed by Steven Simala Grant on Jan 12, 2011 (message contributor)
Summary: This sermon has three parts: firstly speaking our feelings of hurt to God; secondly asking God for help; and thirdly is our expression of faith even in pain.
Blue Christmas 2010: Dec 21, 2010
Prelude:
Welcome:
Welcome to this service, “A Blue Christmas”... a time when we can…
I have chosen Psalm 13 for this service, and the service is structured around that short Psalm. There are three parts to it, as there are to this service. First is the honest expression of pain. The Psalms are very good at this, much better than we are today. We will find in the words of the Psalm permission to hurt, permission to cry out to God and wonder where He is, and permission to speak our feelings. Second is the turning to God, asking Him to help, seeking Him with all our heart and soul and mind and strength. Third, and finally, is the expression of faith even in the pain. We speak, out loud, our conviction that God has been good, God’s love is unfailing, and God will meet us.
The service outline is in the bulletin, which you will need to follow along. Wherever the text is in BOLD, please join in speaking those lines.
Prayer
MOVEMENT #1 – Honest Expression of Pain (Ps 13:1,2)
How long, O LORD ? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
How long must I wrestle with my thoughts
and every day have sorrow in my heart?
How long will my enemy triumph over me?
Song: How Long (Doerksen) vs 1
Waves (vs. 1)
Responsive Reading: Scripture (Is 59:9; Jn 8:12; Is 9:2,4; Ps 22; Ps 121:1-2):
People: Justice is far from us, and righteousness does not reach us. We look for light, but all is darkness; for brightness, but we walk in deep shadows.
Leader: Jesus said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."
People: My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me, so far from the words of my groaning?
Leader: O my God, they cry by day, but you do not answer.
People: And by night, but I find no rest.
The Blessed Night Of Two Hearts
Weary
Worried and Frazzled
Frustrated, confused and hurting
Two lonely figures made their way into town
A journey they could ill-afford to make
A poor carpenter and his young wife.
Life was not easy
Rumours wounded their reputations
Talk of fanaticism
Broken dreams
Dashed hopes of a groom longing
For a sweet innocent bride
Desperate surrender to their God
Relinquishment and determination
Bowing to the will of God.
A cold desert night
Beyond their strength
Their only place of respite
A hovel
The pain unbearable
Wracking her slight body
No mother near
No comforting hand
Only a nervous, terrified husband.
Lost together
Found in their divine purpose
Bound by hope
Unified by the wonder of the cry of a newborn babe
Human both
God accomplished His purposes
Through two hearts
Surrendered to his will
The immortal became mortal
That blessed night
How long, O LORD ? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
How long must I wrestle with my thoughts
and every day have sorrow in my heart?
How long will my enemy triumph over me?
Time of Silent Reflection on Personal Pain
MOVEMENT #2: Turning to God (Ps 13:3, 4)
Preamble…
Look on me and answer, O LORD my God.
Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death;
my enemy will say, "I have overcome him,"
and my foes will rejoice when I fall.
Song: How Long (Doerksen) vs 1 and 2
Waves (vs. 1, 2)
Testimony – Lyn
Walking the Path of Sorrow
Reader I will light a light for an Agony in a Garden:
When the Son of God faced the bleakness of loneliness
and fear in the face of death.
,
Reader I will light a light for a Scourging:
The Son of God - despised and rejected,
a man of sorrows - acquainted with grief.
,
Reader I will light a light for a Crowning:
The King of Glory with a crown of thorns:
shamed - humiliated -
powerless in the face of evil.
,
Reader I will light a light for a Carrying:
A burden beyond bearing -
the sins of the world,
borne by the Lamb of God.
,
Reader I will light a light for Crucifixion:
Father, forgive them-
they don't know what they are doing.
,
Reader Jesus said, "Do not be afraid little flock
I have overcome the world."
,
Reader I will light a light for hope
the life of God confronting the evil of the world
the light of God: a beacon of hope for his faithful people.
© wellspring 2001
Invite to come forward and light a candle as desired.
