Opening Song— This is a Strange Way to Save the World https://youtu.be/iKYfzax-sNk
Special: O Holy Night
Pastor
• Welcome
• Scripture reading
The Birth of Jesus
Luke 2 1-5 About that time Caesar Augustus ordered a census to be taken throughout the Empire. This was the first census when Quirinius was governor of Syria. Everyone had to travel to his own ancestral hometown to be accounted for. So Joseph went from the Galilean town of Nazareth up to Bethlehem in Judah, David’s town, for the census. As a descendant of David, he had to go there. He went with Mary, his fiancée, who was pregnant.
6-7 While they were there, the time came for her to give birth. She gave birth to a son, her firstborn. She wrapped him in a blanket and laid him in a manger, because there was no room in the hostel.
• Prayer
2 Songs
Communion
• Meditation: The Bible tells us that Mary “held within her heart what the angel had told her and the meaning of all of the events surrounding the birth of Jesus”. Yet, Scripture doesn’t tell us how she had to rely upon the visitation of the Angel as the story of Jesus’ life, ministry, crucifixion, resurrection unfolding. I can only imagine what her first communion was like. I would think that it was a very humbling experience as she reflected on these things. As we observe communion, let us reflect upon the salvation that Jesus brings to us. We are recipients of his mercy and grace.
• Somewhere In Your Silent Night https://youtu.be/E3LKEYdBt7U
• Serving of elements
• Prayer
Message: A Star is Born
A Star is Born
Over the past four weeks we have followed the Christmas story as told by the Bible. Using the analogy of script as a way to step into the story, we focused on context of Jesus’ birth. We learned how the Jewish leaders, Roman leaders, and others were not able to see God at work in history. Yet, we also learned that young people, like Mary, Joseph, and the shepherds heard and believed. We also learned that people from afar, whose culture and religious beliefs were not of the Jewish faith heard and believed. The Bible also reveals how the earth was always full of humble people who believed. And Sunday, we were reminded by Scripture, Romans 10, that God has placed a God-given potential right here, in our hearts, to believe.
This evening we will look briefly at Scripture that focuses our attention on the Star of Christmas. The first passage presents Jesus as the “Star of David.” This symbol, also called the Shield of David, comes from the Jewish faith.
THE DOWNWARD TRIANGLE: The Root…of David
THE UPWARD TRIANGLE: The Offspring of David
BOTH TRIANGLES AS ONE: The bright Morning Star
Messianic Jews maintain the symbol, while adding a cross, to represent the manner in which they believe in Jesus as the Messiah. Messianic Judaism is an evangelical Christian movement which emerged back in the 1960s. It keeps the traditions of Judaism since they consider that Jesus was Jewish and did not abolish the Old Testament or the law. .The star of David represents the Old Testament or the Law, and the cross represents the New Testament. This is a symbol of how this group keeps the Christian faith while remaining faithful to the Jewish tradition of the early Christians.
Revelation 22:16 is a direct Biblical reference to the six-pointed Star of David as the primary symbol of the Morning Star, Jesus Christ. The passage’s specific location at the very end of the very last Book is no coincidence. Basically, the last thing that Jesus Christ has to say to billions of his followers even today, at the very end of the very last book in the Judeo/Christian Bible, is that He is ‘the bright Morning Star’.
John, in his revelation while writing in exile, helps us understand the meaning of God’s mission upon the world. He gives us a profound message, one that enhances our hope, emboldens our faith, and empowers us for living the abundant life. Listen to the word of God.
Don’t Put It Away on the Shelf!
Revelation 22 The Message (MSG)
22 1-5 Then the Angel showed me Water-of-Life River, crystal bright. It flowed from the Throne of God and the Lamb, right down the middle of the street. The Tree of Life was planted on each side of the River, producing twelve kinds of fruit, a ripe fruit each month. The leaves of the Tree are for healing the nations. Never again will anything be cursed. The Throne of God and of the Lamb is at the center. His servants will offer God service—worshiping, they’ll look on his face, their foreheads mirroring God. Never again will there be any night. No one will need lamplight or sunlight. The shining of God, the Master, is all the light anyone needs. And they will rule with him age after age after age.
6-7 The Angel said to me, “These are dependable and accurate words, everyone. The God and Master of the spirits of the prophets sent his Angel to show his servants what must take place, and soon. And tell them, ‘Yes, I’m on my way!’ Blessed be the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.”
8-9 I, John, saw all these things with my own eyes, heard them with my ears. Immediately when I heard and saw, I fell on my face to worship at the feet of the Angel who laid it all out before me. He objected, “No you don’t! I’m a servant just like you and your companions, the prophets, and all who keep the words of this book. Worship God!”
10-11 The Angel continued, “Don’t seal the words of the prophecy of this book; don’t put it away on the shelf. Time is just about up. Let evildoers do their worst and the dirty-minded go all out in pollution, but let the righteous maintain a straight course and the holy continue on in holiness.”
12-13 “Yes, I’m on my way! I’ll be there soon! I’m bringing my payroll with me. I’ll pay all people in full for their life’s work. I’m A to Z, the First and the Final, Beginning and Conclusion.
14-15 “How blessed are those who wash their robes! The Tree of Life is theirs for good, and they’ll walk through the gates to the City. But outside for good are the filthy curs: sorcerers, fornicators, murderers, idolaters—all who love and live lies.
16 “I, Jesus, sent my Angel to testify to these things for the churches. I’m the Root and Branch of David, the Bright Morning Star.”
The Holocaust and The Star of David
During the Holocaust, the Jews of Nazi-occupied Europe were ordered to wear a yellow Star of David, with the word, "Jude ( German for Jew)," - Jew, to identify the Jews. If a Jewish person was seen in public without the Jewish Star, severe punishment or death would occur. The wearing of a Jewish Star was also an act of defiance by those who were not Jewish, but who defied Hitler and his orders.
When the Jews of Denmark were ordered by the Germans to stitch a yellow Star of David to their clothing or face severe punishment or death, the King of Denmark, who was not Jewish, declared that he would be the first Dane to wear that yellow star and would continue to do so until this threat to his people was removed.
No antagonist, small or great—such as Satan himself, has been able to snuff out that Bright and Morning Star. The book of John draws our attention to the uniqueness of Jesus.
First, John explains the supernatural understanding of God’s activity:
The Life-Light
John 1 1-2 The Word was first,
the Word present to God,
God present to the Word.
The Word was God,
in readiness for God from day one.
3-5 Everything was created through him;
nothing—not one thing!—
came into being without him.
What came into existence was Life,
and the Life was Light to live by.
The Life-Light blazed out of the darkness;
the darkness couldn’t put it out.
…
14 The Word became flesh and blood,
and moved into the neighborhood.
We saw the glory with our own eyes,
the one-of-a-kind glory,
like Father, like Son,
Generous inside and out,
true from start to finish
….
15 John pointed him out and called, “This is the One! The One I told you was coming after me but in fact was ahead of me. He has always been ahead of me, has always had the first word.”
Second, John gives us an explanation of the lived-experience when we encounter Jesus.
John 8 But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2 Early in the morning He returned to the temple. All the people came to Him, and He sat down and taught them. 3 The scribes and Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery. When they had put her in the middle, 4 they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of adultery. 5 Now Moses in the law commanded us to stone such, but what do You say?” 6 They said this, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him.
But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear them. 7 So when they continued asking Him, He stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 Again He stooped down and wrote on the ground.
9 Being convicted by their conscience, those who heard it went out one by one, beginning with the eldest even to the last. Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. 10 When Jesus had stood up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, “Woman, where are your accusers? Did no one condemn you?”
11 She said, “No one, Lord.”
Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.”
Jesus the Light of the World
12 Again, Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me shall not walk in the darkness, but shall have the light of life.”
Simeon blesses Jesus
o Baby to manger
Blessings
Luke21 When the eighth day arrived, the day of circumcision, the child was named Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived.
22-24 Then when the days stipulated by Moses for purification were complete, they took him up to Jerusalem to offer him to God as commanded in God’s Law: “Every male who opens the womb shall be a holy offering to God,” and also to sacrifice the “pair of doves or two young pigeons” prescribed in God’s Law.
25-32 In Jerusalem at the time, there was a man, Simeon by name, a good man, a man who lived in the prayerful expectancy of help for Israel. And the Holy Spirit was on him. The Holy Spirit had shown him that he would see the Messiah of God before he died. Led by the Spirit, he entered the Temple. As the parents of the child Jesus brought him in to carry out the rituals of the Law, Simeon took him into his arms and blessed God:
God, you can now release your servant;
release me in peace as you promised.
With my own eyes I’ve seen your salvation;
it’s now out in the open for everyone to see:
A God-revealing light to the non-Jewish nations,
and of glory for your people Israel.
33-35 Jesus’ father and mother were speechless with surprise at these words. Simeon went on to bless them, and said to Mary his mother,
This child marks both the failure and
the recovery of many in Israel,
A figure misunderstood and contradicted—
the pain of a sword-thrust through you—
But the rejection will force honesty,
as God reveals who they really are.
A God-revealing light to all who will believe! Is there room in your heart?
o Make Room https://youtu.be/WGHcR3BhsTQ
Lighting the Christ Candle
• First, God, the Creator and sustainer of life
• Second: Jesus, God incarnate, Emmanuel, God with us
• Third: Holy Spirit, God abiding within us bringing peace
• Memorial candle: Tonight, there is a tinge of darkness for many
o Those who grieve lost ones,
o The lonely and confused,
o Parents who struggle to have presents for their children (e.g., me witnessing the facial expression of a child as mother returned presents to Walmart)
o Some struggling with terminal illness, wondering if this is their last Christmas,
o Deep soul wounds from physical and sexual abuse, and
o Those who feel society has faced away from them due to their addiction
• Yet, The Light of the world gives us all hope as our hearts glow, reflecting God’s eternal presence in the world and our soul
Light of The World - Lauren Daigle (Christmas story) https://youtu.be/Z4nvVw8z6K8
