Love – the intervention of God - 12/20/2020
Call to worship:
L: We’re marching to Bethlehem,
P: To ponder the promise of the prophet.
L: We’re marching to Bethlehem,
P: To sing the carol of the angels.
L: We’re marching to Bethlehem,
P: To greet the Savior of the world.
A: “Come and worship, come and worship, Worship Christ the newborn King!”
Opening Hymn: Good Christian Friends, Rejoice #224
1 Good Christian friends, rejoice with heart and soul and voice;
give ye heed to what we say: News, news!
Jesus Christ is born today!
Ox and ass before him bow, and he is in the manger now.
Christ is born today, Christ is born today!
2 Good Christian friends, rejoice, with heart and soul and voice;
now ye hear of endless bliss: News, news!
Jesus Christ was born for this!
He hath opened the heaven's door, and ye are blest forevermore.
Christ was born for this, Christ was born for this!
3 Good Christian friends, rejoice, with heart and soul and voice;
now ye need not fear the grave: News, news!
Jesus Christ was born to save!
Calls you one and calls you all to gain his everlasting hall.
Christ was born to save, Christ was born to save!
Opening Prayer:
O God, never ready to heed our demands but ever ready to hear our pleas, prepare us for the scandal of your advent. Deliver us from the pride of the mighty. Let us not forget that the Son of the most High was the child of the most low. Remind us, as we celebrate your birth, that we kneel not to adore the Lord of the mansion but to worship the Lord of the manger.
Epistle Reading: Romans 16: 25-27
25 Now to God who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages 26 but is now disclosed, and through the prophetic writings is made known to all the Gentiles, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith— 27 to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever! Amen.
Children's Message: (video)
Hymn: Away in a Manger #217
1. Away in a manger, no crib for a bed,
the little Lord Jesus laid down his sweet head.
The stars in the sky looked down where he lay,
the little Lord Jesus, asleep on the hay.
2. The cattle are lowing, the baby awakes,
but little Lord Jesus, no crying he makes;
I love thee, Lord Jesus, look down from the sky
and stay by my cradle till morning is nigh.
3. Be near me, Lord Jesus, I ask thee to stay
close by me forever, and love me, I pray;
bless all the dear children in thy tender care,
and fit us for heaven to live with thee there.
Prayer of Dedication:
Gracious God, from whom we receive the gift of life, in whom we learn the meaning of life and to whom we owe the glory of life, we praise your holy name. We praise you for Jesus, who embodied human life that we might embody divine life.
We remember the story of Jesus’ birth. Help us to remember that he will come again and to prepare for that coming. Amen.
Gospel Reading: Luke 1: 26-38
26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, 27 to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And he came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” 29 But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. 30 The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32 He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. 33 He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” 34 Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” 35 The angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. 36 And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God.” 38 Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.
Sermon Title: Love – the intervention of God (video)
In today’s language, the word “intervention” is not really thought of as being good so much as it is a hard thing; a hard truth, that family members and friends have to engage on someone who is harming themselves or others. It’s hard, there are tears and brutal language while everything gets brought out and put up on the table for everyone to see and deal with
When God intervenes on our behalf, however, it is a much calmer scenario. God knows what we need and He knows how best we will accept His advice and thus directs the scenario in our favor and for the betterment of the whole world.
When the Gospel of Matthew tells the story of Jesus’ birth, he begins by relaying the story of how God intervened in the lives of Mary and Joseph so that Jesus would not only be born, but would be born according to the prophesies.
Matthew 1: 18-25 - 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.” All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet:
“Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall name him Emmanuel,” which means, “God is with us.” When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus.
God knew that it was unorthodox, which if you think about it, is a little ironic, but He did it this way to ensure the validity of what He was doing instead of destroying it. If it were just another ordinary day and a couple wanting to get married and then having a baby; no one would have ever noticed. But by making this scene more than a little hard to take, God actually made it legitimate because man could not have conceived a plan such as this, much less made it work.
In chapter 80 of the Psalms we hear the people lamenting over their circumstances and wondering where God is and when will He come to restore them. They openly ask for His intervention on their behalf and then they praise Him when they feel that they have been heard. I suppose that we all have days when we feel that God is not listening to us or talking to us or giving us any sort of direction at all. The truth is, however, if you can’t hear God talking, it’s because your ears have fallen deaf to His voice.
In the letter from Paul that we find in the first chapter of Romans, we hear him speak about the history of God and about his apostolic commission to spread the “good news of Jesus Christ” to all the world.
“Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures, the gospel concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for the sake of his name, including yourselves who are called to belong to Jesus Christ,
To all God’s beloved in Rome, who are called to be saints:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
However, this is not news in the sense that no one has ever heard it before; but simply a reiteration of the prophesies found in the Old Testament that foretold of everything we are hearing about now. Paul knows that the faith that he needed and that we need is the same. It must be given with power from the Holy Spirit. It must be given in obedience to faith in a life lived in submission to God.
God does not intervene for us because we are puppets that amuse Him. Rather He loves us enough to invite and call us home to Him, and we, much like the prodigal son, must take this opportunity to recognize that love and accept it in all graciousness.
Love isn’t a noun, it is a verb! Love is because love does! Amen!
Closing Hymn: O Little Town of Bethlehem #230