Wednesday’s Thoughts on the sermon
This is my thinking for the 5 and 7 o’clock Christmas Eve sermon:
Title: “You’ve Just Got To See This Thing”
The Shepherds were told about the Christ Child. The knew they had to “go and see this thing which the Lord has made known to them”. There is that about Christmas that is demonstrative. It is dramatic and we will want to take people to go see this thing. As I think about the lights on the houses and all the secular expositions of Christmas I wonder where the true meaning of Christmas is. Is it in the raindeer lights that move up and down? Is it in the Christmas trees or the Santa Claus air filled displays? There seems to be a great deal of secular Christmas and it seems as if it misses the mark from the real meaning of the season. And yet, isn’t it the true that Jesus is a “light to the darkness”? If Jesus is the light in the darkness don’t we find the true meaning of Christmas when we see the lights confronting the darkness? I think that’s true. I think the real meaning of Christmas is in the lights that are on our lawns. I think Christmas was a statement that turned the secular into the sacred. It seems to me that that is the point of it all.
11 pm Sermon for Christmas Eve
Title “Everybody Comes Home for Christmas”
The message in Luke suggests that there was a tax enrollment and it required everyone to return to their own home town to be registered. It appears that everyone came home for Christmas. At the 11 o’clock service everyone is invited to come to the table and the table is home for everyone. All of us who attend the 11 o’clock will be invited to come home for Christmas.
What was it like when you were home? What responsibilities did you have? How did being home seem to you?
I intend to explore the meaning of being home for Christmas and the importance of Communion. It is a sacrament that brings us home.
If you have thoughs about the secular expressions of Christmas or what it means to be home for Christmas write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net. if you would like for others to see your reflections click on the box marked “comments”.
I look forward to hearing from you.
By the way, Merry Christmas
Charles
