Monday’s thoughts
The sermon for Sunday, December 9th will pick up an important thought and concern. It is the biggest problem we have with Christmas and we don’t even know we have it. The concern raised in the sermon is the fact that we know the story of Jesus’ birth so well we are apt to overlook some of the most important aspects of the story. We do best if we were to read it for the first time instead of having gone through Advent/Christmas for as many times as we have. In my case, and preachers are most likely to miss it, I have preached 37 Christmas Eve sermons. Actually, there were several more than that since I have written multiple sermons some years.
One of the most important elements of Christmas is the element of surprise. If we know the story too well we are beyond the capacity of surprise.
I am going to be searching through the two birth narratives to see what I have overlooked for 37 years. I invite you to do the same. Look at the first three Chapters of Matthew and Luke and you will have read the birth narratives.
Luke writes about shepherds. Matthew writes about Magi. Luke believes Jesus was born in Bethlehem and moved back to Nazareth . Matthew holds onto the idea that Jesus was born in Bethlehem and lived in Bethlehem until he was two. Matthew has Jesus and his parents moving to Egypt when Herod threatens to kill all male children two years and younger.
I will be comparing the stories to see what they tell us; to see what I have been missing. I will report on the research.
If you read through the first three chapters of Matthew and Luke what do you find. Write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net. If the email address does not appear just click on the blank area to the right of this sentence.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Charles Schuster
