Sunday – December 23, 2012

December 23, 2012 – Read the Word on Worship

What Christmas Is All About from Sunrise Community Church on Vimeo.

I don’t know about you, but sometimes I need to be reminded about what Christmas is all about. And sometimes that lesson comes from learning what Christmas is not about. Christmas is not about elves. Christmas is not about Frosty the Snow Man. Christmas is not about lights- even though they may be really pretty. And Christmas is not about the MAN- one Kris Kringle AKA in the Netherlands from where my family came, Cinder Klaus. There are so many things out there that have nothing to do with Christmas.
Join us this Sunday as we go back to what the Bible has to say about Christmas as we turn to Luke 1:26-38 and see “What Is Christmas Really About”.


Word On Worship – December 23, 2012 Download / Print

Matt 1:19-21
Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. But after he had considered 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 home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

Christmas is a celebration of the God who spoke the universe into existence and entered the world of His own creation as a baby. The idea of a “god” entering into the affairs of men is not unique. Before the time of Jesus, many of the Greek gods were known to have had all sorts of entry into history and direct human contact. Even in modern times we have numerous examples of “super-beings” who intervene in human history. Some are larger than life, like the heroes of comic book fame and others are more human than divine such as the sports stars we see competing every week.

None of these inventions of imagination, ancient or contemporary, provide help for us to better understand the doctrine of the incarnation of Jesus Christ – fully God and fully man. Our minds are captivated by the fiction of people able to do more than humans are capable of doing. But nothing in fact or fiction compares with the mystery of the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ. Except for a few disregarded prophets, no one anticipated God’s intervention into history by the birth of a child in a manger. Not even Judaism was looking for the Messiah in this way.

Today we have become so accustomed to biblical narratives of Christ’s birth that many have become numb to its significance. And that is the mystery of the incarnation. Something that was not known before is now made known to the world. The all-powerful, supreme God who created the universe humbled Himself, took on human form and entered His creation as a vulnerable infant.

This Christmas, my prayer is that we appreciate this mystery of the incarnation and understand in a new way how incredible it is for God’s greatness to be contained in human flesh. Further, that we take the next step to sincerely ask what this means for each of us. May this be the Christmas where the focus of our celebration is Jesus Christ, God incarnate, who entered human existence so that we may be born again, born of God.

What do you think?