On the Second Day of Christmas . . .

  

The Night AFTER Christmas by Albert Brewster

‘Twas the night after Christmas and all through the house,
again no creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
Mama in the bedroom; me asleep in my chair,.
totally relaxed without a worry or care.

When all of a sudden came a great rush of thought!
We had received so much more than we had bought.

And to think about that one Christmas day
was just about enough to blow you away.

The children had been especially nice to each other.
(You would never have guessed they were sister and brother.)

Together at the table; each in our place;
no pushing or shoving while I said grace.

We shared our love, our songs, our laughter.
We shared the chores and didn’t even have to!

Just what was it that made it all work?
Was it all planned, or simply a quirk?

As I think back I seem to recall
a series of messages from a man named Paul.
Andrew, Simon, John, and James,
Matthew, Bartholomew, and other odd names.

Someone is gone but is coming again,
We’re all brothers, or some kind of kin.

Coming from childhood these thoughts surround me.
Complex truths so simple they astound me!

The Word that reaches me doesn’t come through my ear -
from so far away - and yet so near.

Now I am looking for answers, and they must be viable.
I open the desk drawer, and dust the Bible.

We counted our blessings this wonderful day
and knew it could always be that way -

Or, would we let it escape us and again be gone,
when we get back to routine; and turn the TV on?

Bert Brewster  UMC Pastor: adbrewster@aol.com

O Come, O Come, Emmanuel

 

O come, O come, Emmanuel:
Surprise us, like you did with Mary.
We hear her words: “How shall this be?”
Like her, we wait your advent here.
“Hail Fa-vored One!  The Lord is with you.”
The words to her are to us as well.

O come, O come, Emmanuel:
We know Mary was no different than we.
As we look for you this Advent now,
You still break through to people like me.
“Hail Fa-vored One!  The Lord is with you.”
The words to her are to us as well.

O come, O come, Emmanuel:
May your advent be for us as it was for her.
Although we may not see what our future holds,
There’s a part for us to play in your great plan.
“Hail Fa-vored One!  The Lord is with you.”
The words to her are to us as well.


Tune: Traditional
Words by Clyde E. Griffith for Advent 1999

clydegriffith@msn.com

Open My Eyes: An Advent Hymn

 

 Open My Eyes: An Advent Hymn

Open my eyes that I may see
Glimpses of Christ as he comes by me.
Let me be ready night and day
To welcome him when he comes my way.
Expectantly now, we wait for thee.
Waiting for Emmanuel’s presence to see.
Open my eyes, keep me alert, Spirit Divine.

Open my mouth that I may sing
Songs of the joy Emmanuel brings.
Like Mary, let me accept God’s will
When it surprises and confronts me still.
Expectantly now, we wait for thee.
Waiting for Emmanuel’s presence to see.
Open my eyes, keep me alert, Spirit Divine.

Open my ears that I may hear
Signs of the Christ as he comes near
Presenting himself needing food or drink.
Let me ready. Don’t let me forget!
Expectantly now, we wait for thee.
Waiting for Emmanuel’s presence to see.
Open my eyes, keep me alert, Spirit Divine.

Open my heart that I may enjoy
The Presence of Christ,  wherever I go.
Thanks be to God, He comes to us still,
If we would look and know what we see.
Expectantly now, we wait for thee.
Waiting for Emmanuel’s presence to see.
Open my eyes, keep me alert, Spirit Divine.


Words by Clyde E. Griffith, November 2000
for Advent

Tune: Open My Eyes That I May See

clydegriffith@msn.com

The Fifth Day of Christmas

So, this is the Fifth Day of Christmas. 
Christmastide  is the shortest season of the Church year – just 12 days from December 25 to January 6 – the day of Epiphany.
Once again, the church seems out of sync with the rest of the world.
While the prevailing culture around us - and yes, most of us, also - cleaned up the debris from exchanging gifts on “Christmas” day, the church says, “Hold on.”  
Christmas isn’t over on Christmas day. 
There are eleven more days of Christmas!
Eleven more days of Christmas?!!!

No one we know will be celebrating 12 Days of Christmas – much less anything called Epiphany. 
[I’ve never heard a store around here advertising Epiphany sales.] 

But, it is a fact that in many cultures and many countries in the world, Epiphany is a much larger celebration than Christmas day!

Christmas is at the very heart of our faith. 
The stories of our faith that have been passed down through the ages to us speak to the very essence what Christianity is – how we relate to the creator of the universe and how we relate to others around us.

In fact, we really do not know the actual day Jesus was born – apparently it was just not important to those early believers. 
Jesus never talked about it. 
The Disciples never sang happy birthday to Jesus.  
And no one ever shared pictures of the baby Jesus.  
It was not important to them. 

What was important was what they believed was his message and the authority he must have to be delivering the message so clearly and so forcefully.

And, so we need to know, that no matter how good hearing and singing and believing certain things makes us feel –
the real meaning of the season has nothing to do with gifts, or trinkets, or lights, or candles, or trees, or parties, or dinners, or children, or movies, or shopping, or cards, or Santa, or crosses for that matter.

Christmas is for adults.

The key to understanding Christmas is Emmanuel.
Emmanuel is this Hebrew word that means, “God Is With Us”.

It is significant that we recall and remember that at this time in history – during the heyday of the Roman Empire,
in this particular part of world – an out of the way, nondescript place of no significance to anybody –
the ultimate authority of the universe, the Creator of all that is,
broke through the barriers – the walls of the cosmic egg –
and came to live among, alongside, and with us mortal beings. 
God is no longer confined to the highest heavens, or to the other side of the wall,
or to behind the curtain of the holy of holies. 
No, this is about Emmanuel.

God is with us, we say. 
At Christmas we remember the message and we celebrate the exact point when it happened in history. 
But, the kicker is, the real message is, that it didn’t just happen once and that was it. 
God did not simply open the door and say here I am and then leave.
Emmanuel, we say. 
God is with us, we say.
That’s what we remember through the Christmas stories.
And, Emmanuel, we believe.
God is with us – still. 
Today. 
And tomorrow, and all of our tomorrows – 
Every second of every minute of every hour or every day. 

Emmanuel.

- Clyde E. Griffith

The Night After Christmas

The Night AFTER Christmas by Albert Brewster

‘Twas the night after Christmas and all through the house,
again no creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
Mama in the bedroom; me asleep in my chair,.
totally relaxed without a worry or care.

When all of a sudden came a great rush of thought!
We had received so much more than we had bought.

And to think about that one Christmas day
was just about enough to blow you away.

The children had been especially nice to each other.
(You would never have guessed they were sister and brother.)

Together at the table; each in our place;
no pushing or shoving while I said grace.

We shared our love, our songs, our laughter.
We shared the chores and didn’t even have to!

Just what was it that made it all work?
Was it all planned, or simply a quirk?

As I think back I seem to recall
a series of messages from a man named Paul.
Andrew, Simon, John, and James,
Matthew, Bartholomew, and other odd names.

Someone is gone but is coming again,
We’re all brothers, or some kind of kin.

Coming from childhood these thoughts surround me.
Complex truths so simple they astound me!

The Word that reaches me doesn’t come through my ear -
from so far away - and yet so near.

Now I am looking for answers, and they must be viable.
I open the desk drawer, and dust the Bible.

We counted our blessings this wonderful day
and knew it could always be that way -

Or, would we let it escape us and again be gone,
when we get back to routine; and turn the TV on?

Bert Brewster  UMC Pastor: adbrewster@aol.com

Oh the Stories We Hear . . .

“Why is this night any different from all other nights?”

We become who we are by the stories we hear.
The stories we hear and the stories we tell give us clues about who we are.

At Passover, as Jewish families gather at sundown for their annual ritual, the honor is given to the youngest person present at the table to ask the question:
“Why is this night any different from all other nights?”
For centuries, this question is asked in households all over the world, year after year.  
“Why is this night any different from all other nights?”
The question is asked so the story can be told – and heard –  again and again.
It is good for us to get together at this time of year to hear the stories and sing the songs again. 
For it is in the telling and the singing and the hearing that we understand more about ourselves, more about the world around us, and more about our relation to our God.

Do you have a story that has been passed down through your family for generations?
Many families have these kind of stories that the elders tell the children year after year, generation after generation. 
Passing down the same stories of their origin, their uniqueness,
their relation with the world around them, 
and their relation with the Creator of the universe.   
Children grow up hearing the stories over and over again –  and learn to tell the stories to their children and to their grandchildren.

Tonight we hear stories about our faith, and we are reminded of how rich we really are,
we are reminded of the rich heritage that is ours,
we are reminded of the rich tradition of which we are a part.

But, the stories we hear, and the stories we tell, have no meaning apart from our experience of them. 
If the stories ring true to our experience, then our experience is informed and shaped by the
stories we hear.

Tonight, we celebrate the birth of a baby – 
an event of major significance to our faith. 
Some of you know what it is to give birth to a baby. 
All of you know someone who has given birth to a baby. 
It’s a pretty big deal. 
There is a flush of excitement. 
There is a rush to tell the news. 
When you hold a new baby, your heart quivers. 
You feel the power of life itself. 
No matter how bad things may be,
the birth gives you a sense of future, of hope.

Well, it was a big deal when a baby was born in Roman times, too. 
The biggest deal of all in those days was the birth of a child to succeed the emperor.  Everyone celebrated the birth of a baby Caesar – 
poets celebrated the birth of a baby Caesar ,
philosophers celebrated the birth of a baby Caesar ,
state officials celebrated the birth of a baby Caesar ,
singers and dancers celebrated the birth of a baby Caesar . 
The coming of the new leader meant the continuity of the empire.

If we lived at the time Jesus was born,
we would know the name of Augustus very well. 
He was the emperor of all the world,
the supreme ruler of all that was,
the number one guy,
the main man,
the big cheese. 
We would know all that. 
And we would know it because of the stories that were told, and the songs that were sung in those days.
 We would know by heart the story that appears on stone inscriptions found all over the Roman empire. 
The story of the birth of Augustus that goes:
Providence, that orders everything in our lives, has displayed extraordinary concern
and compassion, and crowned our life with perfection itself. 
She has brought into the world Augustus,
and filled him with distinguished goodness for the benefit of humanity. 
In her benevolence she has granted us and those who will come after us [a savior] who has made war to cease and who shall order all things well. 
The [epiphany] of Caesar transcends the expectations [of all who anticipated the good news]. 
Not only has he outstripped all benefactors who have gone before him, but he will leave posterity no hope of surpassing him. 
The birth date of our god has signaled the beginning of good news for the world. 
 
The beginning of good news for the world?
A savior? 
The birth of our God? 
Bringer of peace and good will? 
This was the popular and political belief of the day.

So, it is no accident that Luke makes sure we know that Jesus was born while Augustus was Emperor and Quirinius was governor. 
Of course, Luke did not know then what we know now,
by the time this story was being told by Luke,  Augustus, the so-called savior and
harbinger of good news, was rotting in his grave somewhere. 

But that baby (?),
that baby wrapped in rags,
that baby who spent his first days and nights lying in a manger,
that baby for whom there was no room in the inn – 
when Luke told this story, that baby's people were totally dismantling the very world of Augustus and Quirinius stone by stone. 
Luke is saying that even when confronted with world's most august force,
nothing compares to this Jesus.

Luke wants us to know that Jesus is in contrast to the Caesar: 
Augustus Caesar with his glitz and glamour, promises much and delivers little. 
Jesus appears insignificant, but behind him is the power of the living God. 
We see the lame walk. 
The hungry eat. 
The community that emerges around him is free from Caesar-like power. 
Strangers to God become friends of God.

We become who we are by the stories we hear.
The stories we hear and the stories we tell give us clues about who we are.

Emmanuel! 
Tonight is the main event:
The story we remember tonight is one in which God acted decisively and conclusively –  entering our world to be with us wherever we go,
whatever we do,
for however long it takes. 
Friends, tonight we celebrate Emmanuel.  
May each of you know with certainty that the light that was in the world at the beginning
still shines to illumine the darkest corners of your life.
We become who we are by the stories we hear.
The stories we hear and the stories we tell give us clues about who we are.
Aren’t you glad you came?

Friends, it's Christmas! 
Emmanuel! 
Our God is with us. 
Hallelujah! 
Amen!

The congregation of Christ Presbyterian Church in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, experienced this sermon by the Reverend Clyde E. Griffith  Christmas Eve, 2009.

Our Own Story of Christmas

Isaiah 52:7-10
John 1:1-14

So, it's almost Christmas.  For us in the church, this is the Fourth Sunday of Advent – a time for us to contemplate why we celebrate Christmas anyway.
Again, this year, during these weeks before Christmas, we have been looking at the very earliest documents we have to ascertain just how those earliest Christians celebrated Christmas –
hoping to find clues as to how we might have a better understanding and actually experience a better Christmas this year.

The first week of Advent, we looked at the very earliest writings we have –
the letters of Paul and some of the writings that were found in the Dead Sea Scrolls and Nag Hammadi and other places in the desert country of Egypt and Syria and Palestine,
and the very earliest Gospel in our Bible:
the Gospel of Mark – which was published around the year 70.

We actually have several texts now that were published during these early  years – during the first 75 years or so after Jesus was killed.
And, look as we may, it is obvious that none of these texts say anything at all about the birth of Jesus.  It just was not important to them.

Yes, Jesus was a pivotal figure in their history,
yes, Jesus was a pivotal figure in their faith,
yes, Jesus was a pivotal figure in their life experience – in their understanding of who they were and what they to do.
Clearly, they each articulate a faith that in Jesus, they saw God incarnate – God in the flesh – for them,  Jesus was Emmanuel – God with us.

The second week we looked at the second Gospel, the Gospel of Matthew, published some 15 years after Mark, and intended for a somewhat different audience.
Matthew begins his Gospel with a detailed genealogy setting Jesus firmly in the Jewish camp – a descendent of King David,
and even Father Abraham, himself.

In the 15 years between Mark and Matthew an interest in birth stories had developed.
Matthew’s community wanted to believe that their Jesus was no less a god than the mighty Caesar or any of the other gods they encountered among the cosmopolitan culture of the Roman Empire.
Every other god had a miraculous birth story to show their specialness, so, Jesus should have one, too.

The Gospel of Luke is the third Gospel of the collection in our Bible.
It was published some 15 years after Matthew.
And, again, it was intended for a different audience than Mark or Matthew.

Again, we are reminded that during these early years, indeed, for the first 100 to 150 years, there was no separate Christian church.
There were Jews who believed that Jesus was the Messiah and revered as Emmanuel – God with Us – and they would meet as small groups –
sometimes even sharing meals and resources and living arrangements –
but, when they worshiped, they went to the Temple.

We see Luke being addressed primarily to a predominately gentile audience to show that belief in Jesus in Emmanuel conflicted in no way with their ability to serve as good citizens of the Roman Empire.

And, we see that each of the Gospels have a very different starting place.
Matthew starts very differently than Mark does – again with that long genealogy.
And Luke starts differently than either Mark or Matthew does with that miraculous birth story – not of Jesus, but of John.
And, here in the Gospel of John, we have an even stranger beginning.

Most scholars agree now that this Gospel of John was published around 110 years after the death of Jesus.
Clearly this Gospel was addressed to people under stress –
there was a conflict between the communities of believers in Jesus as Messiah
and the communities of believers in John as Messiah;
and there was a widening rift between these communities of Jesus believers and the other believers of Judaism.
The break that we know today was occurring.
And this Gospel is written in that context.

Again, dwelling on establishing the specialness of Jesus with stories of his birth was not important to these people.
What was important, was how their faith in this radical new religion based on Emmanuel – based upon the Incarnation – based on God now being with us instead of dwelling from on high –
how life based on this new faith fits into the cosmic scheme of things –
and how it is different from the old ways of doing.

Curiously, we know from the writings of a Jewish Greek philosopher from Alexandria, Philo, that this concept of God as the Doer, the Speaker, the One who Acts, the Word was emerging in Alexandria some 50 years before the Gospel of John was published.

Here, Jesus is remembered not primarily as a specific man at a specific time in history, but
as the embodiment of a wisdom, a sophia, that pervades all things and all people.
The Word has existed from the beginning, and the Word came and dwelt among people, “they knew him not.”
Here, John tells the story in a radically new way.
Jesus is identified with the Logos – the Word of God –   and becomes something other than a man from Nazareth born of flesh and blood –
but nothing less than a construct of God –
a part of Almighty himself –
a very part of the cosmos itself.

Like I concluded last week,
I think it is important for us to ask why the Gospels treat the birth of Jesus differently.
And to remember that the story that you and I have learned and could tell on a moments notice, actually does not occur in any of our gospels.

The story you and I learned,
and the story you and I tell,
is really a composite of the stories we see in the Gospels.
We tend to take a part from one and combine it with a part from another and a part from another, and lo, we have our story.

But, if we actually did what those early Christians did, we wouldn’t revere any of the details of any of these stories;
but, we would come up with our own story – like they did.
A story that begins with an experience with Emmanuel –
an experience of God being with us –
and then coming up with an explanation as to how special that experience is.

For you and me to fully understand and celebrate Christmas, we have to seek out and identify times of Emmanuel for us:
times we have been in the presence of God,
times we when we have been absolutely convinced that God is with us.

And, so we say Where or where is Emmanuel today?
And we are on the lookout for signs of Emmanuel in our times:
for some, like the shepherds in Luke’s Gospel, it is in celestial music;
for some, it will be in coming to the Lord’s table as we do today;
for some, it will be in helping feed the hungry at the food closet;
for some, it will be in sharing special time with loved ones;
however and whenever and wherever;
This Christmas will be the best you have ever had when you open yourself to the presence of Emmanuel and recognize God with us.
Amen.

The congregation of Christ Presbyterian Church, in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, experienced this sermon (along with the other sermons referenced here) during Advent of 2006.  
Clyde E. Griffith, pastor