FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, ATLANTA, GEORGIA
Sermon by Dr. George Bryant Wirth
The Third Sunday in Advent
December 17, 2006
CHRIST AT THE CENTER – THE GIFT OF
GOOD TIDINGS!
Scripture:
Luke 2:8-20
I
Last July up at Chautauqua
Lake, as I was planning and preparing for what I would preach about during this
Advent season, I decided on a series of five sermons around the theme “Christ
at the Center: The Gifts God Gives to Us at Christmas.” Using the technique of alliteration, I chose
five words – all beginning with the letter “T” – which I thought would help us
focus our attention on this theme: the gifts of Trust, Time, Tranquility, Truth
and Transcendence.
That was last July and it all
seemed to line up in orderly fashion (very Presbyterian) …until this past
Monday when I began to write the sermon about tranquility. The Christmas rush that day had caught up
with me, including a noontime traffic jam on my way to lunch which was anything
but tranquil. Later that night,
researching the word in the Bible, I found only two references – one in
Proverbs 14 which says A tranquil mind
gives life to the flesh, but passion makes the bones rot (verse 30) and I
did not want to go there…and the other reference was something Daniel told King
Nebuchadnezzar about “showing mercy to the oppressed, that there may perhaps be
a lengthening of your tranquility” (Daniel 4:27), but that wasn’t what the king
wanted to do, so I thought it best to leave that one alone too.
And then suddenly, I
remembered the familiar song I had heard in an elevator that day: “We wish you
a Merry Christmas, we wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year… Good
tidings we bring, to you and your kin”…
With hope and expectation, I
took the old King James Version of the Bible off the shelf, turned to the same
text that I had selected for today, and there it was – the words those
shepherds heard the angel say long ago:
Fear not! For
behold I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all
people. For unto you is born this day
in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. (Luke
2:10-11)
So there it was! I let go of my struggle with tranquility and
took hold of the words which the angel gave to those shepherds and to you and
to me – The Gift of Good Tidings – and providentially, tidings begins with a
“T” – thank you Jesus!
II
Now I do not mean that
facetiously, because Jesus is the One whom we thank for the gift of Good
Tidings which His birth brought into our world. The Greek word is “euangelion” – good tidings, good news – and
God knows that’s what those shepherds needed back then.
They were Bedouins, desert
dwellers, outsiders who had little to be cheerful about. Their work was hard and often unrewarding,
they lived under the oppression of the Romans, they were second class citizens
among the Jews, and the bad news was that they didn’t have much hope of
improving their station in life.
But it was to them, to those
bad news Bedouin shepherds, that the angel appeared with the promise of
“euangelion” – good tidings, good news – that would vanquish their fear and
draw them near to God. For unto you, proclaimed the angel, unto you is born this day in the city of
David, a Savior who is Christ the Lord.
And Luke reports that
suddenly there was with that angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising
God and saying Glory to God in the
highest, and on earth, peace among all people with whom He is pleased!
Imagine the laser light show
at Stone Mountain, and fireworks in the sky on the Fourth of July – then
multiply all of that a thousand times and you will begin to get the picture of
what those shepherds saw and heard on that first holy night! Good tidings! Good news! Great
joy! The heavenly host in the sky! What a surprise! And that is the same gift which God wants to give to us this
Christmas.
Sometimes it’s hard to see
it, and more difficult still to believe in it, what with the bad news which
overwhelms us every day:
·
Almost 3000 members of
the U. S. military forces in Iraq have died, and an estimated 22,000 more have
been wounded, together with the hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilian men,
women and children who have been injured, dislocated or killed in that war torn
region – that’s bad news. (Atlanta Journal Constitution, December 16, page 5)
·
Increased violence is
reported in the Gaza Strip, where not only are the Israelis and Palestinians in
their sixth year of conflict, but now the Palestinian political parties Hamas
and Fatah are fighting among themselves, vying for power in their fragile new
government (ibid, page 3) – that’s bad news.
·
In Africa, in Haiti
where some of us visited our mission partners just last week, and in almost
every third world country today, Aids and HIV have become the deadliest enemy –
that’s bad news.
·
And in Darfur and all of
the Sudan, the civil war and religious strife between Christians and Muslims
has taken the lives of millions of innocent citizens and there is still no
clear sign of hope on the horizon – that’s bad news.
And the bad news can
overwhelm us …except, except for the message given to those shepherds long ago,
which we Christians believe and know to be true. It is The Gift of Good Tidings and The Promise of Good News: Unto
you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior who is Christ the Lord.
At His birth, the heavenly
host sang of “Peace on Earth,” and that song can still be heard in this
war-torn weary world…
·
Where people of good
will, including an Irish rock star named Bono, are working for the cessation of
violence and for reconciliation among the nations – that’s good news!
·
Where visionary leaders
and philanthropists like Bill and Melinda Gates are committed to wiping the
scourge of Aids off the face of this earth – that’s good news!
·
Where denominations and
local congregations like ours have become involved in mission partnerships to
develop opportunities for education, spiritual growth and health care,
something I saw with my own eyes last week in Haiti as a Presbyterian doctor
named Jim from Covenant Presbyterian Church up the street attended to more than
150 women and children in just three days – that’s good news!
·
And next Sunday morning,
we will share the stockings full of gifts which you have prepared with more
than a thousand homeless guests who will be blessed because we care about them
– that’s good news!
Fear not
said the angel, for behold I bring you
good tidings – good news! And ever
since the birth of Jesus, that has been the gift which God promises to all of
us – The Gift of Good Tidings. The bad
news will not go away, but the good tidings, the good news of the gospel of
Jesus Christ will ultimately prevail, come what may.
III
Moreover, the shepherds heard
the angel say Fear not! For behold I bring you good tidings of great
joy which will come to all the people. Which
means that once we have received the gift and believe in the good tidings – the
good news of the gospel – then God will bring great joy into our lives.
Sometimes it comes suddenly,
as an unexpected surprise. A retired
man in Phoenix, Arizona called his son in New York City just before Christmas
and said “Your mother and I have decided to sell the house, cash in our stock
portfolio and give all of the money to The Rev. Sung Young Moon. We’re moving to Northern California and
joining his commune after the first of the year. Please call your sister in Chicago to let her know.”
The son was exasperated and
said “Dad, that’s crazy. Don’t do
anything until I call you back.” So he
made contact with his sister, who was shocked and replied “They’ve gone off
their rockers. Tell them to hold on and
let’s get down there right away.” The
son called his father back and said “Sis ad I are deeply concerned about you
and mom. We’ll be there tomorrow
afternoon. And please, don’t send a
dime to The Rev. Moon.”
The father hung up the phone,
turned to his wife, smiled and said “Okay, they’re finally coming home for
Christmas and paying their own way.”
That’s joy!
Sometimes it comes
unexpectedly. At other times, it comes
after what seems like an eternity of waiting, as he gets down on his knee and
with hope in his heart asks the question “Will you marry me?” And with tears in your eyes, the answer is
“yes,” and your lives will never be the same again! That’s joy!
The surgeon emerges from the
operating room. You have been waiting
and praying for house, and the words you hoped to hear are now resounding in
your ears: “We did a triple by-pass and
he’s going to be fine.” That’s joy!
John McLean and Wilson Weeks
Mulford, and William Laurens Pressly II are baptized in this church today, and
as their parents make the promise to raise them in the faith, the families and
friends and the communion of saints in heaven lift up their hearts in
praise. That’s joy!
You see, when we receive the
Gift of Good Tidings and believe in the good news of the gospel, God has
promised to bring joy into our lives.
That’s what happened to those shepherds long ago, and so it can be for
you and for me, just as it was for Joseph and Mary.
Barbara Brown Taylor
describes it this way:
“Joy is a gift…so all we can really do
is want it, believe in it and – oh yes – stop doing things that get in its
way…Mary was surprised by joy …(went off to tell her cousin Elizabeth), and
then she came home, threw open the kitchen door and said (to Joseph) ‘I’m back! And all the angels in heaven jumped up and
down for joy.” (From “The Living
Pulpit,” an article entitled “Surprised by Joy” by Barbara Brown Taylor,
October-December 1996, page 17)
If that is what you are
looking for, hoping for, praying for today, then open your heart, prepare your
home and get ready. Because what God
wants to give you for Christmas is The
Gift of Good Tidings – Good News – and Great Joy!
In the name of the Father and
the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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