by worship leader Mike Redman
JEFF: Welcome to our home where our family gathers
each Sunday. For this special occasion we have created the living room and
welcome you here. PRAYER.
Let
us begin with joy from our ensemble:
Instrumental
Ensemble: Joy to the World
MIKE: Pastor Jeff, i know you have a couple of
Christmas traditions in your family. Do you remember how they began? (have you
been able to continue them with your children grown and living in other parts
of the country?)
JEFF:
response and explain the traditions.
AMBER:
Well, we are all part of your extended family and we would like to be included
in your tradition. Please tell us the
Christmas story.
JEFF: Luke 2:1-20
SANDY:
Is there a reason you use the King James language?
JEFF:
response
JEFF:
Amber, do you have any Christmas traditions in your family?
AMBER:
response
JEFF:
Amber, you have prepared a song to share. I know this has been a wonderful and
an awful year for you, so tell us why you decided on this song, this year.
AMBER:
response and sing! This is
Christmas CD HAND HELD MIC
KIM: You said that “all went to be taxed” and so
Joseph and Mary went to Bethlehem because they were of the house of David. Did
Mary really need to go? After all this was a time in history, reflected in
Jewish tradition, when women did not count for much.
JEFF:
response. (my understanding was that only the men were required. Women
weren't counted. Why Mary went? Joseph did not want to leave her? They were not
likely to have been a popular couple with Mary pregnant before the marriage was
completed, so maybe he feared she might be mistreated? Surely not because they
knew the prophecy of the Christ being born in Bethlehem?)
SHERI:
And what about Joseph being of the House of David. Jesus was to be a descendant
of David, but the fact that Joseph was didn't really put Jesus in that line,
since he was not Joseph’s biological son.
JEFF:
response (though there is dispute, many scholars say the genealogy in Luke
is actually that of Mary, meaning she as well as Joseph were descendants of
David - one theory)
JEFF:
Paul has a song for us. (He will come from the congregation) Tell us
about it and why it is important to you.
PAUL:
response and sing: Emmanuel (Hallowed Manger Ground) piano HEADSET
TEDDY: The Old Testament tells us that the Messiah
was to be born in Bethlehem, isn't that correct? Were there other things
mentioned in the story you read that Old Testament scholars would point to as
prophesy fulfilled?
JEFF:
response (House of David, Jesse, etc.; virgin, and ?) And there were
hundreds of other prophecies from the Old Testament that Jesus fulfilled in his
lifetime (name a few?)
SHERI: Your story included the words “Glory to God
in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” Most of the newer
versions of the Bible talk about “men with whom He is pleased” or some such.
Which do you consider more accurate?
JEFF:
response
JEFF:
Sheri, tell us your favorite Christmas tradition. and then tell us about the
song you have prepared and why you chose to sing it.
SHERI:
response and then sing. The Gift.
guitar HEADSET handheld
SANDY:
Nothing in your story tells us when this happened. I have heard it said that it
must have been sometime other than winter because the shepherds were in the
fields with the flocks. Is that part of your story?
JEFF:
response (It could have been any time
of the year. The lambs kept for sacrificial purposes were in fields around
Bethlehem, close to the temple in Jerusalem and needed to be available year
round. etc)
KIM:
You said, “ And all they that heard it wondered at those things which
were told them by the shepherds.But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them
in her heart.” What do you make of this
comparison: the others “wondered” “But
Mary … pondered.?
JEFF:
response
JEFFS:
Why don’t we hear Mary’s Song?
TRIO: Mary’s Song
MIKE: How about the rest of the story? Before and after the
section you read are other parts of the Christmas story, including my
favorites: the stories of those who knew about the arrival of the Messiah
without anyone (including angels) telling them. Tell us a few of those stories.
JEFF: response (Elizabeth, Simeon, Anna, the wise guys)
JEFF: When we consider that the word “holy” often is best
translated “set apart” just the brief look we have taken at some of the facts
suggests that this night we celebrate was truly holy, set apart from all
others, absolutely unique in all of human history. No man or group of men could
have arranged all the people and circumstances such that it all came together
in the moment of the child’s arrival in a way that fulfilled the prophecies and
the hopes and dreams of so many. And so
it is this night: the hopes and dreams of so many could quickly be fulfilled if
they were to allow the Christ Child to be born in them.
The song Teddy is about to share is most appropriate to the
moment, but first i want her to tell us why she picked that song.
TEDDY:
response and sing O Holy Night CD HAND HELD
O Come All Ye Faithful
Away in a Manger
Angels We have Heard on High
O Little Town of Bethlehem
JEFF: It’s time for my family’s second tradition,
and i will need all the kids to come to help. (get kids on stage and seated).
Kim usually does the honors of sharing a Christmas story:
KIM reads Christmas story
JEFF:
I understand you kids have prepared a song for us, one that Jason Houser wrote,
is that right?
kids: Joy
JEFF:
explains candle lighting. Use two kids (Karley and Kyle)
Silent Night PIANO
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