1^st Sunday in December (Week 49) Jesus’ Purpose (Luke 4:16-30; Isaiah 42:1-9 and Psalm 22; Luke 4:16-30 and Mathew 5-7 and Galatians 5)

Overview

Jesus seems to emerge from nowhere. Only later, when the world knew of his significance, do church leaders begin to investigate his birth and upbringing. The few childhood stories are clearly traceable to immediate family memories, and even these are few. The rest is the stuff of legend. Although he seems to appear from nowhere, he was not unknown. Nazareth is a small town. People knew his father and mother and siblings. He grew up with other kids in the synagogue. If he was fully human, presumably he had a childhood filled with the usual ups and downs, scrapes and bruises. Even if he was a model teenager and a
”good kid”, nobody quite expected him to be the savior of the world. Familiarity does not have to breed contempt … but it can get in the way of seeing the truth. Sometimes we are just too close, and our egos are too involved, to see what is really going on.

Team Meditation

The redemption of Christ is first associated with justice. Only later will it become clear that Christ has come to eradicate the source of injustice (namely, the inner addiction to selfishness and pride that has plagued humanity since the fall). At first, he has simply come to rescue the victims. He is there for the ones who are “bruised reeds” and “dimly burning wicks”. So first and foremost, worship leaders need to look out over the congregation and the community to discern those people. They are often hidden and undemanding. They live in chronic depression and are often the least demanding of the pastor’s attention and the church leader’s time. Yet they have been abused within the church, and taken advantage of beyond the church. They are the legion of everyday victims. They need your attention and compassion.

Worship Theme

Australians talk about the “tall poppy syndrome”. This is the cultural habit in Australia (and certainly elsewhere in the world) that cuts down, denigrates, or undermines any leader who becomes too visible amid the masses. Don’t stand out. Don’t get too far ahead. Don’t seem too important. There are many people who will be jealous, competitive, and skeptical. They will all gather to bring you down. Something like that happens to Jesus. The first occasion is in Nazareth among his hometown neighbors; later it will happen among the Jewish people in general; and it will keep happening even after his death among his fellow human beings. Jesus stands out. He stands apart. He is a category unto himself. And people always try to reduce him to their own level. They want to place him in historical context, limit his spiritual significance, and generally cut him down to size. They prefer to place him among a small group of great spiritualists, philanthropists, prophets, or reformers … one of a smaller group of tall poppies, that rise modestly above other smaller poppies, but not the tallest poppy, and certainly not the tallest poppy that could ever be. Yet that is precisely what Jesus will become. He not only brings the ultimate message of hope. He is the ultimate message of hope.

Worship Design

Small Group Discussion

The Sermon on the Mount is a kind of expansion of Jesus first sermon in Nazareth. He didn’t get very far with that first sermon before people tried to throw him over a cliff. He just got started. So later he found a better platform, gathered people around him who would be more open to his identity and message, and finished the sermon. There are more than three points here. Indeed, there is more than information here. He is teaching important things, but he is also fulfilling important prophecies. He is reinforcing the wisdom of ages, and going beyond the wisdom of ages. He is the personification of Wisdom.

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2^nd Sunday in December (Week 50) Jesus’ Purpose (John 8:12 and 9:1-41; Isaiah 60:1-5 and 19-22; John 8-10 and 1 John 1:5-2:17)

Overview

Jesus is the “light of the world”. What exactly does he mean? Are all things, all sins, and all graces revealed in his glowing presence? Does he help us see clearly through the ethical ambiguities of life and find our way? Is he a beacon that draws wandering and lost people home? All of the above … and more.

Team Meditation

Worship Theme

The healing of the man-born-blind by the pool of Siloam is an analogy. Yes, it also really happened. But the importance of the event, and the inclusion of the story in the Gospel of John, is not about the healing of that particular person. There is something more here. Jesus has already said he is the light of the world. Now he explains. The world, he says, is like a man-born-blind. The world knows there is something more, something better, some reality beyond their existence, but has never really experienced it. It is nothing more than a rumor, a story, a myth. Many have long ago disbelieved it and no longer yearn for it. A few remain by the “Siloam Pool” of their yearning, hoping against hopelessness that one day an angel will open their eyes. Jesus says that existence as we know it is unreal. Our life as we live it is abnormal. We live in a global self-deception. How ironic that the world accuses the church of a colossal conspiracy to withhold the truth about Jesus. Jesus accuses the world of a colossal conspiracy to withhold the truth about life. When Jesus restores the sight of the blind man, he is really declaring that he is the key to discovering reality. He is the key to normality. He is the one sighted person in a world of blind people. And he is ready to let you see.

Worship Design

Small Group Discussion

Christians believed from the very beginning that Jesus had “opened their eyes” to see the real world … God’s world … a world very different from the daily existence of most people. Moreover, this real world was not just visible to a chosen elite (as the Gnostics believed), but to ordinary folks. All you needed to see was faith in Christ. You just had to surrender to the administration of his healing hands. Yet despite their newly opened eyes, their eyesight was still not perfect. Their perception of this real world was still dim and distorted. Following the analogy into contemporary times, we might say that Christians still need the best pair of eyeglasses possible. The best would be painstakingly crafted by a spiritual life. The lenses would be framed by scripture, regularly cleaned by the Holy Spirit, and adjusted by Christ himself. Even wearing glasses, Christians would see things wrongly or step unadvisedly, and require healing. After all, may not be blind, but in this world they are still sight impaired.

3^rd Sunday in December (Week 51) Jesus’ Purpose (1 Corinthians 13; Hosea 11:1-4, 8-12; John 14-16 and 1 Corinthians 11-14)

Overview

Love may be “a many splendored thing”, but usually it is a constant struggle. There are moments of ecstasy, but mostly there are hours of duty and days of patience. Perhaps this is why, despite all the hype and media attention about true love, few people really want to do it. Few people are prepared to pay the price of true love. Are you?

Team Meditation

In our world, promiscuity is a great thing as long as it doesn’t involve your spouse or your children. It’s OK for you. Indeed, applied to you personally, the non-promiscuous human being is obviously not living up to their potential. The problem is that the principle shouldn’t apply to the people you love. The same double standard we apply to sex is also visible in our relationship with God. Stated boldly, most church people believe it is perfectly OK for them to worship “sacred cows”, but not for anyone else. “They have to be faithful to the Lord, and deserve to be judged if they are not, but I can flirt with all kinds of gods. The situation, whether sexual or spiritual, is an invitation to jealousy, violence, vengeance, and disaster, yet we can’t seem to help it. Fortunately, God really and truly does love us, even if we cannot pay the price to love him. In the end, God’s true love will heal our relationship.

Worship Theme

I memorized this verse when I was 12 years old. I recited it when I joined the church at 14. I laid it on the bedside table of my parents when I was upset by a particularly bad argument in our family. I listened to it at my ordination. I repeat it in every wedding. I meditate on it day and night. And after all that, I still can’t do it. I can’t seem to live up to that standard of love. I think I will one day … some day … maybe tomorrow … and it never happens. And it never will happen until finally, in the end, I am enrapt in the arms of the Beloved. Only in the arms of Christ will I ever be able to behave in true love.

Worship Design

Small Group Discussion

Most people do not read 1 Corinthians 13 in the context of Paul’s larger message in the previous and subsequent chapters. Read it in entirety, and you begin to see that love is not a natural emotion. It is an unnatural emotion. Love is not intrinsic to the human experience, but inserted into the human experience. It is a divine experience. It is a gift … the greatest of a number of profound spiritual gifts … and the one gift that binds all other gifts in the Body of Christ.

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4^th Sunday in December (Week 52) Jesus’ Purpose (Luke 2:1-20; Isaiah 9:1-7; Matthew 1:18-2:23 and Luke 1-2 and Philippians 3:1-4:7)

Overview

There is a huge difference between a significant birth and “incarnation”. It is not difficult to extrapolate on Old Testament prophecies for a coming Messiah to expect something more than a human leader. Either the prophets are just exaggerating, or they sense that human condition is far more serious and radically wrong than can be solved by military action, political diplomacy, or great jurisprudence. Nothing less than God in person is going to sort this out. But that leads to a communications dilemma. How will God interface with the limited understanding of human beings? The only way to is to become on Himself. It might seem an impossible mission, of course, but then, this is God.

Team Meditation

Isaiah 9:6  ⁶ For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called "Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."

What’s in a name? Traditionally, names revealed the identity of the individual. We tend to hide behind names, using the name given us at birth before anyone really knew who we were, and using names held in common with many others. Romans used names to clearly identify lineage, prestige, and power. Jews used names to identify tribes, allegiances, and community roles. Here the prophet is using names to clarify the identity and purpose of the Messiah. “Counselor” and “Peacemaker” we think we understand, but couple them with divine names for God and we realize there is something more here in Jesus. He reveals God. He speaks for God. He is God. And if that is the case, the “counsel” he offers, and the “peace” that he brings, must also be about bridging the gap between existence and eternity. It heralds a new relationship with God.

Worship Theme

It is not hard to imagine the musical background to the Old Testament prophecies sounding something like the theme song of “Mission Impossible”: bold, exciting, thrilling, and powerful. The actual birth of Jesus, then, is an odd disappointment. Sure, there are angels singing, but it is hard to hear them amid the sheep baaing and the cows lowing and the clatter of dishes being washed over at the Inn. It’s not particularly bold, exciting, thrilling, or powerful. Even the appearance of the Magi seems to intrude upon, rather than cap, the birth of the Lord. Jesus birth is an experience of radical intimacy. We feel as if we are peering into an extremely private joy. Before the world rejoices, God is celebrating. It’s just the intimate players of the incarnation who are really involved … Mary, Joseph, and God. There is realism. These three intimates know what is coming, but they have a quiet confidence in ultimate victory. One imagines Jesus looking up for the first time this side of existence into the eyes of Mary and Joseph with smiling assurance: “It will be Ok. Don’t worry. It will all be perfect.”

Worship Design

Small Group Discussion

People tend to worry too much about harmonizing the chronology of events recorded in the Gospels about Jesus’ birth, and about connecting the birth with other traceable historical moments at the time. It is not what happened, but the significance of what is happening, that captures the imagination of the Gospel writers. What is amazing is that at the time of Jesus’ birth nobody seems to notice. Even Herod’s act of desperation (killing male newborns in Bethlehem as he panics over the prophecy) is of limited interest. Everyone knew he was paranoid, and despots did much worse all the time anyway. No, this is a paradoxical story about the difference between what humans think important and what God thinks is important. Everyone is looking in the wrong place for God, and God has chosen precisely the right place and the right time to launch the rescue of humanity.