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26. The First Songs of Christmas
Luke 1:39-45, Luke 1:46-56
Sermon
Lori Wagner
“Be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with all your heart, giving thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Ephesians 5:18-20) Everyone loves Christmas carols! As the seasons of Advent and Christmas approach, and we begin to hear those familiar songs on the radio, in...
27. A Supernatural Leap
Matthew 1:18-25, Luke 1:46-56, Luke 1:39-45, Luke 1:26-38
Sermon
Lori Wagner
In the Napa Valley there is a place called “Stag’s Leap.” There, it is said that a supernatural stag leaps across the craggy slopes in the light of the moon. The tale goes back to the time of the Native Americans, but it soon was continued by early pioneers who claim also to have seen the mysterious animal leaping through the night. At one point, it’s said that a team of hunters followed the creat...
28. Here I Am
Luke 1:26-38, Luke 1:39-45, Luke 1:46-56
Sermon
Lori Wagner
“Our deepest relationships are not defined by strength but by vulnerability.” --Rabbi Ari Kaiman Prop (Animation): youtube video [Show youtube video “Pass the Salt”] In the past, we laughed or sighed at the sight of a couple eating dinner with one of them reading the newspaper. It could have been a scene in the movies or an actual sighting in a restaurant—there’s always one person with a face i...
29. Praise God! Selah!
Luke 1:67-80, Luke 1:57-66, Luke 1:46-56, Luke 1:39-45, Luke 1:26-38, Luke 1:5-25, Luke 1:1-4
Sermon
Lori Wagner
Animation: Music: To God Be the Glory [You can have it playing just before the sermon. There are a lot of good versions, both old and new. You can also play a YouTube for your people.] To God be the glory! Say it with me: To God be the glory! Now I want you to repeat that phrase after me, like a refrain. Each time I speak a line, I want you to respond with: To God be the glory! Ok? Let’s try it...
30. Three Wise Women
Luke 1:39-45, Luke 1:46-56
Sermon
Lori Wagner
“Praise the Lord, all you nations; extol him, all you peoples. For great is his love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord.” --Psalm 117 (Hebrew Hallelu) Everyone LOVES a baby shower. Babies seem to just create a spirit of silliness, natural joy, and celebration. When we look at a baby, we reflexively smile and think happily about the future. Preparing for a...
31. Imagination
Luke 1:39-45, 46-55
Sermon
Will Willimon
Peter Gomes, Minister of memorial Church at Harvard, recently spoke of the Bible as "A book of the imagination" (The Good Book). Don't think of scripture primarily as rules, as lists of regulations. Think of the Bible as a book meant to speak, to stoke, to fuel the imagination. From what I see, imagination is in short supply these days. We modem folk tend toward mostly facts and figures. We're mo...
32. The Song of Servanthood
Luke 1:39-45 (46-54)
Sermon
Derl G. Keefer
Weddings are beautiful and exciting events with an abundance of anticipation. There is so much to do. The “who, what, where, how and why” questions all need to be answered. The bride’s dress needs to be just perfect for her. The bridemaids’ dresses are to be considered and ordered. Flowers need to be ordered from the florist. The guest list must be made and invitations sent. Registration for gifts...
33. Mary's Witness
Luke 1:39-45, (46-55)
Sermon
King Duncan
There are few things more exciting in life than the birth of a baby. That is true whether you are a commoner or a controversial member of a royal family. We all share the joy when friends or family announce that they are expecting. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have become household names to Americans over the past couple of years, but their lives have not been totally without good cheer. For exa...
Sermon
Lori Wagner
Faith is a journey you don’t do alone. This is one of the most important distinctions about the Christian faith. If you are Buddhist, you can and must pursue your personal enlightenment alone. If you are a Hindu, you can make your personal sacrifices, carry out your personal rituals, and attempt to attain “nirvana” alone. If you are of one of the other Abrahamic religions, you try to live morally...
35. Redefining “Blessed”
Luke 1:39-45 (46-55)
Sermon
John B. Jamison
It is one of those great moments that ends up being a song, or a painting. Over the years it becomes a symbol of peace and hope, and everything good. Mary is a young girl whose life has been turned upside down. It might have been for a very good cause, but it still meant that everything in her world had changed, and she was trying to figure out what it all meant. We aren’t told why she made the tr...
Sermon
There is in this sermon a gentleness that belies what it asks us to see, "That life does not change, but the way I experience it does." Moving, as it does, through a revision of the popular picture of Mary, now seen in clearer light than that of positive or negative speculation, but rather in the light of faith and praise of God; through that of an unlikely contemporary, "Who also experienced hung...
Sermon
Susan R. Andrews
We Protestants don’t know what to do with Mary. Because the doctrines of the Catholic church have turned Mary into a sweet passive icon of virginal purity, we Protestants have been content to leave her out of our gallery of biblical saints — except of course, for her obligatory appearance in our Christmas pageants. Today in both scripture and song, we meet Mary again. The woman we meet this time ...
Sermon
Bill Bouknight
In one of the world’s most revolutionary documents, is found these immortal words: “We hold these truths to be self—evident, that all men are created equal.” Of course, that document, the Declaration of Independence, is the charter of the American Revolution. Though we have not yet lived up to it, it has been the vision that inspires us. It's vision has also been the target of oppressive regimes a...
39. King Jesus
Luke 1:46-56, Luke 1:26-38
Sermon
Wayne Brouwer
One morning in 1872, David Livingstone wrote this in his diary: "March 19, my birthday. My Jesus, my king, my life, my all, I again dedicate my whole self to thee. Accept me, and grant, O gracious Father, that ere the year is gone I may finish my work. In Jesus' name I ask it. Amen." Just one year later, servants came to check on their master's delay. They found him on his knees in prayer. He was ...
Sermon
John E. Harnish
Thank God for Luke. Of the many insights Luke gives us, his glimpses of Mary are especially profound. Were it not for Luke's Gospel, we would know very little about Mary. Mark skips the birth altogether, and in his Gospel, Jesus seems indifferent to Mary when she does show up. Matthew's Mary is mute. Not one word comes from her lips. She is present, but passive and silent. John shares her presence...
Sermon
Gary L. Carver
Christmas songs have a way of staying with us from childhood. In fact, if you were to ask someone their favorite Christmas song it may range from, "Silent Night" to "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus." Many Christmas songs do carry the element of the holy in their lyrics and sometimes in the melody. Most of all, though, Christmas stands alone from all other holidays by the fact that it carries its o...
Sermon
Leonard Sweet
Every baby will keep every parent up all night, at least once. It’s a rule. Whether because they are teething or colicky, anxious or tummy-troubled, or just plain fussy, it’s part of a baby’s mission in life to keep its parents awake weeping and wailing. We parents are “hard-wired” to respond to an infant’s cries. What has kept us grieving all week, a grief that can’t be spoken? What has kept our...
Sermon
Cynthia Cowen
The Christmas concert was about to begin. The professional musicians were ready. All eyes were on the band director as he brought down his baton. Softly, flutes began weaving a magical introduction, capturing the audience's spirit. An instrumental duet formed with clarinets adding their voices. Then more wind instru­ments came in. Finally, brass and percussion entered and volume and tempo increase...
Sermon
Billy D. Strayhorn
When I was a boy, Mom and Dad would come home from the grocery store and unloaded the brown paper sacks of groceries. If we saw anything wrapped in butcher paper, we knew we were in for treat. That meant Dad was either going to barbecue or better yet, they had visited the lunch meat counter and brought home a bunch of fresh sliced lunch meat. But if we pulled out a long brown paper bread sack, we...
45. Surprises
Luke 1:46-56
Sermon
Timothy Smit
Christmas Day is only three days away. We gather on this the fourth and final Sunday of Advent tingling with anticipation. Something wonderful is about to happen, and we are going to be a part of it. To rediscover the joy of Christmas we must realize that joy is a gift to us from the God who loves us. We cannot earn joy, we cannot follow step by step instructions and arrive at joy. Joy is a gift a...
Sermon
Bill Bouknight
At home I have a yellow copy of one of the world's most revolutionary documents. In it are found these immortal words: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..." Of course, that document, the Declaration of Independence, is the charter of the American Revolution. Though we have not yet lived up to it, it has been the vision that inspires us. The only document I kn...
47. Do You Hear What I Hear?
Luke 1:46-56, Isaiah 61:1-11
Sermon
David E. Leininger
Years ago, a wise teacher of preachers advised us to prepare our sermons with the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other. His point was that sermons had to be relevant to the day-to-day lives of our people, and the best way to insure that would be to focus on what is going on in our people's world. Good advice, don't you think? So what has the newspaper (or the TV or radio or internet o...
48. Mary's Song
Luke 1:46-56
Sermon
King Duncan
A Sunday school teacher challenged her children to take some time on Sunday afternoon to write a letter to God. They were to bring back their letter the following Sunday. One little boy wrote, "Dear God, We had a good time at church today. Wish You could have been there. I think it was that same little fellow who turned to a classmate and asked, "Who was Round John Virgin?" She answered, "I thin...
Sermon
Maxie Dunnam
Sometime ago a woman from Houston was out in Los Angeles visiting some relatives. While there, she went to an ice cream shop and ordered an ice cream cone. As she was sitting there at the counter, waiting for her cone, she happened to glance to her right. Who should be there, right next to her, but Paul Newman! She couldn't believe it! He had been her heart throb and dream boat for years. She was...
50. Mary's Song
Luke 1:46-47, 52
Sermon
Will Willimon
I suspect that many of you are anxious for me to get off my chest quickly whatever it is that I want to say, to get out of the pulpit, so you can get on with the beautiful music of Christmas. We have restrained ourselves throughout the Sundays of Advent, confined ourselves to slow-­moving, somewhat somber hymns of hope, anticipation, expectancy. "Come, O Come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel."...
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