A Service for Christmas 1
(Interview with the Gospel-Writers)
27/12/15 at St Thomas' Uniting Church, Craigieburn, VIC.
Using materials supplied by Seasons of the Spirit and George
Stuart
Entrance Song 313 Good Christians all
rejoice (TIS)
Call to worship (Seasons of the Spirit)
Praise God!
Praise God up and down! (point up, and then down)
Praise God left and right! (point left, and then right)
Praise God in the morning (bright face, hands open and palms up, as if celebrating
morning)
and at night (tilt head on
hands on shoulders, mimicking sleep).
No matter what…
All shout Praise God!
Opening Prayer (Seasons of the Spirit)
We
praise you this day, O God,
remembering
all that you have done.
Especially
in this Christmas season,
we
give you thanks for sending Jesus
to
be our friend, our teacher,
our
guide, and our Saviour.
As
a new year begins,
we
ask you to be with us each day,
helping
us follow the example of Jesus
to
make our world a little more loving. Amen
Welcome
Confession Song: Lord, where have we left
you (Heaven Shall Not Wait, Iona)
An Interview with the Gospel writers. (George Stuart, edited and with added hymns)
Interviewer (Minister)
We are extremely privileged to have with us now,
the writers/editors of the first four books in our New
Testament:
Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
Thank you for giving us your time and sharing with us some of
the insights and motivations which gave rise to you and your colleagues
writing, what we call now, the 4 Gospels.
I suppose you had no idea that 2000 years later we would still
be reading your different stories about Jesus?
Mark.
Well, No. You are quite right. We
didn’t!
My friends and I didn’t think it was necessary at the time to
write our Jesus stories
because we believed he would ‘return’ again from heaven very
quickly,
but as time went by and this didn’t happen,
we thought it was necessary to put the story in writing
so that people like you might learn from it.
And with 30 or 40 years having passed,
the Roman attack on Jerusalem, and the destruction of the
Temple,
we felt it was necessary to get the story down in writing.
John.
I’m sure I speak for all of us when I say;
it is a joy for us to be here to share with you something of our
experience of Jesus
who came to be the Light of the world and the Word made flesh,
for us.
As you may know I and my colleagues did not write our story
until about 30 or 40 years after Mark and his friends and
indeed,
as we say at the very end of our Gospel,
‘There is much else that Jesus did. If it were all to be
recorded in detail, I suppose the whole world could not hold the books that
would be written.”
A bit exaggerated, I suppose, but I think you get the
point.
So a lot of water went under the bridge between Mark’s writing
and ours.
Matthew.
I too am very pleased to be here and thank you for the
invitation.
One of the reasons I am pleased to be here is to ask John,
why he never had anything about the birth of Jesus in his
gospel;
no birth story.
You don’t say a thing about it!
John.
Well Matthew, that isn’t really true.
It’s true that our gospel doesn’t have a story like yours
but there is more than one way of witnessing to the truth.
In our gospel we speak of Jesus being the Word from the very
beginning of everything. We also say that this Word became flesh
and dwelt amongst us.
Surely people would understand that we are talking about Jesus
and his birth.
Matthew.
I suppose you are right, John, but I still think a solid story
helps more.
Stories can have very deep meanings, if thought about and really
understood.
Interviewer.
We might hear from Luke about this, because you have stories
about the birth of Jesus.
Luke.
Thank you. Before throwing in my bit, I would also like to
say how great it is to be here. I’ve always wanted to meet you guys.
On this point, I would like to agree with Matthew about
stories.
But you, Matthew, would surely agree that we were not really
writing about the birth of Jesus; we were really giving our listeners and
readers a foretaste of what we were going to emphasize in our gospels,
an overture as it were,
introducing our main themes.
Interviewer.
Before we go any further,
I would like Mark to comment on his gospel having no birth
story.
Mark.
Well, being the first gospel to be written,
and in the dangerous times that we were writing,
we thought it was important to get straight into the message
that Jesus left us,
linking it with our Hebrew Scriptures and also linking him with
John the Baptiser.
John was a well-known and revered preacher so people could
quickly connect.
We started, as you know, with Jesus’ baptism, connecting him
with John.
We know he was one of John’s disciples.
And John was proclaiming that Jesus would baptise people not
with water
but with the Holy Spirit.
Then we have Jesus calling his disciples
and straight after that getting into the synagogue to teach and
preach.
We wanted to get into Jesus’ message right at the beginning.
John.
Great stuff Mark.
I’m on your side but I still think Matthew and Luke added an
extra significant bit that is important.
Interviewer.
What say we give Matthew and Luke a chance to justify their
‘extra significant bit’ that you speak of John?
Over to you first, Matthew.
Matthew.
Thanks.
Luke is absolutely right when he said that we were not really
writing about the birth of Jesus in our first few stories about him.
These stories are the vehicle we use,
hinting to people what our whole gospel is going to be all
about.
I can speak for the group of us who toiled for many years,
writing our gospel,
that we wanted to present Jesus as the fulfilment of prophesies
that are in our given sacred scriptures, what is called now, the Old
Testament.
This is obviously why we have 5 specific references to our
Hebrew Scriptures in our birth stories.
We make this quite clear with statements like,
‘Now all this happened in order to make what the Lord had said
through the prophet come true,’
and
‘In this way what the prophet Jeremiah had said, came
true.’
We keep doing this to death in the first 50 verses of our gospel
–
once in every 10 verses.
We wanted to make our point!
Interviewer.
You certainly have. I suppose there is more you would like
to add. What might that be?
Matthew.
Yes. There is actually more.
We have Jesus’ father, Joseph depicted as a dreamer; -
just like Joseph in the book of Genesis.
We have Joseph’s father being Jacob; - just like in the book of
Genesis.
We have the ancestry of Jesus going back to Abraham.
Do I make my point?
We wanted to assure our fellow Jewish readers and listeners that
we had a new history in the making, and Jesus was smack bang in the centre of
it.
And there’s more!
In a more subtle way we are retelling the story of Moses.
We wanted to present Jesus as the new and greater
Moses.
Rather bold when you consider we were writing principally to our
Jewish friends and Jewish communities who held Moses in the highest
regard.
No-one was higher!
We tell of a child slaughter in Bethlehem
and how Jesus escaped from death at the hands of Herod –
just like when Moses was rescued from the bulrushes amidst a
massive child slaughter by Egypt’s Pharaoh.
We tell of Jesus coming ‘out of Egypt’, –
reminding our listeners that Moses came out of Egypt with the
nation of Hebrew slaves. We tell that immediately after Jesus’
baptism, and after ‘he came up out of the water’,
he was tempted for 40 days and 40 nights in the
wilderness -
just like the Hebrew slaves, after coming up out of the waters,
when the Red Sea was parted,
were in the wilderness for 40 years encountering many
temptations.
We tell of Jesus’ ‘Sermon on the Mount’ –
just like God had given the 10 Commandments on Mt. Sinai.
Somewhat subtle, as I have said, but our fellow Jews would have
got it, I’m sure. They would have understood what we were really
saying. Jesus is the new and greater Moses.
Interviewer.
I suppose that’s about it?
Matthew.
Well, Yes.
Sorry I have said so much but it is important to know what our
gospel is doing with our stories about the birth of Jesus.
Right at the beginning of our gospel we are calling our fellow
Jews to re-think our common history and instead of following Moses to follow
the new Moses, Jesus.
We can’t and shouldn’t ignore Moses and all of our history; but
Jesus is now our Lord.
We also put a wider theme in our story with the visit of the
Magi,
amongst the gentile elite.
But our emphasis here is on the gifts.
Gold for a king, Frankincense for priestly functions,
and Myrrh used in the burial of the dead.
All these are meant to point to aspects of Jesus later life,
nothing really to do with his birth.
Interviewer.
Thank you very much Matthew.
Song 314 As with gladness men of old (TIS)
Interviewer.
Now it’s over to you Luke for your insights.
Luke.
Thank you.
Great stuff Matthew;
and I really do respect you and your mates for your tremendous
contribution.
I take your point about Moses and maybe that needed to be
said.
For us, however, our gospel of Jesus is much more than ‘Jesus is
the new and greater Moses.’ Jesus and his message is to all of us, even
gentiles like me.
I know you would agree but we felt we had to make our point
strongly,
right at the beginning of our story – in the birth story of
Jesus.
This is why we have our ancestry line going right back to Adam.
I hope you noticed that - not just a Jewish lineage but a human
ancestry. We don’t even have Jesus’ grandfather having the name
Jacob!
We reckon his name was Heli, but we don’t wish to knit-pick.
However, we take our collective hat off to you, Matthew.
You mentioned 5 women in your ancestry.
We didn’t mention any.
Shame on us!
It might be interesting to compare notes as to where we both got
our information about ancestry from.
Our lists are so different.
If we had had access to the internet we may have been more
accurate!
Not to worry.
I would like to say that it is not by accident that Joseph
hardly gets a look-in in our birth narrative.
We talk about Elizabeth, Mary’s relative and their close
bond.
Their babies had a close bond as well; John the Baptiser and
Jesus.
Isn’t it interesting that John’s mother insisted on his name
being John and she got her way!
We also thought it important to share Mary’s song of praise and
we are so pleased that it is still used in many Christian churches now.
Joseph obviously needs to be there but Mary is the one we
concentrate on.
Mary’s Song 161 Tell out, my soul (TIS)
Interviewer.
So, why do you concentrate so much on Mary?
Luke.
Why? A good question.
Mary is our hero, and her prominence is important because women
were marginalised;
and one might say they still are!
They were ignored and oppressed.
Mary is a feisty one who acts on what she believes is God’s
plan.
We also thought that the stories about the woman who anointed
Jesus’ feet,
the healing of the crippled woman on the Sabbath,
the parable about the Lost Coin, (about the cleaning chores
usually done by women!) were all significant to preserve.
The best one I like is the story about Mary and Martha, where
Mary chooses to sit at Jesus’ feet, learning as a disciple and Martha does the
traditional women’s thing. When Martha complains that Mary is not doing
her bit in the kitchen, Jesus tells her to back off. Great stuff!
All you guys missed these stories.
Sure you had others about women, some of which we missed,
and you alluded to women being part of Jesus’ disciples band, as
we did
because they obviously were,
but we thought these particular stories were also important to
include in our gospel.
Enough about women, but they do play a very important part in
our gospel
and we introduce this theme right at the beginning. Mary is our
main player.
People who are marginalised are at the centre of our gospel.
Interviewer.
Well what about the shepherds? They are important in your story.
Luke.
Ah, Yes! The Shepherds.
Shepherds in our day, and back then, were shunned.
They would never have been allowed to be in the company of the
elite,
the Magi, the Wise Men, even if they were gentiles!
Shepherds were thieves, stealing fodder wherever their sheep
grazed.
They didn’t keep the Sabbath laws. They had to tend their
sheep. No excuses permitted! So in our gospel they are prime
players.
We are saying, right at the beginning of our gospel that the
oppressed are the ones who were special to Jesus, and they are there, even at
his birth!
Interviewer.
We could go on for hours here with you great contributors to our
Christian heritage but time is up, so thank you so much for your time and
sharing your insights with us.
Song 304 O come, let us adore
him vv 3, 6 (“See how the shepherds/Sing, choirs of angels”)
Reading John 1 : 1 - 14.
Reflection (George Stuart alt),
‘We saw his glory!’
What glory do we see?
I see the glory of compassion,
the glory of forgiveness,
the glory of integrity,
the glory of honesty and goodness,
the glory of acceptance and gentleness,
the glory of godliness in all its expressions.
Yes, I see the glory of God, full of grace and truth.
The birth of every baby brings forward the hope of all this happening.
The birth of every baby points to the potential of all this happening.
The birth of each baby gives rise to a hymn of praise.
The Birth of a Baby Tune - The Ash Grove TIS 531 (George Stuart)
The birth of a baby
Can kindle just maybe
A spark of compassion for all humankind.
At Christmas we wonder,
Amazed as we ponder
A sight that stirs love in our heart and our mind.
A babe so dependent,
A human descendant,
So fragile and helpless gives strength to the weak;
When love is wide open
To outcast and broken,
The baby is present for all those who seek.
Perhaps we could venture
To join an adventure
Of singing the chorus already begun;
Its mercy is tender;
True justice its splendour;
This chorus when sung gives great strength to each one.
But better than singing
Are actions when bringing
This Good News of peace and acceptance and grace;
With love so beguiling
The baby is smiling;
The heart of the chorus is here to embrace.
The story enduring
Of love re-assuring
May raise in our hearts what we know to be good.
It urges a question
And prompts the suggestion
To make this world gentle. If only we could!
For Christmas is telling
With hope overwhelming
Of one man’s endeavour to let God be king.
He showed by his living
And by his forgiving
That love is eternal. Let Christmas bells ring!
Reading 1 John 4 : 7 - 10, 12,
16b, 19 - 20.
Reflection (George Stuart)
These readings, more than most other readings from the New
Testament, teach us that if and when we love, God is dwelling in us and we are
expressing the godly purpose for this world. If I love I am
expressing God. If I love I am really an incarnation of God.
My brothers and sisters are, of course, not only those I
like. Being a follower of Jesus is more than being nice to
others. That’s not extremely difficult. Loving is often
costly. Loving often demands forgiveness that I don’t want to give.
Loving often means accepting the people I don’t like and don’t want
anything to do with. Loving can mean sacrifice. Look at
Jesus.
Offering
Prayers of the People (Seasons of the Spirit)
God of overwhelming love and grace,
in this Christmas season we come before you in prayer.
We remember how you chose
to live among us,
declaring that our world was a worthy place
for you, the Creator,
to be present.
And so at this time, we pray for our world
and for all who live in it.
We especially think this day
of those for whom this is a difficult time.
For those who are missing loved ones
who have died, or are far away.
For those who are unable to be surrounded by others
and who struggle with all the emphasis on family and
togetherness in this season.
We think of all
for whom the emphasis on “stuff” simply underscores
not having enough.
And we think of how grateful we are
that you have sent Jesus into our world
and into our lives.
How might we reflect his message in our daily living?
How might we share with others the true joy
that Christ brings into our lives?
How can we – like all creation –
offer you the praise you deserve?
Open our hearts,
loving God.
Stretch our understandings
of our world
that we might find new ways
to travel with others
in the days to come.
We pray in Christ’s name, Amen.
Lord’s Prayer
God’s Incarnation (George Stuart)
Tune Lauda Anima (Praise my soul) 179 TIS
We can be God’s incarnation
When we live in love and peace;
God’s own kingdom is reflected
When all wars and conflicts cease;
With the promise
Of true justice
We may see God’s reign increase.
We can be God’s incarnation
When we care for all around;
God’s own kingdom is reflected
When in kindness we are bound;
In our living
And our giving
God’s own action can be found.
We can be God’s incarnation
When we link with Galilee;
God’s own kingdom is reflected
In our life and ministry,
When with Jesus
We find purpose
Bringing love to victory.
Blessing (www.laughingbird.net)
Go now, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly;
clothe yourselves with love;
forgive one another,
and do everything you do in the name of Christ,
giving thanks to God.
And may God bless you and repay you for all you give;
May Christ Jesus send his peace to rule in your hearts;
and may the Holy Spirit raise you to maturity
in wisdom, in compassion and in love.
Let us go in peace to love and serve our God,
In the name of Christ. Amen.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly;
clothe yourselves with love;
forgive one another,
and do everything you do in the name of Christ,
giving thanks to God.
And may God bless you and repay you for all you give;
May Christ Jesus send his peace to rule in your hearts;
and may the Holy Spirit raise you to maturity
in wisdom, in compassion and in love.
Let us go in peace to love and serve our God,
In the name of Christ. Amen.
Blessing Song 779 May the feet of God walk with you
George Stuart
Seasons of the Spirit
