Christmas Day in Hospital
It is Christmas day. Let us celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, the light of the world!
Welcome to our service, Christmas service & I’d like to pick up on this theme of darkness and light. Jesus known as the light of the world. Jesus brought light to dark places not by greatness in power but by becoming one of the vulnerable people.
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The people walking in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of deep darkness
a light has dawned.
3 You have enlarged the nation
and increased their joy;
they rejoice before you
as people rejoice at the harvest,
as warriors rejoice
when dividing the plunder.
6 For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Of the greatness of his government and peace
there will be no end.
He will reign on David’s throne
and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
with justice and righteousness
from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the Lord Almighty
will accomplish this.
After reading Isaiah 9 v 2-7
It’s hard to believe the reading from Isaiah 9 was written 750 years before the birth of Jesus Christ. Notice the prophet Isaiah was so convinced that the events he was speaking of would come about that he writes it as though it has happened already. Despite the fact that those who heard him w/h/thought he was crazy but we know today it is already being fulfilled in the arrival of Jesus Christ 2000 years ago
‘The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. They lived in the land of the darkness but now light is shining on them.’
Picking up on this theme of darkness and light. Jesus brought light to dark places not by displays of authority or power but by becoming one of the vulnerable people. Dark places such as places of poverty, places where there is conflict, places like hospitals where there is sickness and accidents, places where there are relationship problems. In fact the dark places where Jesus entered the world are still dark places today, yes in SMH and the world beyond our hospital.
Let us revisit the Christmas story this year determined to allow the story to become part of the story of our lives. We will celebrate in words and carols the birth of Jesus sent to bring light into the dark and dark places of our world.
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In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2 (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 And everyone went to their own town to register.
4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.
After reading Luke 2 v 1-7
Imagine this Silhouette of the birth of Jesus. Joseph had to go to Bethlehem to register for a compulsory census and Mary went with him. Maybe it was the bouncing donkey ride that did it…but while they were in Bethlehem at that very busy time the notion came on Mary to give birth! [Colour picture] Jesus born at a time when there was no room in for him…& like many other children he was born in poverty and wrapped in rags and a trough for a cot.
There in the darkness in Bethlehem, the long expected hero of the Jews took his first breath and gave out his first cries and received his first loving embrace and it wasn’t in a castle that the King of Kings was born it was in the darkness in an outhouse in Bethlehem. It had been written in the OT in 750 years before the birth , that the Christ would be born in an unfashionable northern town called Bethlehem. That was God’s way of reaching out to humanity.
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8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
16 So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.
Talk 3 [after reading Luke 2 v 8 – 16] [Show the Silhouette 3 - Shepherds in the Fields]
Imagine if you were the angel to tell the world that Jesus Christ had been born who would you choose to tell Queen, Prime Minister?
The people God chose to tell were the roughest people of the day, the shepherds (watched their flocks by night)….they worked on the hills outside Bethlehem when they were told by an angel ‘this very day the Saviour is born – Christ the Lord.’
I wonder why God chose such lowly people to be the 1st to hear the good news of Jesus. I believe it was to those people in the darkness of society that God chose to identify with them 1st. The humble, the ordinary, they would be honoured as the 1st to know. And if you’re inclined to feel that you’re near the bottom of the pile remember this that to the likes of you that God makes a bee line for and hear the announcement for yourself ‘this very day the Saviour is born – Christ the Lord.’
[Show Silhouette 4] From the Fairy story of Cinderella. Cinderella worked in the darkness of the kitchen until she met the prince. She was transformed and became royalty from that meeting. And today, the Prince of peace - Jesus Christ, calls you out from the kitchen (whatever that dark place means for you) to shine for him, to be royalty, a child of the king of kings! To be his light in the dark places around you, even in this hospital, as we walk the journey of our lives, he asks us to follow him, not just in his footsteps but to shine for him by first asking him into our hearts and then to shine through our lives by his spirit shining through us.
O holy Child of Bethlehem Descend to us, we pray
Cast out our sin and enter in
Be born to us today
We hear the Christmas angels
The great glad tidings tell
O come to us, abide with us, Our Lord Emmanuel
Intercession & Lord’s prayer as confession
[IntroTo Holy Communion]
So often the Christmas story ends at the manger. Christmas Day and the air was full of promise... Promise of the Christ the Lord… promise of the Saviour.
Christmas is not about empty promises but a promise fulfilled. Christmas is about Christ, our light, coming into dark places replacing conflict with peace, injustice with justice and replacing fear with love.
But Christmas would be meaningless if Jesus hadn’t fulfilled the promise of his birth.
The promise was fulfilled in his life – and in his death. Let us reflect on this as we prepare for sharing Holy Communion
Holy Communion: Read 1 Corinthians 11 v 23-26
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23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
Jesus, the Light of the World. This is the message of Christmas!
O holy Child of Bethlehem! Descend to us, we pray;
Cast out our sin and enter in, be born in us today.
We hear the Christmas angels the great glad tidings tell
O come to us, abide with us, Our Lord Emmanuel!
O Little Town of Bethlem
Footnote
John Wesley's dying words were: ' God is with us.'
