[Propertalk] Fw: SermonWriter: Dec. 25 (Christmas Eve/Day) Luke 2:1-20

[Joe Parrish]

The following are SermonWriter materials for Dec. 25 (Christmas Eve/Day). 
They focus on Luke 2:1-20.


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Dick Donovan


A THOUGHT ON PREACHING:  Put it before them briefly so they will read it, 
clearly so they will appreciate it, picturesquely so they will remember it 
and, above all, accurately so they will be guided by its light. (Joseph 
Pulitzer)


SCRIPTURE:  Luke 2:1-20


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FOR SERMONS ON THIS TEXT, GO TO:

http://www.lectionary.org/SermLinks/NT/NT03_Luke.htm

There are nine sermons on this text posted there.


THOUGHT PROVOKERS:   (Top of page)

It is good to be children sometimes,
and never better than at Christmas, \
when its mighty Founder was a Child himself.

Charles Dickens

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Christmas is a Son away from home.

Norma Alloway

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Christmas is based on an exchange of gifts:
the gift of God to man --
his unspeakable gift of his Son;
and the gift of man to God --
when we present our bodies as a living sacrifice
and, like the Macedonians, first give ourselves to God.
No one has kept or can keep Christmas
until he has had a part in this two-way transaction.

Vance Havner

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

How much nonsense there is
in the annual campaign to "put Christ back into Christmas!"
Christ is IN Christmas already and has been from the beginning,
and therefore our responsibility lies in getting him into ourselves,
in recovering somehow that dynamic secret
without which the first Christmas would have been the last.

Donald Macleod

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

And, finally, a thought for the preacher!
Give each member of your congregation a special gift this Christmas --
a coupon good for one free hour of advice.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *


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HYMN STORY:  Joy to the World

Isaac Watts (1674-1748) was born to Dissenting parents (people who refused 
to accept the authority and practices of the Church of England).  As a boy, 
he sang hymns outside prison walls to encourage his father, who had been 
arrested for his non-conformist beliefs.

Isaac showed promise as a poet at a very young age.  As he grew, he became 
increasingly unhappy with the hymns that he sang in church each week.  In 
those days, hymns were psalms set to music.  Watts saw that the hymns thus 
reflected little or nothing of the New Testament, and set out to remedy that 
error. His hymns -- at least his earlier hymns -- reinterpreted the psalms 
in the light of the Christian faith.  In 1719, he published a book of hymns 
entitled, The Psalms of David Imitated in the Language of the New Testament.

One of those hymns was "Joy to the World," based loosely on Psalm 98, which 
says, "Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth; break forth into 
joyous song and sing praises" (Psalm 98:4).  That psalm looks forward to the 
day when the Lord will come to judge the world in righteousness.  In this 
hymn, Watts reinterpreted the psalm to rejoice in the coming of the Christ 
as our Lord and savior.

This hymn was sung to various tunes for many years.  Then in 1839, Lowell 
Mason, a banker who happened to be quite interested in church music, 
published the tune that we now associate with "Joy to the World."  Mason 
borrowed liberally from classical music, and acknowledged his debt to 
Handel's "Messiah" for parts of this hymn tune.

Watts wrote some 600 hymns altogether, and is considered to be the father or 
Christian hymnody.  His hymns include such favorites as "When I Survey the 
Wondrous Cross" and "O God, Our Help in Ages Past."  But the favorite of 
favorites is "Joy to the World."


NOTE:  See other hymn stories at http://www.lectionary.org/hymnstories.htm


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