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<div><span style="color: black">Luke 2:1-14 (15-20) - <strong>"What Was Seen at Bethlehem"</strong></span></div>
<div>Hebrews 1:1-4 <span style="color: black">- <strong>"No Time for a Sermon"</strong> by Leonard Sweet</span></div>
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<span style="color: black">Luke 2 <font size="4"><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">- </font></font>the sermon title "What Was Seen at Bethlehem" </span>
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<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">I wonder what I would have heard had I
been there that night. It is a question that annually haunts me. Would I
have heard the choirs of angels singing or simply the sounds of
barnyard animals shifting around? Would I have seen the star in the sky
that night or simply two poor and very frightened kids? Would I have
understood the hushed silence of the divine presence, or simply the
chill of a cold east wind. Would I have understood the message of
Emmanuel, God with us, or would the cosmic implications of that evening
have passed me by?</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"> </div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">I am convinced that had two people been
there that night in Bethlehem it is quite possible that they could have
heard and seen two entirely different scenes. I believe this because
all of life is this way. God never presents himself in revelation in a
manner in which we are forced to believe. We are always left with an
option, for that is God's way. Thus, one person can say "It is a
miracle, while another says "It is coincidence."</div>
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<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">Certainly very few people in Palestine
saw and heard and understood what took place that night. The choirs of
angels singing were drowned out by the haggling and trading going on in
the Jerusalem bazaar. There was a bright star in the sky but the only
ones apparently to pay any attention to it were pagan astrologers from
the East. If anyone did see Mary and Joseph on that most fateful night,
they were too preoccupied with their own problems to offer any
assistance.</div>
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<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">In one of the All in the Family
episodes that aired some years ago Edith and Archie are attending
Edith's high school class reunion. Edith encounters an old classmate by
the name of Buck who, unlike his earlier days. had now become
excessively obese. Edith and Buck have a delightful conversation about
old times and the things that they did together, but remarkably Edith
doesn't seem to notice how extremely heavy Buck has become. Later, when
Edith and Archie and talking, she says in her whiny voices "Archie,
ain't Buck a beautiful person." Archie looks at her with a disgusted
expression and says: "Your a pip, Edith. You know that. You and I look
at the same guy and you see a beautiful person and I see a blimp. Edith
gets a puzzled expression on her face and says something unknowingly
profound, "Yeah, ain't it too bad."</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"> </div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">You see, what we see and what we hear in life depends not upon the events but rather....</div>
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<div><span style="color: black">The rest of this sermon can be obtained by joining <a target="_blank" __removedlink__2098170823__href="http://mail.churchmail.com/lists/lt.php?id=Kk8FBgALAQFUCUkCAgZKDAtXUVw%3D">http://www.sermons.com/signup</a> </span></div>
<div><span style="color: black"></span><span style="color: black">_______________________</span>
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<span style="color: black">Hebrews 1 <font size="4"><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">- </font></font>the sermon titled "No Time for a Sermon" by Leonard Sweet </span>
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<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">Merry Christmas!</div>
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<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">Christmas Day is “No Time For A Sermon.”</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"> </div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">No, it is not that there is no time for
a sermon because the choir sang so many beautiful Christmas songs. It
is not because there is no time for a sermon because it took so long to
seat the “Christmas crowd.” It is not because the critters in the “live”
nativity scene got loose and ate all the Christmas cookies for coffee
hour.</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"> </div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">The reason that on this Sunday, on
Christmas Day, there is “no time for a sermon” is because on Christmas
Day there is only time for each of us to discover “a silence in which
another voice may speak” (Mary Oliver, “Praying”). Today is the time for
us to FEEL the gift of Christmas from the top of our heads to the tip
of our toes, not “hear” about it with our ears.</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"> </div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">The gift of Christmas is something that
sneaks up on us at unexpected moments. It may come in the wee hours of
the morning after having spent a long night wrapping presents. It may
come while we are waiting for a bus and are listening to “canned“
Christmas music and watching our fellow commuters who are wearing way
too much red and green. It may come when our child, or grandchild, or
neighborhood kid, suddenly offers a small gift and a spontaneous
snuggle, instead of a hurried “hi” and scuttling away.</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"> </div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">Until we experience our “Christmas
moment” the holiday is all about “to-do” lists, stress tests, credit
limits, and on-line access. Until that “Christmas moment,” we have been
concerned with unemployment, skyrocketing grocery prices, troops coming
home, and if the weather will turn freakish and spoil all our plans.
Until we experience a true “Christmas moment,” Christmas is crazy and
chaotic.</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"> </div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">But then that “Christmas moment” happens. And “the hopes and fears of all the years are met” in that moment in a person…</div>
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<div><span style="color: black">___________________________</span></div>
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<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">God’s Sign of Love</div>
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<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">A young girl ran away from home to get
married. Her father was angry and said he would never forgive her or
ever want to see her again. She was sorry and wrote long letters
seeking forgiveness, but still the father remained unforgiving. She
eventually had a son. One day, when the boy was old enough to run and
play, an idea came to her. Why not send her son to her father. He would
be a living letter telling her father of her love for him and that she
still very much wanted his forgiveness.<br>
<br>
They drove to grandfather's house. The boy had not been there before,
but the house was as his mother remembered it. She told the boy to knock
on the door. When Grandpa answered, he was to give him a big hug and a
kiss. The boy went to the door, knocked, grandfather answered, the boy
reached up, kissed him and give him a huge hug. His heart melted and the
father<br>
motioned for the girl to come in as she was standing just a few feet from the door.<br>
<br>
Reconciliation happened that day just as reconciliation happens this
night between God and his children. Jesus is God's sign of his love for
us and his power to forgive us our wrongs.<br>
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Tim Zingale, Christmas Colors<br>
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Silent Night</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><br>
The Army chaplain of the 106th Division was captured in the Battle of
the Bulge in World War II. Along with many other Americans, he was
herded on to a freight car and taken into the heart of Germany.<br>
<br>
On the evening of December 23rd, the men were in the railroad yard of a
German city, when a devastating attack was made by the British Royal Air
Force. Many of the American prisoners were killed as well as many
Germans. The next night, Christmas Eve, the air raid was repeated. When
the planes began to fly over, there was fear and alarm among the
prisoners who were<br>
packed like sardines into these freight cars. The chaplain persuaded the
German officer in charge to let him go up and down the line of the cars
and talk to the men. As he passed by he said, “Boys, this is Christmas
Eve and we are in a tough spot. But, if you have your Bibles, get them
out and read the story of the birth of Jesus and you will know that He
is with us even here. If you can't read because of the darkness, then
let's sing."<br>
<br>
Immediately there was a medley of response. Some sang revival songs and
some sang hymns. Then a rich baritone struck up “Silent Night, Holy
Night,” and he was joined by others. Carload after carload joined in
singing that beautiful Christmas carol. Then something marvelous
happened. Other voices, German voices, began to sing the song in the
original “Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht.” The German voices and American
voices blended together in praise of Christ who came to bring all people
together in peace.<br>
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James D. Kegel, Christmas Peace<br>
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