Eggnog and the Messiah

Hear it by clicking here Eggnog and the Messiah Christmas Poem Sermon 2005 I sit at a desk as I compose my monologue, Embracing a large glass of my favorite eggnog. And like eggnog, which only is found When Christmas and New Year's comes around We sometimes remember the Savior's birth And the rest of the year forget it's worth. (By the way, eggnog to me is very dear. I could drink it throughout the year. I charge the milk companies with dereliction, in failing to market to my annual addiction.

) But, alas, I digress away from our story I'm here to tell of Jesus' glory For this morning is meant in poem and rhyme To tell about this Christmas time. But how do I tell the wonder of Christ And recount to others the sacrifice That Jesus made in coming to earth And appearing through a virgin birth? How can I compete for your attention When some of you live in the fourth dimension Of movies and music and video games And all those things with greater claims? How does a preacher compete with a movie With special effects and all that's groovy? Should I demonstrate that the real King Kong Has really been Jesus all along? How's this…    Jesus was human, Kong was hairy    But there are similarities both of them carry.    Like Kong, Christ was the king of His dwelling    But sacrificed all for a love compelling    Both became a captives, rather than king    Willing giving up everything,    For love compelled both Kong and Christ    And ended in each one paying the price.    But there were also deviations    In their actions and motivations.    In King Kong, beauty killed the beast    But in the Bible, the beast is not deceased.

   The beasts killed Beauty in our tale    For to a cross they did nail    The Son of God who never sinned.    On Beauty's body our crimes were pinned    To show selfish rebels His affection    And bring us back from our rejection    By finding a way to conquer sin    Through dying in His mortal skin.    And though Kong lay dead for all to see    The King of the Bible held death's key.    Our King came back from death. He's living!    He offers new life to us forgiving    All of our self-centered rebellions    And offering peace to all us hellions.

So perhaps I could do the movie scene Comparing Jesus to the latest screen. But I'd rather tell the story direct from the Book. So perhaps you'd be willing to have a look At the Christmas story as found in a Gospel. Though I imagine some of you might be hostile: "This story was written in ancient Greek! It can only have meaning for a religious freak. There's nothing here for intelligent folk.

The whole thing's just some pious joke! Why pay attention to a story antique? What makes you think this man's birth was unique?" A doctor named Luke faced similar questions And he wrote a book with his impressions From testimony he had collected From talking with people he respected. For the past two months we've been reading Something resembling a judicial pleading. Luke takes us into a courtroom to throw The evidence before us like a picture show. Luke brings forth witness upon witness To help us find spiritual fitness. And before our doctor's work is done He means to show that Jesus is the Special One.

So follow me as we take a quick look Through a few chapters of the Good Book And see if you agree with Luke That Jesus is more than just some spook Or angel or enlightened man like Buddha - This Jesus from the tribe of Judah. You can follow with me in chapter one As Luke tells of God's coming Son. Listen for what each witness tells And see if there's reason for Christmas bells. Starting with the old priest Zechariah Luke tells us about the coming Messiah. A son will be born to the priest and his wife A child he's been praying for all of his life.

The priest's son will come in Elijah's power And prepare the way for Messiah's hour. Zechariah proves a bit contrary So God decides Zack's speech He'll vary. Zach goes home and sleeps with his wife And even though Liz is past her "change of life" God creates a son for Zechariah and Liz And in spite of doubts, Zach sees there is A God who can do whatever He says A Creator who speaks and that is what is. From Zechariah wary, God moves to Mary. And to the girl about to marry, God tells her that she soon will carry The Son of God within her womb And this will happen without a groom.

What do you think: truth or fable? But you must agree that God is able To do even the impossible or He wouldn't be God. God not able? That's quite odd! Mary submits to Gabriel's pronouncement But she'll send no baby announcement. Who will believe that this child is God's own? Mary must feel very alone. So Mary picks up on Gabriel's allusion And heads to the hills for a time of seclusion To get away from Nazareth And visit her cousin Elizabeth. In the womb John does some leaps.

Upon Mary Liz blessings heaps. So Elizabeth and fetus John Encourage Mary and urge her on. And this young girl composes a song While the Spirit sings along. She sings about how the proud will stumble And of the Messiah who comes for the humble. With God every promise shall come true Cause we know surely all things He will do.

Now at the end of chapter one Old Elizabeth bears a son. John is born on a mountain peak And his dad Zack is freed to speak. And dad sings out in joyous strain About Messiah's coming reign. So now in review we arrive To where Luke has told of witnesses five: A priest, an angel and Mary the girl, A wife and a babe in womb did curl. All these people had something to say About the child of Christmas day.

And then in a passage preached by Lars We came to where God would give cigars If he was some kind of earthly father But since He's divine, He didn't bother. A census Caesar did decree Which brought to Bethlehem the three And during the time they were there The time came for Mary to bear The Son of God and man. And then in Luke chapter two, verse eight We met some shepherds out quite late While taking care of common sheep Heavenly visitors disturbed their sleep. If you were choosing to announce a king Would you pick shepherds with which to sing? The intelligentsia of Jesus' day Considered them part of the common fray. The nature of their outside work Meant the Jewish law they shirked.

And since herders moved about a lot It sometimes happened that they were caught Confusing 'mine' with 'thine.' The Jewish leaders did not even allow A shepherd to in court avow His testimony was considered unsound A despised class; they were not renowned. So why if Luke was inventing a story Did he choose shepherds to hear God's glory? The answer doesn't take a sleuth Luke didn't invent; he recorded truth. The shepherds were chosen by God it seems. They weren't myths or fanciful dreams.

And in choosing shepherds God did reveal That the smart and the proud often miss what's real. Some skeptics will protest, "Angels! Ridiculous! Don't clerics know that modern people are meticulous About accepting angelic tripe. Winged cherubs are a bunch of hype." Of course, they are entitled to their opinions. Their thoughts, no doubt, hold sway in intellectual dominions.

Yet these cynics doubting a heavenly creature Have no problem swallowing a sci-fi feature. Their belief in theoretical things we've never seen, We are told to swallow sight unseen. To believe in angels they say is na�ve, But according to them we must believe In aliens, black holes and antimatter And that one day even time we'll shatter. Carl Sagan with angels could not come to grips But he had no problem believing in space ships Which came to earth eons ago and brought The first seeds of life that wrought The beginning of evolution. That was his conclusion.

(I once knew a skeptical Episcopalian Who was convinced he was abducted by an alien.) But let's get one thing straight Doctor Luke doesn't state That angels are like cupid That would be sort of stupid! Chubby angels with stubby wings Have nothing to do with the angel that sings To the shepherds in the Bible - That would be an awful libel. Angels in the Bible are warriors, Messengers, and destroyers. "Fear not!" is what you often hear Whenever an angel does come near. When angels appear in verse thirteen Just ask any soldier or any Marine "Company" and "host" are terminology That belongs to military etymology.

And never an angel in armor suit Was told that he was cubby and cute! Oh, and angels don't have wings This misnomer springs From people trying to figure out How the angels moved about Before aerodynamic inventions And those Star Trek conventions. These warrior angels sang a word Proclaiming a baby as the Lord! They called Him Christ and also Savior. Doesn't that seem strange behavior Unless these angels had acumen That the babe was more than human. Home is where we like to be When we light the Christmas tree. Christ's first Christmas was not at home.

Far from the comfortable, He did roam. So you and I could find the way To return to God some day. For God is not the Creator who makes, then hides But instead the One who loves and provides. He came to live among us, so we would see That our Creator was no absent deity. It certainly seems strange to me That there are those who see (As I do) the existence of something greater Which they call their Creator.

But if you ask them what He's like They'd just as soon you'd take a hike. "We can't really know for sure Who She is is a bit obscure. Knowledge about God we don't possess. All we can do is grope and guess." But if God caused us to abide, Do you think He'd want to hide? If He called us to be real, Do you think He'd then conceal Who He was and how to reach Him What He's like and how to preach Him? Jesus came two thousand years ago So the Father we would know.

In human form God was enfleshed In knowledge of God we were enmeshed. God hath taken a body, it seems And having gone to such extremes Angel warriors shout the themes And glory all around them beams For sin-forced wrath now shall cease As an army announces peace. The angel mentions one thing stranger: "Look for the One lying in a stone manger." Two babies could be wrapped in swaddle But surely only one would be the model For the King whose bed was stone. In this way He would be known.

Thirty-three years later another Mary Would around a graveyard tarry. As this Mary wept and dawdled Another Joseph swaddled The same body with cloth strips Hardly able to come to grips With the idea that their King was dead As He lay on a cold stone bed. But death could not contain our Lord Back to life He was restored And after appearing to hundreds over forty days God to heaven His Son did raise. But now on this Christmas night God chose shepherds to invite To be witnesses of His birth As God took the lower berth Being part of His creation In sinful human habitation In a trough in which the animals fed, In pieces of cloth as his bedspread. Choosing life among the poor, Manger bed next to manure.

In verse twenty-one we're told Two events that do unfold. Jesus suffers circumcision And there is no split decision When it comes to naming Him. Won't be Eli. Won't be Jim. Jesus is the name conferred - "Yah saves" in Hebrew word.

Only seven special youngsters received Their names before they were conceived. After forty days the mother Goes to temple like every other Jewish lady who bore a male Following every legal detail. When they did arrive They paid their shekels five And being poor offered pigeon Following their Jewish religion. Two more witnesses now come forth And almost like magnetic north Are attracted to this tiny boy And both come up expressing joy. Simeon was a righteous man and devout And to all in the temple he did boom out A little song for all those near To tell them their Messiah was here.

Simeon speaking as a seer Says the Gentiles good news will hear. This is a promise dear to me, Since my grandpap worshipped a tree. He said the babe was the light of the nations And the glory to his Jewish relations. This child who was the talk of the town Would bring some up and put some down. Because He would their thoughts reveal.

Their hearts they could no longer conceal. He'd be a comfort to some in the nation But to others the Messiah was a complete frustration. As the day of Messiah commenced The proud would speak against The One who is Lord of heaven and earth Only Jesus has the worth. Some greet the Lord with glee. Others are unwilling to bend the knee.

The baby of Christmas stamps Humanity into two respective camps. Up or down, you decide Jesus is the Great Divide. Accept Him as the Lord who reigns Or find yourself in self-made chains. And so Simeon saw the Christ Because the Spirit had enticed Him to know that he would not die Until the Messiah he did spy. Simeon tells mom to be attuned For her Son's coming will leave a wound.

A sword will pierce her soul and leave her dazed Until the time her Son is raised. And while Simeon is speaking God's will A lady comes up much stranger still. Hannah was seven years matrimonial, Decades of service ceremonial, Now brings the final testimonial. With fasting she seeks By the Spirit she speaks Anna comes up to the child And tells all how God has smiled Upon His people by sending redemption So they'd get a slavery exemption. The slavery that she means is sin Freed by asking Christ within.

The final verses we leave for next week Of the boy in the temple Randy will speak. This final passage of the coming Messiah, Will be told by Randy who is no liar. (pronounce "LI - YA") So have you ever wondered? Before Luke is done over a hundred Witnesses he will mention Trying to bring to your attention Who Jesus really is. This morning I have tried to show The Jesus who you may not know The Christ we celebrate at this Yuletide Reminds us that the Father wants to live inside Of each of us and take control Reigning o'r our heart and soul. So if you'd like to celebrate Then from your heart's throne abdicate.

For Christ came for the humble and defeated - Not the proud and self-conceited. Christ can live within your heart This New Year - a brand new start. Jesus will come in and be Closer than a friend to thee. Only then will you be really free - Free to become all you're meant to be. If you have questions about this Savior Or how He forgives your misbehavior Or why He hung upon a tree Or what it means to "bend the knee.

" Then please feel free to speak to us We would be happy to discuss What we know about the Christmas gift And how He came to mend the rift Between God and us. Well, my eggnog is gone. My heart is merry. We have no further need to tarry. I've tried to tell the history in rhyme Of Jesus come at Christmas time.

If you listened without fidgeting while you were seated. Then this preacher's mission has succeed. If a silly rhyme made you chuckle Or forced you to loosen your belt buckle If one word stirred your heart to feel And helped you bear with your ordeal. If one verse was said to make you think And deeper of the Savior drink Then what I started out to do Turned out better than I knew. Now it's time to end our verse.

And after this phrase you may disperse: Happy birthday, Jesus, and thank you for another new year of new life! -- Dennis Rupert Christmas Day Poem Sermon December 2005