Silent Night

Message Transcription

Well, I want to give my thanks to Dr. Fredenburg for standing in my stead here last week. He did a great job. If you haven't had a chance to listen to him finish up our series we just completed, I invite you to do so about how to be thankful. Today we're going to jump into our advent series, and we're looking at some of the more famous, more common hymns that we sing in our day. So I've done a little bit of research, and I'm trying to attach some of that to to each message. But it's amazing how time flies, isn't it? It's amazing how how quickly things, how quickly the days march by. I've been looking at some pictures recently of of Kayla and I's early life together, and then thinking about our life together. Today. I was walking into the auditorium this morning and Barack and Emily, I got to brag on your little girl a little bit here. Bonnie's walking out all by herself. And I said, hey, Bonnie, where are you going? She said, I'm going to see my dad. Okay? Do you need me to help you find him? No, I got it, I said, okay, she goes, I want to go say hi to some people. I said, Will you go on and do that? Bonnie? Thank you for being on our greeting team. So thank you to Bonnie, the youngest member of our greeting team this morning.

It's amazing how quickly time goes by, but I went and did some research on one of the maybe more popular famous Christmas carols hymns that we sing called Silent Night. How many of you have ever heard the story behind this hymn? Some of us are going to fact check me after worship this morning, so this is kind of what I discovered, but it was actually began as a poem. It was written by a young Austrian Catholic priest named Father Joseph Moore. This was Father Joseph right here. He was living in Austria just after the Napoleonic Wars had ended. There had been war all through his land, and it finally some peace. Supposedly a couple of folks who were in this society that celebrate Father Moore and this hymn said he went for a walk before he wrote it. He looked out over a very quiet, winter laden town. He was inspired. The town was at peace, and the town just next door was one of his good friends, a gentleman by the name of Franz Gruber, and in 1818 had walked over to his house and said, hey, I've got this hymn that I want to have sung at our Christmas Eve service. Could you put it to some music? And he did. And that night was the first playing of that psalm in a public forum. Now, some of you, you think Franz Gruber, why does that name sound familiar to me? And Gary Moyers is known where I'm talking about here, right? Wasn't he the bad guy in the ultimate Christmas movie, Die Hard? It's Hans Gruber.

Thank you for my Die Hard aficionados. Right. But it's kind of interesting. I was looking at googled that this week. Hans Gruber, Franz Gruber. What's up with that? Well, originally, and maybe some of you know this, the the part that Bruce Willis played was supposed to go to Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Austrian. And remember the Hans and Franz skit where he had a pump you up. Right. The writers had gotten this whole thing together to make a Hans and Franz reference. Right. And so Hans was going to be the bad guy. And so they go, did this have anything to do with Silent Night? And I can tell you, it had nothing to do with Silent Night. It was kind of disappointing, to be honest with you, but, you know, so it is now they've made a horror movie recently called Not So Silent Night. Don't. I'm not recommending that. I just thought that's kind of time has changed, right? Things, things go by pretty quick. But in 1818, that melody was written, and it was first performed at the Saint Nicholas parish church in Oberndorf, Austria. This is a picture of it as it was back then. As you can see, some water there, kind of in the lower half of the picture. Lots of flooding occurred.

It ended up actually flooding out and destroying that church. And so today if you went there, you would see a chapel. That's the chapel of Saint of Silent Night or the Silent Night Chapel. I think we have a picture of that one up to this is what it would look like today. Just it's built on the original location of of where that church used to stand. But what they say was there was a that night, the reason that that Father Joseph had his friend write a guitar medley was the organ had busted. Well, the organ repairman had been at the church, heard the hymn, took it back to his village, some group of family singers started taking it around Europe and started performing it. And in 1834 it was performed in front of the King of Prussia, Frederick Wilhelm the Third, by the Strasser family, and then in 1839, it was first performed in the US at the Trinity Church in New York by the Rainier family, and then in 1859, the Episcopal priest of that same church, John Freeman Young of the Trinity Church. He wrote and translated the the, the song that actually we're going to sing here at the end of the message today, but the English version. That song. Now all of this. Why are we talking about this? Well, as I was thinking about the words to this song and how important this song is to us, and then going back and reading through the Christmas story, it struck me how ironic that this Silent Night song is written about a time that I'm not so sure was a silent night, at least not in the lives of Mary and Joseph.

So let me ask you a question. What brings you joy? What is it that brings you joy in your life? If you look at the world around us, they're going to try to convince you there are a lot of ways to find joy. Maybe it's in a new thing, a new toy, a new gift. That's certainly one of the themes that you'll see running out the next few weeks. If you want to make your kid happy, buy him the latest, greatest toy. For some of us, it's a relationship. If I could just find that person that special someone, that completion of me, then. Then I would find true joy for others. If I could just find the right circumstance, the right opportunity, and just embrace it and step into it, then I would find true joy. But any of us who have lived any length of time begin to realize that the things break. And people. They can let you down. In circumstances often change. Well then what? Where do we find our true joy? You know, I think the culture has caught on to this idea, this reality, this truth that that things change and and people sometimes let us down and and toys and gadgets break.

And so every year it's presented as this is the newest, it's the greatest one. You have one and old throw it away. You need the new one. It's incredible. It's unbelievable. It's amazing. And every year we just kind of happen to have the next new amazing, incredible thing. Why? Because they know if you look too long, if you let it settle in a little bit, you begin to to realize it's it's not really true. I think we get caught up in that sometimes with the church, don't we? We're just looking for our own next new thing. Some of us have found that in church shopping, if we could just find the right preacher. Who just. You found him? Church. You found him today. Amen. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. You found him, right? But eventually, preachers let you down. And churches can let you down. So where do we find that? True joy. You know, if we look again at the Christmas story again, I think it's pretty ironic that that the story that Luke tells us, especially here in chapter two, it doesn't inspire us with lots of joy, at least not at first. In Luke two. We've been dealing with it in some interesting ways, I think throughout our history as a church, and I'm not sure we've always caught on to what I think Luke is pointing us toward.

I hope we can maybe recapture that a little bit tonight. Today, rather, I was thinking about this story and how it might sound to us in our modern ears. Kayla and I are old enough now that we watch the news every night to see what's going on in the world. Some of you have been doing that for a while, so I began to think, what might it sound like if we came across this story in our news today, if this was the opening story of the broadcast? So if you would indulge me. Good evening, and thank you for joining us. An anonymous tip led police to a dilapidated warehouse this morning, where a group of homeless people were found sleeping. Neighbors could hear the sounds of a crying child as well as shouts and singing, and were worried, so police were contacted. Once inside, the police found a family with an infant sleeping in a makeshift crib made and fashioned out of an old kitchen sink. Authorities rushed the woman and infant to the hospital, and family services have since taken the baby into custody until the entire case is sorted out. The father claims that they were turned away from all area hotels and motels, but that they'd been given permission from the warehouse's owner to spend the night there. Along with the family, police arrested a handful of day laborers who claim to have seen an angel who told them the child was the Son of God.

They are all currently being held without bail and under psychiatric care while the police investigate. What would be your reaction to this story if you heard it? I don't know if this was the leading story on the Lubbock Evening News. My first thought would not be what an amazingly joyful story. Isn't that sweet? Instead, I'd be lamenting to Kaylee about see how the world just what is wrong in the world, and lamenting how this poor child, there's no hope for this kid. What were his parents thinking? See the story of Jesus being born in a cave or in a barn, and being laid to rest in a feeding trough to sleep. That was not a point of bragging with his buddies playing soccer when I was growing up. And I said this this morning, and I hope it's true here that nobody was born in a barn when I was a kid growing up, being born in a barn was an insult. You know? Shut the door, son. You born in a barn? Right. That was a joke. We played at people's expense. I'm wondering now if we maybe missed something in the story that Luke tells us here. Have we glossed over the scandal and romanticized it so much that we miss out on on what's really happening. The power of the story. It's exactly that he came to Earth in this fragile and humble way on a silent night.

Not because everything was calm and bright. But because it was late and everyone else was asleep and there was no room for him anywhere. Joseph and Mary hunted for a place to lay their heads and to rest their baby. See, the point of the story is not how cute the donkeys were as they did what donkeys do, or the cows mooing in the background. The wrath of the Son of God, who had the ability to come in power and in wealth and in splendor. We talked this morning about Zephyrus, the city that wasn't too far away from the small town where Jesus grew up. He could have shown up as a powerful king. Instead, he's born to a young girl. In a cold and probably smelly cave in a one horse town through a no name carpenter who wasn't even really his father. I think if we're willing to hear the scandal of the story, it helps us to cut through some of the Christmas fluff, if you will. To get to the heart of what does it really mean to have joy in this season? I think what Luke's trying to show us is that true joy comes in presence, that God has come to be with us. Is he true joy? What we really long for in this holiday season, what our hearts have been longing for all along. That sometimes we get misled and deceived into thinking it comes through something, or someone actually comes in the presence of the one.

That's what the angels sing about. When the shepherds woke the neighbors up. That God's presence that come all that way, they understood in a new way. God had entered into the world in flesh and blood. I think, again, if we're willing to hear the scandal of the story, it helps us to think about Jesus coming not as this wealthy businessman, a valiant warrior, but at this tiny, humble, helpless baby. Born into a world that didn't have room for him. I wonder if at some point during their ordeal, if Mary and Joseph looked at one another like Katie and I have looked at each other before, maybe some of you have looked at each other, giving each other that look that when you're having a baby, you just. It's here. This is it. This is it. Are we doing this now? We're doing this now. We're in a cave. Yeah, we're in a cave. Okay. Kind of gives you a new way to hear. Silent night. Holy night. See church. I want to remind us this morning that we're true joy comes from isn't found in our circumstances or in our stuff. Our true joy is found in God's presence in our lives. That's what we celebrate. That is the gift that we receive. See, the joy comes not in how Jesus arrived, but that he arrived, that he came.

And it's this joy that's woven all throughout the rest of of Luke's story. His telling, both in his gospel and in acts and all throughout the New Testament. In fact, in Luke chapter six, as Jesus is now grown up, he's beginning to call his disciples to follow after him. This was his first lesson to them. He said. Look at looking at his disciples. Blessed are you who are poor. For yours is the Kingdom of God. Blessed are you who hunger now. For you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. Blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil because of the Son of Man, rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their ancestors treated the prophets. So one of the promises of advent that is so special and so important to us is that no matter what challenges we face, no matter what circumstances we find ourselves in, no matter the kinds of relationships that are available to us at any one given moment, no matter what stuff we have, that joy, true joy is always available. That the Kingdom of God has come. There's never a time in life when God's joy is not available to his people, even in persecution, Jesus says. Persecution can't even take it away.

At the end of Luke's gospel, the resurrected Jesus, he appears to his disciples and he tells them this. He opened their minds so they could understand the scriptures. This is what is written. The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. I'm going to send you what my father has promised, but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high. And when he had led them out into the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and he blessed them. And while he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God. Our culture has spent a lot of time, and I promise you, they're going to spend a lot of money this holiday season trying to convince you of the source of joy. Of just three payments, 99, 99 or whatever the number is. They're going to say it's just by obtaining something or someone that you don't already have. That's the answer. Or put yourself in the right situation. Just just change your circumstances and everything else would change. The truth is that we know as Jesus people, that joy is learning to open yourself up to the presence of God within.

The living inactive spirit in us. I'm convinced Paul knew this, and he understood this in such a way, in fact, that he would write about this community of faith in a letter to the church in Corinth. Listen to how he describes the Macedonians as he writes to them in his second letter. And now, brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches in the midst of a very severe trial. Their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in the rich generosity. For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability, entirely on they on their own. They urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in the service to the Lord's people. Overflowing joy and extreme poverty wells up into a rich generosity. When do you ever hear those two things? Overflowing joy and extreme poverty welling up into anything. Only here in the life of the kingdom. Only in the life of a Jesus follower. Only in those who know that our our hope and our life and our joy is not found in the stuff that we own or that we obtain. But it's in the one who has made his home in our hearts. Paul's reminding the Corinthians and us again that true joy is not found in the stuff of life.

It's not in our circumstances or position. It's in the presence of the living God. I don't know what challenges that you're facing this week or that you will face. I don't know the difficulties or the struggles. I only know that you will be challenged by a world around you to find your joy and your hope in something other. Then Jesus and the call of the gospel this morning is that we'd go back to that little manger. To be reminded once again that the Savior of the world, the God of the universe, has come. He's here. He is with us. With you. May this holiday season be one where you live out this joy of God's presence in your life his peace, his hope, and his love. That our silent nights are calm and bright. Not because everything is working out exactly the way we hoped it would. Not because all of our expectations are being met. All the people in our lives are doing everything exactly the way that we would want them to be. Now. Or our silent night is holy. Because Christ has come and he is with us, and he will be with us. Father, I pray that this season of advent would be a new or a renewed one in our hearts that many of us are facing challenges and circumstances that we did not expect nor want. It's just the reality. But God, may we find ourselves in familiar company, as so too was the story of Joseph and Mary in that very first advent.

Wandering in a place that was supposed to be home, and it just didn't feel like home. Nowhere to. To find a place to settle. To rest from a weary life and journey. He had many of us know the that weariness that comes in a hard, a hard journey. Gabba G, meet us in those places. Would you remind us that as we sing these songs, these carols, these hymns, they're reminding us of something much deeper than just a surface level peace and comfort? We got the peace that comes and the power of Jesus presence in our life through your Holy Spirit. So, God, as we sing these songs, these carols this season help us not to get caught up on the surface, but to go down deeper. To open up our hearts. To receive from you that true gift of joy. A true gift of peace. A true gift of hope. And that true gift of love. Father, thank you that we don't have to walk this road alone. We don't have to do this all by ourselves. But, God, you've placed us in this community to learn and to grow and to become together. So, God, would you help us to be for one another all that we need each other to be? God, we ask all this in Jesus name. Amen.