One Last Verse - Christmas Eve 2011

Text: Isaiah 9:2-7, Luke 2:1-14

So for one last time, I climb up here,

to speak of Christmas as closes this year.

It has been fun, to bring you in time

sermons delivered completely in rhyme.

You may think it’s hard, to compose stuff in verse,

but truth be told it’s almost the reverse.

The lines, the phrase, the rhyme rings true,

and it gives focus and helps us to listen too!

But no matter how fancy the method of delivery,

the message is still central amidst this Christmas livery.

So please, lend me your ears, as Shakespeare once said,

and I’ll try not to bore you or fill you with dread.

I come back to the hope that the prophet once expressed,

who offered encouraging words when all were depressed.

We think our times today are challenging and tough,

But to be honest, our ancestors had it much more rough.

They lived in a time where their future was in doubt,

where Israel was kicked around by nations about.

Truth was their power was really quite small,

Next to Egyptians or Assyrians, it was nothing at all.

But they had something unique, something no one else had,

but they had also forgotten it, and it was really quite sad.

Isaiah called them back to this vision,

to share with the world without fear of derision.

In his words he expressed a hope that was emerging

and to live out God’s love he was urging.

When everyone else was seeking allies preparing for war,

Isaiah was saying “Stop! and gave them what-for.

He reminded them of their special role in the world,

as God’s chosen people they had a message to unfurl.

“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light”

Isaiah’s ray of hope in the blackest of night.

His words would echo on down through the ages,

seven-hundred years later, a new chapter on pages.

History had seen many new ebbs and flows,

Empires rise and fall, that’s how it goes!

Beyond the Assyrians, Babylonians and Greeks,

There arose a new power and boy did it reek!

With the Romans in charge, there’d been no improvement,

“Occupy Israel” this time was a top-down movement.

Ande wanted me to include that line,

I figured why not, because it fits in just fine.

The people were frustrated with the powers that be,

not feeling in control of their lives you see.

So it was into this that they had been looking

for a promise that God had been cooking.

They wanted some hint, a clue to follow,

of that hope of a bright new tomorrow.

Isaiah’s words found some new traction,

in the birth of a child, God’s new action.

“For a child has been born to us, a son has been given,”

and to the world in darkness, all is forgiven.

And so it was, in those troubled days,

that angels raised their voices in praise.

For Isaiah’s words had indeed found resonance,

for a child born into a humble residence.

But this was a scandal, something truly quite new,

because this foretold child came in a modest view.

Remember the story that Luke tells so well,

that the angel’s announcement came like a bell.

But it didn’t ring in the palaces of the wealthy,

God’s gift came in a way that was stealthy.

Instead it was on a quiet hill with sheep,

to poor, outcast shepherds, whose watch did keep.

This wasn’t what even the shepherds expected,

but truly this is where God connected.

People had expected a new David, a new king,

to be born to great fanfare and that sort of thing.

Yet Isaiah’s words found their truth in a manger,

and for the world there could be nothing stranger.

So these high expectations and such low fulfillment,

has given us a pause to consider the moment.

It confounds and confuddles us even today,

that God would come in such an odd way.

You see God doesn’t need or want an earth-shattering sign,

but instead calls us to consider the sublime.

The miracle of Christmas was never big showy or bold,

the messiah had come to bring to the fold,

all those who were excluded, who sat on the outside,

and to prove that God’s love was tremendously wide.

Remember that Jesus came not to a palace cradle,

but he was homeless, his bed a manger, his roof a stable.

It is a profound revelation to be sure,

that Jesus came not to the rich, but to the poor.

This is a part of the story that we often miss,

and in perhaps many retailers would like to dismiss.

I suspect that tomorrow so many of us will,

collapse in exhaustion and dreading the bill.

And we do it to ourselves in each passing year,

and we ask ourselves “why?” when it should be clear.

We buy into it, that whole perfect gift thing,

and to the material stuff we tenaciously cling.

But sometimes, we realize if only for a instant,

when our relationships grow, that moment is brilliant.

So instead of troubling ourselves with parties and gifts,

we should give our thinking a bit of a shift.

When Jesus came to the poor of the land,

it was a reminder to us of something more grand.

All of us matter, even the outcast ignored,

which is why the shepherds came and adored.

Jesus never came to line the wealthier purse,

but instead to break that age-old curse.

God came amongst us to dwell, to be alive,

to share with us love, and to help us to thrive!

So instead of running about in this season,

we need to remember our purpose and reason,

for life is far too precious and short,

to let materialism our lives distort.

Christmas should be about the things that matter,

and not those things that leave us scattered.

So pause for a moment on this silent night.

and remember in darkness we have seen a great light.

Jesus comes to us to show us the way,

to grant us peace, grant us hope and a new day.

So my hope this Christmas is that we’ll get the point,

and that our times together doesn’t disappoint.

There is more to this night than just candle and song,

God, in all wisdom, invites us to respond:

Live whole lives in Christ’s joy, hope and peace,

Love justice and kindness so that war may cease.

Feed the hungry, yes! and server the poor,

Welcome the stranger, and live even more.

For the Christ child tells us amidst this season’s wear,

that we are precious, and wanted, and God truly cares.

And so I wish you well on this holy night,

that as you depart you might see Christ’s light.

Hear God speaking new meaning into your lives

Giving hope that you’ll see the world with new eyes.

It is truly a mystery in which we dwell,

and we proclaim midst darkness, “all will be well!”

And now I finish, but before I retire

I speak in the name of God who creates, redeems, and inspires.

Who comes to us in ways we hardly ask or imagine,

and to whom we respond with a great Amen.

This is the last sermon preached by the Rev. John Crowdis in his role of as Minister at Clarkson Road Presbyterian Church. John moves to Calgary with his wife Sarah and daughter Megan, to follow God's leading and new opportunities in his own home town.