Two Versions of What Christmas Is All About Charlie Brown
So, here are my Christmas 2019 Sermons 2 & 3. Or better, 2a & 2b. Both have the tv show, A Charlie Brown Christmas as an underlying theme. At different points, they were one sermon, then two, and back and forth. Ultimately, I split them, but had them both reference Linus' famous line, "That what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown."
One (the Midnight Christ Mass version) claims that the message of the army of angels is really what Being A Christian is all about. The other (the Christmas Morn version) claims that the sad little Charlie Brown Christmas tree explains what Christ's Mission was all about (HINT: All it needed was a little love.)
Videos for both are up top or on the CLOKCdotChurch YouTube Channel. Sermon Outlines are below.
Christ Mass (Angels' Proclamation)
Christmas Morn (The Tree)
This
is an outline of my sermon text for the Christ Mass at Midnight, on
December 24, 2019. My focus was Luke 2:8-14. + pBRC
Grace,
Mercy & Peace from God the Father & Christ Jesus, God’s Son, our Lord
& Savior. AMEN.
· So what is Christmas REALLY
all about?
o
This
is the reading Linus quotes from A Charlie Brown Christmas that he tells
Charlie Brown is what Christmas is all about
§ Linus recites these 7 verses
from Luke’s Gospel.
o
I
want to explain how these verses explain how God wants us to live and what
Christmas is all about.
· The focus is on what the
angels announce, and to whom they announce it.
o
“For unto you
is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.”[1]
o
The
Angels want to tell, they HAVE to tell, but whom do they tell?
§ Do they go to Caesar? Do
they go to the Chief Priests in Temple?
§ No. They go to shepherds. Shepherds
at bottom of society. Just being a shepherd meant you were unclean and couldn’t
enter the Temple.
§ And that’s who gets Good
news of Great Joy.
· To the
shepherds, the angel of the
Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they
were sore afraid.[2]
o
Old
Testament wisdom was if look at the face or the glory of God, you either: die
instantly – think the face melting from Raiders of Lost Ark. No one is worthy.
· And the
Angel of the Lord says, “Fear not: for,
behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ
the Lord.”[3]
o
Good Tidings is Good News, that means the
angels were proclaiming God’s victory. This is great
joy; it is party
time!
o
To
ALL people – God sending of God’s Son is not exclusive, but inclusive. Everyone
is invited, starting from the bottom.
o
For unto you means this isn’t just for “good
people” but ALL, to everyone.
o
Jesus
didn’t come to receive honor and glory, but to GIVE love.
§ Jesus did not come to reward
some and punish others.
§ He did not come to divide
and isolate and shun and hate.
§ He came out of infinite love
for ALL people.
§ He came to save everyone who
believes in Him.
§ No matter who they are, what
they’ve done or not done.
· Born
this In the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord; means the long-awaited Messiah, the
Christ has come, but as a baby.
o
The
long-promised Messiah is born in the royal hometown of David.
· The angel explains - This
shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the
babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.[4]
o
This is really hard to believe part, if you ignore the
whole angel thing:
§ The Messiah, the Promised
Savior in will be wrapped in rags and will have an animal’s feeding trough for
his first bed
§ Shepherds, if you think you
got it tough, the Baby Messiah will be wearing rags and laying in a feeding
trough.
§ But he is going to be your
Savior.
· Suddenly
there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and
saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”[5]
o
Finally,
the rest of the angels decided enough of spokes-angel taking his or her time
telling this Good News of Great Joy.
o
They
want to share in the Gospelizing. An Army of angels appear.
They explain how we are to live in response to the Messiah’s arrival.
They explain how we are to live in response to the Messiah’s arrival.
§ They give God the highest
glory. They praise God for what God has done. God has given the world the One
through whom the world, the cosmos will be saved and redeemed.
§ Here on Earth, God’s gift
will give peace and good will to everyone.
o
This
army of heavenly hosts is telling the shepherds what to do because of
birth of this wrapped in rags, feeding trough kid.
§ Praise God, and Live, love and
care for one another.
o
In
Other Words the angelic proclamation is a statement of what this Poor Kid will
call the Greatest Commandment and the one like it.
§ “You shall love the Lord
your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your
strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.”[6]
§ While proclaiming His birth,
this Army of God tells our representative, the shepherds, how humanity is to
act because, and in response to, the birth of Savior, Christ Lord.
· The
hosts of heaven, God’s army, the angels came to those at society’s bottom to proclaim
Emmanuel, God is with us at the bottom.
o
Salvation has come, not to those who are worthy, not to the
special ones who think they are worthy, but to the world, to everyone, to ALL.
§ We don’t have to be worthy.
No one is. We all sin and fall short.
· His birth is as humbling and
humiliating as is His death.
o
Both
are signs that God wanted to show God’s solidarity with those whom society has
held back or pushed away. God’s love is for everyone.
o
God
shows that God loves you so much that even killing God’s Son, the One Sent to
Save Us, can’t stop God from loving us.
· Behold,
I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to ALL people. For all
y’all is born a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.
o
In
response to the arrival of salvation, we should give glory
to God in the highest, and on earth live in peace, with good will toward
everyone.
· The greatest gift ever given
at Christmas was the first. God gave God’s Son, a Savior, the Messiah, given
out of love and grace for all that God had created.
o
A
gift of love given so that we can give that gift of love to others, especially
those who need to know they are loved.
o
Christmas
is love.
· That’s what Christ is all
about, Charlie Brown.
AMEN.
This
is an outline of my sermon text for the Christmas Morn service, on
December 25, 2019. My focus was Luke 2:8-14. + pBRC
Grace,
Mercy & Peace from God the Father & Christ Jesus, God’s Son, our Lord
& Savior. AMEN.
· Linus, asks for the
spotlight, recites 7 verses from Luke’s Gospel to explain to Charlie Brown what
Christmas is really all about?
o
Despite
what I may or may not have said a few hours ago, I think a better explanation
comes from another part of A Charlie Brown Christmas.
o
I
think this tree
can help explains what Christmas is all about.
§ Charlie Brown is looking for
a Christmas tree to compete with the commercialized high tech displays that
used the best of 1965 technology.
§ He hoped this humble little
tree could compete with the aluminum trees.
· He even dared to hope it would
compete with the display put together by his beagle, Snoopy.
o
In
reality, his tree really helps to explain what Christmas is all about.
· The angels come to announce
the good tidings of
great joy, which shall be to all people, and to whom they announce it?
o
Do
they go to Caesar? Do they go to the Chief Priests in Temple?
o
No.
They go to shepherds. Shepherds at bottom of society.
§ You were a shepherd if you
couldn’t do much of anything else.
· You had to REALLY like being
outside and have some counting skills.
§ Being a shepherd meant you
were unclean and couldn’t enter the Temple.
· So the angels aren’t coming
to the regular church goers.
· They come to the ones who
are working on Sunday mornings, and probably on Christmas too.
o
And
that’s who gets Good news of Great Joy.
· Then
the Angel says, “Behold, I bring you
good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born
this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.”[1]
o
Good Tidings is Good News, that means the
angels were proclaiming God’s victory. This is great
joy; it
is party time!
o
To ALL people – God sending of God’s Son is not exclusive, but
inclusive. Everyone is invited, starting from the bottom.
o
For unto you
means this is
for ALL, to everyone.
You see, you can’t earn God’s favor, you already have it.
You see, you can’t earn God’s favor, you already have it.
· Born
this In the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord; means
the
long-awaited Messiah, the Christ has come, but as a baby.
o
The
long-promised Messiah is born in the royal hometown of David.
o
While
the shepherds didn’t think they would get the breaking news, so far this all
makes sense, except for the baby part.
· The Messiah was expected to
be a warrior, one who would throw out the Romans.
o
But
if they have to wait for him to grow up, that’s ok.
· Then angel says - This
shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the
babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.[2]
o
This is really hard to believe part. The Messiah, the Promised
Savior in will be wrapped in rags and will have an animal’s feeding trough for
his first bed
§ Shepherds, if you think you
got it tough, the Baby Messiah will be wearing rags and laying in a feeding
trough.
· They don’t even know that he
is the child of an unwed teenage mom and a father who knows that the child
really isn’t his.
§ But he is going to be your
Savior.
· The shepherds might be
thinking they have it better than this kid.
· The
hosts of heaven, God’s army, the angels came to those at society’s bottom to
proclaim Emmanuel, God is with us at the bottom.
o
Salvation has come, not to those who are worthy, not to
the special ones who think they are worthy, but to the world, to everyone, to
ALL.
§ We don’t have to be worthy.
No one is. We all sin and fall short.
§ Jesus Christ came as one of
the lowly so that no one would think, or should be told, that they aren’t good
enough.
· We still did that, but his
life shows different.
· He came from the bottom to
gather all of us up with him.
· His birth is as humbling and
humiliating as is His death.
o
Both
are signs that God wanted to show God’s solidarity with those whom society has
held back or pushed away. God’s love is for everyone.
o
God
shows that God loves you so much that even killing God’s Son, the One Sent to
Save Us, can’t stop God from loving us.
· Now how
is the birth of Jesus like the Charlie Brown’s Christmas tree?
o
It’s
humble, not come in glory.
o
It
isn’t what we expect. In fact, we are a little disappointed in it.
o
Jesus
didn’t come to receive honor and glory, but to show love.
§ Jesus did not come to reward
some and punish others.
§ He did not come to divide
and isolate and shun and hate.
§ He came out of infinite love
for all people.
§ He came to save everyone who
believes in Him. No matter who they are, what they’ve done or not done.
· At the end of A Charlie
Brown Christmas, how did they improve this little tree?
o
All
it needed was a little love.
§ Just like us. For us to get
by in this world, all we need is a little love.
§ God provided that love to us
In the city of David a Savior, which is
Christ the Lord.
· The greatest gift ever given
at Christmas was the first. God gave God’s Son, a Savior, the Messiah, given
out of love for all that God had created.
o
A
gift of love given so that we can give that gift of love to others, especially
those who need to know they are loved.
o
Christmas
is love.
· That’s what Christmas is all
about, Charlie Brown.
AMEN.
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