Advent Celebration on Christmas Eve

The Advent wreath at our church's Christmas Eve service last year. Photo taken by Bea Kennedy (http://partakers.net).

Our church will join together to worship today at 4:00.  This Christmas Eve candlelight service is centered around the advent candles that are used in many traditional celebrations of Christ’s birth.

“Advent” is a Latin word for “coming,” and so it is a season leading up to Christmas in which Christians celebrate and anticipate the coming of Christ.  The candles in a traditional advent wreath each have a special meaning that symbolize part of what Jesus brought into the world (love, peace, joy, etc.).

I know that many families and churches celebrate advent each week leading up to Christmas, but when I organize a Christmas Eve service, I combine all of that into one service.  One family reads about the symbolism of one of the candles, then lights it.  All of the other elements of the service (singing, reading poetry, playing instruments, etc.) are fit around the meanings of the candles.  It usually provides a very meaningful service.

This is not the only way to celebrate advent, and this might not be how it will be done at Central next year.  But my question now is:  do you anticipate the coming of Christ to make this season more meaningful?  Maybe you can take an idea from this article from LifeWay on how to incorporate advent into your family’s celebrations at home.

No Crying He Makes?

My son Caleb inspects his brand new sister Lydia as she starts crying.

The popular Christmas song Away in a Manger has a line that I’ve always sung and never thought much about:   The cattle are lowing, the poor baby wakes, but little Lord Jesus, no crying he makes.

But what in the world was the author thinking when he wrote that?  (Actually, the author is unknown, but has been rumored to be Martin Luther since the lyrics showed up in a Lutheran Hymnal.)

Rarely do you see a baby wake up and not cry.  Do the words of this song strip Jesus of His human nature by implying that His deity would not allow Him to cry?

Or maybe the lowing cattle soothed Him enough that when He woke, He was comforted already and did not cry.

Perhaps

The Story Behind “Silent Night”

As we continue to focus on Christmas here on “Pressing Forward,” I thought I’d share the story behind the popular Christmas song Silent Night. What I like best?  It was written to be musically simple because it was written to be played on a guitar.

In 1818, a roving band of actors was performing in towns throughout the Austrian Alps. On December 23 they arrived at Oberndorf, a village near Salzburg where they were to re-enact the story of Christ’s birth in the small Church of St. Nicholas.

Unfortunately, the St. Nicholas’ church organ wasn’t working and would not be repaired before Christmas. (Note: some versions of the story point to mice as the problem; others say rust was the culprit) Because the church organ was out of commission, the actors presented their Christmas drama in a private home. That Christmas presentation of the events in the first chapters of Matthew and Luke put assistant pastor Josef Mohr in a meditative mood. Instead of walking straight to his house that night, Mohr took a longer way home. The longer path took him up over a hill overlooking the village.

Have You Any Room?

Note:  This is the manuscript from the sermon I preached this past Sunday, Dec. 19, at Central Baptist Church.
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Henry Ford said:

A weakness of all human beings is trying to do too many things at once. That scatters effort and destroys direction. It makes for haste, and haste makes waste. So we do things all the wrong ways possible before we come to the right one. Then we think it is the best way because it works, and it was the only way left that we could see. Every now and then I wake up in the morning headed toward that finality, with a dozen things I want to do. I know I can’t do them all at once.”

When asked what he did about that, Ford replied, “I go out and trot around the house. While I’m running off the excess energy that wants to do too much, my mind clears and I see what can be done and should be done first.”   (Bits & Pieces, September 19, 1991, p. 18.)

This is an easy time of year to try and do too many things at once.  When our minds become overcrowded, our priorities are distorted.

Did the Angels Actually Sing?

The Angel Proclaiming the End of Time (oil on canvas) by Tucker, James Justus (1795/96-1842)

Today, I’m providing an article below from the Answers in Genesis website titled “Hark! The Herald Angels Said?“

Why?  Because it reminds us of a great truth– we must be careful not to let tradition distract us from Biblical truth.

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing is a popular Christmas hymn that many of us enjoy.  This article might at least teach us something new, and hopefully will encourage us to examine what we practice as tradition to see if it is true to the Bible.

Sing it with me. “Hark! The herald angels sing, ‘Glory to the newborn King! Peace on earth and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled.’”

Most of us are familiar with this beloved Christmas carol, written by Charles Wesley, which tells of an angelic chorus singing praises to God. In fact, many of our favorite Christmas hymns portray angels singing following the announcement of Christ’s birth to the shepherds, including “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear,” “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” and “Silent Night.”

The idea of an angelic chorus singing praises to God has become very common in our culture. Many churches depict it in their annual Christmas programs. Even Charles Spurgeon, the famous nineteenth century preacher, waxed eloquent on singing angels:

And notice how well they told the story, and surely you will love them! Not with the stammering tongue of one who tells a tale in which he has no interest; nor even with the feigned interest of a man that would move the passions of others, when he feels no emotion himself; but with joy and gladness, such as angels can only know. They sang the story out, for they could not stop to tell it in heavy prose. They sang, “Glory to God on high, and on earth peace, good will towards men.” I think they sang it with gladness in their eyes; with their hearts burning with love, and with breasts as full of joy as if the good news to man had been good news to themselves.¹

But does the Bible state that the angels sang that night? The passage in question is found in the Gospel of Luke. On the night Christ was born, an angel appeared to some shepherds who were keeping their flocks:

Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.”

And 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, goodwill toward men!” (Luke 2:10–14, italics added)

The Greek word translated as “praising” is αινουντων (ainountōn) from the root αινεω (aineō), and in a general sense, it means “to speak of the excellence of a person, object, or event.”²More specifically, in the New Testament it is used to denote “the joyful praise of God expressed in doxology, hymn or prayer, whether by individuals (Lk. 2:20; Ac. 3:8 f.), the group of disciples (Lk. 19:37), the community (Ac. 2:47; Rev. 19:5) or the angels (Lk. 2:13).”³

Notice that one of the references above is Luke 2:20, which follows shortly after the announcement to the shepherds. Luke stated that when the shepherds returned from seeing the newborn Jesus, they were “glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen” (emphasis added).

There is a strong connection in Scripture between singing and praising. The Psalms often instruct believers to sing their praises to God. For example, Psalm 47:6–7 states, “Sing praises to God, sing praises! Sing praises to our King, sing praises! For God is the King of all the earth; sing praises with understanding.” Also, James instructed cheerful believers to sing praises to God (James 5:13).

Many people have thus been led to believe that “praising” always involves singing, but, while the two are closely linked, praise is not limited to singing. A person can also praise God in many ways, such as praying, proclaiming, or shouting (Ezra 3:11).

The word translated as “saying” in Luke 2:13 is λεγοντων (legontōn) from the root λεγω (legō). This is a very common word in Scripture, and it means “to speak or talk, with apparent focus upon the content of what is said.”⁴

So we see that an angel announced the birth of Christ to the shepherds. That angel was then joined by other angels who praised God and said, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”

The idea of angels singing on the night of Christ’s birth has become so common that many are surprised to learn that the Bible does not unequivocally state this. This example provides a good opportunity to discuss traditions. In and of themselves, traditions are not wrong, but they must be based on and consistent with Scripture. If they contradict Scripture, then they must be rejected.

At the same time, we don’t want to be guilty of going too far in the other direction. Just because the Bible doesn’t explicitly state that they did sing does not necessarily mean that they did not. Some have even argued that angels do not or cannot sing at all, but those who make this claim must adequately address Job 38:7 and other passages that seem to support the idea that they can and have sung. Furthermore, there is no biblical or logical reason why they could not sing. Angels are highly intelligent beings who are capable of speaking. Why would they be incapable of putting those words into song, especially since other beings in heaven sing (Revelation 5:9–14)?

One of the points of this series on misconceptions is to lead us all to look closely at what the Bible teaches. Far too often traditions have been the basis of our thinking, and we end up believing things that are not found in Scripture. We have heard and sung about angels singing on that night so often that many do not bother to look closely at the text.

As we wrap up this Christmas article (pun intended), you are probably wondering if the angels did sing to the shepherds. In light of the fact that there is a strong connection between praising and singing in the Bible, and since angels, in all likelihood, are capable of singing, there exists biblical support for the tradition of singing angels found in the Christmas hymns.

Angels might sing praises to God all the time. There may indeed have been a heavenly choir of angels singing joyous songs to their Creator on the night Christ was born. Perhaps the eloquence of Wesley and Spurgeon could not even do justice to the singing angels that night. Perhaps, but the Bible doesn’t explicitly state this.

In any case, when we think about God’s amazing gift of a Savior to mankind on that night, we should glorify and praise God, whether in spoken word or in song, just as the shepherds did on that incredible night after they had seen the newborn King.

This article can be found on Answers in Genesis’ website here.

Some Christmas Activities for Fun!

Use these at home, for a Bible study group, with your grandkids, or just for your own fun! All of these are courtesy of Facts & Trends Magazine from LifeWay.

Download a Christmas crossword puzzle.
Download a Christmas word search.
Download a Christmas carols quiz.
Download a Christmas Trivia Quiz.
Download a Christmas Hymns Match-Up.

“He’s Here!” from the Jesus Storybook Bible

We were given the Jesus Storybook Bible as a gift when Caleb was born.  I had not seen it before and quickly grew to love it.  Many pastors endorse this Bible even for adults to read because of the way it connects every Biblical story to Jesus.  It helps children learn that all of the Bible even is about Jesus!  To help celebrate Christmas, here’s a video put together with the illustrations from that Bible and the narration.

Share this with your children!

One Last Christmas by Matthew West

Here’s a music video of the song “One Last Christmas” by Christian artist Matthew West.  This song is about the love of a family, and the coming together of an entire community to make sure this little boy could have one last Christmas.  CAUTION:  you might cry.