Fourth Sunday in Advent: Nativity Sunday

Service Date:

23 December, 2007

Fruitful living
Isaiah the prophet was trying to encourage King Ahaz, the king of Israel in his day, to trust in God, to look to God to do something to help the people. But Ahaz wouldn’t ask. So Isaiah said, Right – God’s going to give you an answer anyway. God is giving God’s people a sign of hope. A young woman’s going to have a baby, and when he’s grown up things will be so good that he won’t need to do any work in the fields – he’ll drink milk from the cow made into curd cheese, and honey that bees have worked to produce. But that’s a long way off, said Isaiah, and things will go very wrong for you first. And sure enough, because the king wouldn’t trust God, but thought he could work out what to do on his own, he made some really bad mistakes, and God’s people were defeated and sent away from their land into exile.
I wonder why King Ahaz didn’t listen to Isaiah? Maybe he didn’t want someone else questioning what he thought. Maybe he didn’t want to feel afraid of the dangers threatening his country, but instead of telling God about his fears, he pretended that he was all right. Or maybe he just didn’t know what to do, and thought that doing nothing at all would be the safest choice. But he was wrong.
It’s too easy for us to be smug and think how silly Ahaz was. Because we can fall into the same sort of traps. If we’re clever people, sometimes we don’t want to listen to God’s advice. If we’re sad or afraid, sometimes we pretend we’re all right really instead of telling God about it and asking for God’s help. And sometimes we know what we should be doing, but because it’s hard or people may not like us if we do it, we still don’t get on with it.
We’ve been going through Advent this year thinking about getting ready for God’s coming in Jesus. The first week we thought about God’s light chasing away the darkness of wrong things. Then we thought about the green leaves of hope that God can and will do something about bad things, and about waiting for the flowers of God’s promise to open and bloom. But this week we’re thinking about fruit, about actions. The outcome of God’s promise to Isaiah: a young woman, Mary, will have a baby, Jesus. But also the outcome of God coming to us this Christmas: how can we bear fruit and put God’s promises into action?

Hymns:

R&S 167: Once in royal David’s city;
Get ready, get ready;
Jesus is coming;
Get ready, get ready;
he is coming soon.
1. All you lights in the heavens,
sun and moon and stars:
2. Roots and stumps and branches,
sprout with leaves of green:
3. Dried-up desert places,
blossom into flower:
4. People all, get ready,
bear your fruit for God:
R&S 164: Go tell it on the mountain;
R&S 160: O come, all ye faithful (vv1-5)

Sermon:

Nativity Play

A I am the narrator.

B I am an actor.

C I am an actor.

D I am an actor.

A This is a story about the first Christmas. It happened a long time ago. Mary and Joseph had to go to Bethlehem to be counted. They travelled on a donkey.

B I’m Mary.

C I’m Joseph.

D I’m the donkey.

B I’m pregnant.

C I’m shocked.

D I’m the donkey.

A They arrived late and couldn’t find anywhere to stay.

B I’m tired.

C I’m the innkeeper.

D I’m the donkey.

C We have nowhere for you to sleep.

B My baby is due.

C Oh dear. We only have a stable for your donkey.

D I’m the donkey.

B Perhaps we could sleep in your stable.

C Yes, perhaps you could.

D I’m the donkey.

A Mary and Joseph and the donkey went to the stable. There were other animals there too.

B I’m the ox – moo.

C I’m the goat – baa.

D I’m the donkey – eehaw.

A Mary had the baby that night and laid him in a manger.

B I’m Mary. This is my son.

C I’m Joseph. I’m shocked.

D I’m the manger. (Stretches out arms. Mary reaches across and lays the ‘baby’, produced from under a chair, in D’s arms.)

A In the fields nearby, there were some shepherds looking after their sheep.

B I’m a shepherd.

C I’m a sheep – baa.

D I’m a donkey. (All turn and look at D)

B I’m a shepherd.

C I’m a sheep – baa.

D I’m a sheep – baa.

A Suddenly they heard angels singing in the sky, telling of a saviour born in Bethlehem.

B I’m a shepherd.

C I’m an angel.

D I’m a sheep – baa.

B I’m afraid.

C I’m singing.

D I’m a sheep – baa.

A The angels told the shepherds not to be afraid.

C Don’t be afraid.

B All right, I won’t.

D Baa.

A So the shepherds left their sheep.

D Baa.

A And went to find the stable. At the same time, or nearly, some wise men came from the East, following a star.

B I’m a wise man.

C I’m a wise man.

D I’m a camel.

A Their predictions told them that a great king was to be born and they followed the star to find his birthplace.

B I have travelled many miles.

C I have travelled many miles.

D I’m a camel.

A At first they called on King Herod, thinking that a great king must surely be born in a palace.

B I’m a wise man.

C I’m King Herod.

D I’m a camel.

B We seek a new baby who is to become a great king.

C That’s very interesting.

D I’m a camel.

B Is he here?

C I don’t think so.

B We’ll have to search some more.

D I’m a camel.

C When you find him come and tell me. I want to worship him too.

B All right, I will.

D I’m the donkey. (All turn and look at D.) I’m the camel.

A At last they came to the stable and found the baby lying in a manger.

B We come to worship you.

C We come to bring you precious gifts.

D I’m a camel.

A The angels warned the wise men not to go back to King Herod.

B I’m a wise man.

C I’m an angel.

D I’m a camel.

C Don’t go back to King Herod.

B All right, I won’t.

D I’m a camel.

A And so the Saviour of the world was born on that first Christmas Day and the angels sang in the skies above.

B I’m an angel.

C I’m an angel.

D I’m (long pause) a donkey.

B Peace on earth.

C Goodwill to all people.

D And donkeys.

St. Andrew's United Reformed Church, Sheffield

Fourth Sunday in Advent: Nativity Sunday