“I’m Gonna Keep on Singing”

Sermon Luke 2:21-40 Christmas 1 December 28, 2014

“I’m Gonna Keep on Singing”

Andrea Crouch from the 70’s sings, ‘I’m gonna keep on singing, I’m gonna keep on singing that Jesus saves!’

Well, I’m with him!

I’m still holding the candle of Christmas Eve and singing Silent Night in my mind and yet all around me the songs of Christmas are silent.

The trees are coming down, the green wreaths are now withered and worn, the stores are jumping to Valentine’s Day, and music has all but forgotten the season now passed.

“But, I want to keep on singing”, I whine.

“It’s time to get back to reality”, I’m told.

“But it’s the twelve days of Christmas and we still have 9 more days until Epiphany”, I say, “we need to keep singing!”

 The church calendar says we can now finally start singing of Christmas, the Advent waiting is over and now we can sing all the carols to our heart’s content.

“We’re weary of the music,” I hear a radio announcer say.

Seriously!

Weary of Christmas music! It’s not possible not in my mind’s eye.

But, perhaps we have come to this Sunday weary,

perhaps we are worn out from all the festivities

and we want to return to the routine

and go back to the reality of every day ordinary living.

When we read today about Joseph and Mary, they have returned to reality.

According to Luke the holy couple has left the stable and is now at the Temple. They are going about their business as all new parents do. They are carrying out the routines of ordinary everyday living.

The fanfare of angels and shepherds, the gifts of the wise men and crowds are far behind them.

Joseph and Mary have stepped forward into the new life of obedient parents and they follow the ritual of bringing the baby Jesus for the naming ceremony at the Temple.

It’s all routine.

It’s all normal.

It’s all rather ordinary.

And then it happens.

An old man comes forward and takes the baby in his arms and begins to sing a song.

He praises God for this child. He comes and holds this baby because the Spirit of God has come upon him. Three times Luke affirms that he has been led to this baby by the Spirit. It is clear that we are to hear that Simeon has been called by God to claim this child.

As we listen to his song it’s not just about praising God for this child who brings salvation to the world,

 but it’s the prophecy,

the forward telling about the conflict that even salvation brings.

This child will cause the rise and falling of many.

There will be people who will be confronted with their own frailties, their own injustices and their own corruption.

People for generations into the future will be faced with decisions about who this child is and whether to follow and believe he is from God bringing salvation and new life to all.

Simeon is convinced that holding this child releases him from the waiting he has done for all these years.

He can now let go.

He let loose of all the waiting and wondering.

He can be done.

He can die in peace because God has revealed to him the glory of what salvation looks like in the face of a baby, the son of God, the Christ child.

It’s not exactly the kind of Christmas song of joy that we would expect to hear.

Yet, it is the song we need to hear.

It is the song that reminds us that God’s promises from ages past propel us into the open door of God’s promises fulfilled.

As we witness these promises of old come forward into new life and new light then our hope is renewed.

We receive the courage and confidence we need to face each day, each moment, into the future.

We become aware that God is doing something NEW.

Anna comes forward and proclaims the good news, the New news of God in Christ.

She sings of God to all who will hear her.

Isn’t that what happened for us this year?

As we peered into the manger didn’t we hear the songs of the angels in a new way?

As we saw the Christ candle lit didn’t we witness the rekindling of the flame of God’s Spirit in our hearts?

Were we aware that God is beckoning us to move into a new way?

What were the subtle nuances of this season that touched our hearts?

That grabbed our attention?

 Let us pay homage to those moments.

As we step forward into the days ahead how will we respond to this new way of being to which God has called us?

We can enter into the reality of our lives with new confidence and with courage.

We can enter into the future with continued expectancy, with anticipation of how God will be revealed in our everyday, ordinary ways of life.

As we are obedient to God raising our children;

(you might say, “I’m done raising children.” But we all raising the children of the church, a job that is always happening)

following the routines and rituals of faith, we are surrounded by the faithful among us and those who have gone before us. We are aware of how God has fulfilled the promise of love in their lives and how we are touched by them.

We become in tune with how the words of prayers of those who sit and pray make a difference.

We listen with open hearts as many share their hopes and dreams.

I return my thoughts to a spontaneous moment in WW I in the trenches of no man’s land in 1914. ‘Joyeux Noel’ is the fictional movie account of this true story.

There on Christmas Eve songs began to filter into the air.

Songs of home.

Songs of desires.

And then came the song of Silent Night, sung together in all languages

and

for a moment;

a short moment,

peace was felt.

Truce was called. The enemy took on a face of humanity.

In the moment the song had power.

The song had the power to change the face of war.

Gifts were shared, the dead were buried, a football game ensued. And when the truce was over the shots could no longer be fired, because the soldiers had experienced a new thing. They saw in the face of the enemy, the face of salvation, the face of a brother.

Anna and Simeon saw the face of salvation in the face Jesus, the face of God, the face of promise, the face of a brother.

And after this:

Joseph and Mary returned to life. They returned home and Jesus was raised in the obedience of the faith with them. There in the ordinary circumstances of daily life the extraordinary was allowed to enter and Jesus grew and the favor of God was upon him.

The door is now wide open for us as we return to the ordinary routines of our life.

The favor of God is upon us as we grow.

We can keep the momentum of this new thing stirring in us going.

We can keep singing.

We can sing the songs that have the power to change the world.

We can raise our voices and dance and let the world know that God has brought salvation to us through Jesus Christ.

We can go tell it from the mountains and in the plains.

We can carry the courage and the confidence with us.

We can live with the expectation and anticipation of the future promises to be fulfilled.

I’m gonna keep on singing!

Amen.