Preface: I have been blessed with a number of wonderful preacher pastors. Of course I just didn't fall into this....I had to research churches and then make the move....and that is not always an easy thing to do. Possibly the finest preacher....and the only reason I say that is because I was glued to my seat after every sermon....was a man who spoke with a slight stutter....and in a monotone....and he had a combover....and he wore a robe in the pulpit. He was a man out of place in his church....oh they were nice elders....and did their best and tried their best....but there was no Puritan in them...and this man was a Puritan. Every year there was a Christmas tree off to the right of the pulpit....and an American flag off to the left. He eventually decided to just move on....and so did we. The concept of Advent goes way back....maybe to the 300s. It originally incorporated both the first coming of the Messiah....and the second coming of the Messiah....but that changed over time....and it was taken over by Christmas. Personally, I look at Advent December almost as a waste of a month in most churches in America....1/12 of the year conceded to the culture. Yes the date is based on Saturnalia....and no our Lord was not born in December....but there is glory indescribable in that birth in that manger...and it is possible to celebrate Christmas without giving the gospel a month off....and even to look to the grand finale! The following post is from last December 2:
Who Leaves After The Overture
One of the Oxford dictionaries defines an overture as...."An introduction to something more substantial." Occasionally a movie is so epic that it has an overture. Doctor Zhivago comes to mind. I posted the following last year in early December....
"Celebrating the birth of Jesus in a manger in Bethlehem.....with all the wonderful hymns associated with it.....is the overture....but who walks out of a concert or film after the overture? The post concluded with this....""A baby was born....and the angels rejoiced....it was the overture....to be followed by choruses....and arias....and cantatas....and every imaginable orchestral arrangement....leading up to a grand finale that the angels are preparing for right now! So yes....Merry Christmas.....for it was a wonderful overture....but the Composer has left the greatest audiological masterpiece for the grand finale."
Handel originally intended the Hallelujah Chorus to celebrate Easter....thus it appears as an instrumental overture but the chorus appears at the end of Part Two of his Messiah with the Risen Christ. Church tradition has moved Handel's famous piece to Christmastime
We attended a Christmas concert benefit this evening. Last evening I watched....for probably at least the sixth time....the 2016 film....Risen.....that starred Joseph Fiennes as a Roman Tribune who saw Jesus dead on the cross....and then came face to face with the risen Christ! It's a marvelous film that I highly recommend!
So you may very well have a Christmas sermon tomorrow. In 2018 I wrote these words in a post...."I came across an older series of Christmas sermons by Pastor John Piper at his church in Minnesota....and I actually had to laugh....it was so wonderful....for he kept saying Christmas this....and Christmas that....but it was entirely the gospel of Jesus Christ! This pastor refused to separate Christmas from Calvary....or Christmas from the Second Coming!"
Just Google.....Messages On The Birth Of Christ, John Piper
