The Second Sunday
after Christmas
Pastor Gregory L.
Jackson
Bethany Lutheran
Church, 10 AM Central Time
The Hymn # 131 The Star
Proclaims 4:89
The Confession of Sins
The Absolution
The Introit p. 16
The Gloria Patri
The Kyrie p. 17
The Gloria in Excelsis
The Salutation and Collect p. 19
The Epistle and Gradual
The
Gospel
Glory be to Thee, O
Lord!
Praise be to Thee, O Christ!
The Nicene Creed p. 22
The Sermon Hymn # 305:1-5 Soul
Adorn Thyself 4:23
Planned from
Eternity for Us
The Hymn #305:6-9 Soul Adorn
Thyself
The Preface p. 24
The Sanctus p. 26
The Lord's Prayer p. 27
The Words of Institution
The Agnus Dei p. 28
The Nunc Dimittis p. 29
The Benediction p. 31
The Hymn #657 Beautiful Savior 4:24
Ephesians 1:3-16
King
James Version (KJV)
3 Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
4 According
as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before him in love:
5 Having
predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself,
according to the good pleasure of his will,
6 To the
praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the
beloved.
7 In whom
we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the
riches of his grace;
8 Wherein
he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence;
9 Having
made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure
which he hath purposed in himself:
10 That in
the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all
things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in
him:
11 In whom
also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the
purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
12 That we
should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.
13 In whom
ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your
salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy
Spirit of promise,
14 Which is
the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased
possession, unto the praise of his glory.
15 Wherefore
I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the
saints,
16 Cease not
to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers;
Planned from Eternity for Us
Matthew
2:13-23 (King James Version)
13 And
when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a
dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into
Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young
child to destroy him.
14 When he
arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into
Egypt:
15 And was
there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of
the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son.
16 Then
Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and
sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the
coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he
had diligently inquired of the wise men. Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by
Jeremiah the prophet, saying,
18 In Rama
was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel
weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not.
19 But
when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeareth in a dream to
Joseph in Egypt,
20 Saying,
Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel:
for they are dead which sought the young child's life.
21 And he
arose, and took the young child and his mother, and came into the land of
Israel.
22 But
when he heard that Archelaus did reign in Judaea in the room of his father
Herod, he was afraid to go thither: notwithstanding, being warned of God in a
dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee:
23 And he
came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was
spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene.
The Wise Men and the Star
We have a curious reversal about science. Today we have vast
sums of money spent on exploration and astronomy, but few people know anything
about the night skies above them. One reason is our lighting wiping out the
star-scape, and we need them less for navigation and weather predictions.
When I had a large telescope, I looked forward to the nights
when I could use it and share the views with friends. I got to know the weather
and get a feel for what would happen. The moon tended to wipe out the best
views, and nights with the full moon were the clearest of them all. After a
full moon, we usually had days of rain in Michigan.
When the skies are blackened by a lack of artificial light,
and night vision is keen, everything in the sky is known and significant. When
Jesus was born people were quite observant of the sky and everything happened.
The Chinese wrote down their observations.
The people who mocked the Star of Bethlehem (common when I
was growing up) showed how little they knew about the sky. During the time
Jesus was born, two or three events took place that are considered the Star of
Bethlehem. The Chinese recorded them and astronomers can reproduce them for SRO
audiences during the Christmas season at the planetarium. We saw this done in
Chicago.
Planetary conjunctions are very exciting, because their
wandering (Greek name for planet) in the night sky draws them together every so
often. I was going to a clergy event with Chris when the night sky featured all
the bright planets in conjunction. I said, “Look, that will never happen again
for 1100 years.” A Harvard PhD lady pastor said, “My boyfriend loved astronomy.
That was boring, so I dumped him.” In fact, I was the only pastor who noticed
the night sky. Oh – we are so scientific today.
Since the night sky was the Internet, television, radio and
newspapers combined, consider how the entire world viewed those celestial
events. According to one theory, the conjunction of planets made it clear that
the king was being replaced. Everyone knew something was going to happen. Add
to that electric atmosphere, star-gazers from East, traveling a long distance
and asking about this king and savior.
Kings are always jealous of their power. If they are not
brutal, they are quickly replaced. Everyone knew something was about to happen,
and the Scriptures said it would. Once the throne passed from the House of
David, the Savior would come. Herod was not a Jew. He fulfilled that prophecy.
The Wise Men placed even more emphasis upon the change by asking the king about
the star.
We can easily imagine that fear, confusion, and hope were
all mixed together at the same time. Herod responded with the slaughter of the
innocents. The wise men had to leave town quietly. Joseph, Mary, and Jesus
escaped to Egypt.
As Luther observed, the appearance of the Star shows that
God ordered His Creation so that the birth of the Savior would be a world
event. In many different ways, for Jews and Gentiles alike, His future ministry
was announced in the clearest possible ways.
This upsets rationalists, who loved to mock the Star of
Bethlehem as a fable, a myth that was invented to make the birth of Jesus more
charming. When the reality of the Star is grasped, and people flock to
demonstrations of its truth, the rationalists seethe that planetariums are
making money from the faith of their patrons.
This is the balance between faith and reason. The
Enthusiasts betray their mental laziness by mocking study, as if brainless
faith is better because it is based on emotions alone. But emotions are as
volatile as the weather.
Knowing and appreciating what God has done in history is one
way to guard against our volatile emotions. Gerhardt was a sensitive man and
experienced more loss in his lifetime than six men – loss of career, loss of
his wife and all his children (except one). He was exceptional in his learning
and yet he was faithful to Biblical, Lutheran doctrine – not a crafty schemer
using his brains to look for job security.
We can experience his inner thoughts in studying his hymns.
“How dearly God must love you” – in looking at the circumstances of the
Nativity.
