Here Comes the Sun
https://youtu.be/KQetemT1sWc?si=tsBQ3Q2NPM29g1Y-
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%201%3A2-25&version=NLT
This sermon was inspired by the song Here Comes the Sun, by the Beetles.
Here comes the sun
Here comes the sun,
and I say, It’s all right
Little darling
It’s been a long, cold lonely winter
Little darling
It feels like years since it’s been here
Here comes the sun
Here comes the sun,
and I say, It’s all right
This morning’s sermon is about waiting, which is the grand theme of Advent. We spend much of our life waiting; and some people seem to do nothing but wait. Each of us were created for a purpose and most of us, if they have not been squashed out of us, have dreams that we aspire to. But what happens when we spend years waiting for dreams that seem forever out of reach? And, why is it that some people get to stand in the limelight their whole life, while some of us get only a cameo appearance? This morning, we are going to talk about a man named Zechariah, who plays an important role in the story of Jesus. But Zechariah spent most of his life in obscurity, being called on only once to participate in visible role. The role for which he was born to play; he only got to play it once, for a single day. It would be like training your whole life to be a champion ball player and being sent in only once, at the very end of the game. Still, Zechariah shined in his fleeting moment. What do we make of that?
Here’s what I make of it. If I spend most of my time behind the scenes, I’ll spend them praying for, encouraging, and applauding the stars. And if I get only two minutes on the stage to speak only one line, baby, I’m going to make it count.
Head/Mind – Helpful Information
It’s a matter of time.
Jesus’ Birthday – We celebrate Jesus’ birthday on December 25th, but Jesus was not born on December 25th. In fact, we really don’t know exactly when Jesus was born. It is most likely that Jesus was born in late March or early April. Discovering this fact is very disconcerting for some people, but it shouldn’t be.
For someone from an even nominally Christian family, celebrating Christmas seems like such an obvious and natural thing to do. What birthday could be more important and special than Jesus’ birthday! If we are going to get excited about someone’s birthday, other than our own, surely we should get excited about his birthday. Yet, to the surprise of many modern/postmodern Christians, ancient Christians did not get all that excited about Jesus’ birthday, at least not at first. In fact, Christian people did not start to regularly celebrate the birthday of Jesus until the 4th century (the 300s). One reason is that birthdays were not regularly celebrated in the cultures where we find the earliest Church. We may think that not celebrating birthdays is kind of weird because we love celebrating birthdays. But then again, ancient people celebrated some things that we don’t celebrate. Birthdays were just not the big deal to them, like they are to us.
The celebration of Christ’s birth seems to have only caught on during the mid 4th century (the 300s). The date picked for observing his birth had more to do with mission concerns and theology than with trying to be precise according to historical dates and times. This should not upset anyone. Celebrating Christ’s birthday in December is not the result of the early Church getting the date wrong or trying to mislead people. We really celebrate Christmas in December for theological and missional reasons.
In order to understand the theology behind the decision to celebrate the birth of Christ in December, one needs to understand the history of the church’s missional expansion. Christianity started out in what we know of as the Middle East. From there, Christianity began to makes its way into Northern African and into the Mediterranean portions of Europe. Only gradually did Christianity make its way into Northern Europe. As it did, winter became a large cultural factor, and the further North Christianity went, the more influence winter had on the culture.
So why is that important? To answer this question, author Bruce Forbes (Christmas: A Candid History) asks us to think about what winter is like for people who live in the far north.
He asks, “So, what is winter like? It is cold and it is dark. The further north you move, the rain turns to sleet and snow, and the temperatures drop low enough to discourage much of the outdoor work and play that human beings enjoy the rest of the year. And the days are shorter, with so many more hours of darkness than light.” (Forbes, page 3)
If you live in or have visited places like Minnesota, Alaska, or Finland, you probably know what Forbes is talking about. In the far North, winter can be long and miserable. In some communities, winter causes a steep rise in depression, alcoholism, domestic violence, and suicide. For ancient people living in the far north, it was a challenge just to survive winter. So what did people do to cope?
To paraphrase Forbes, a common way of coping with such extreme winter seasons was the celebration of mid-winter festivities. These parties took place at the height of winter as a way of celebrating that spring would soon be coming. During the darkest days of winter, people in the far-north could anticipate that the warmth and light of spring would soon be pushing back the cold and darkness of winter.
This is where the Church’s theology comes in. Mid-winter celebrations were important to pre-Christian people in Northern Europe. These mid-winter celebrations were not Christian in origin, thus it is easy to imagine Christian leaders having asked their new converts to quit celebrating these pre-Christian celebrations as a way of turning their backs on their pagan past. Indeed, there probably were aspects of their pagan culture which were incompatible with their new faith. No doubt it was necessary to turn from certain parts of their pre-Christian heritage. But did that mean that everything about their pre-Christian culture was bad? No. In fact, in the Church’s estimation, much of their pre-Christian culture reflected the goodness of God. Some aspects of Northern European culture even had the potential to enrich the Church’s understanding and experience of the Gospel.
So, rather than asking people to give up something that was vitally important to them and their culture, the Church sought to redeem* and transform these mid-winter celebrations, giving them an even higher meaning and purpose. Working with the symbolism that was already in place, the Church spoke of the Light of God, Jesus, who came into our dark world to push back the darkness of sin and death. Thus, we celebrate Christmas in December because the very season itself helps to illustrate an important truth about the birth of Christ.
As C.S. Lewis has one of his characters say in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, [Without Christ] “It would always be winter and never Christmas.”
Heart – The Personal Connection
Zechariah was one of the faithful who knew how to wait.
In the first century, there were more than 20,000 priests who lived in the area around Jerusalem. But the majority were not needed in the Temple on a daily basis. That means that most of them had find other work to sustain themselves and their families. Some of them worked as scribes, others as scholars, and some as local rabbis. Many of them probably supplemented their income by doing other work, such as working as a tailer or carpenter.
But the whole point of being a priest was to serve in the Temple. But with so many of them, serving in the Temple was a privilege most would be called on to do only once in their life. And so, Zechariah waited.
He and his wife Elizabeth desired more than anything in the world to be parents, but they struggled with infertility. So, they waited.
They, like all of the faithful, yearned for the day when the the night of exile would give way to the light of liberation. They longed for the cold winter of sin and death to give way to the new spring of the Messianic Age. And so, they waited.
The key I want to focus on here is about finding meaning and joy in the midst of waiting. Because, friends, so much of life is done in the waiting. As John Lennon once said, “Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans.” In other words, it is about finding meaning and purpose, joy and contentment, in those long stretches of time between longing and fulfillment.
Hands – The Practical Application
Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
his understanding is unsearchable.
He gives power to the faint,
and to him who has no might he increases strength.
Even youths shall faint and be weary,
and young men shall fall exhausted;
but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint. – Isaiah 40:28-31
The Story of Bethany Hamilton: Riding the Waves of Adversity
Born into a family of surfers in Hawaii, Bethany had a natural passion and talent for the sport. By the age of 13, she was already a competitive surfer with dreams of becoming a professional.
The Tragic Setback
But, in 2003, Bethany’s life took a shocking turn. While surfing off the coast of Kauai, she was attacked by a 14-foot tiger shark, which bit off her left arm. The attack left her devastated—not just by the physical loss but by the fear that her dreams of becoming a professional surfer might never come true.
Bethany faced weeks of recovery and the daunting realization that her body was forever changed. The idea of balancing on a surfboard, let alone competing at a high level, seemed almost impossible. Many people in her life doubted she could ever return to the sport she loved.
Focusing on the Goal
Despite her doubts and physical challenges, Bethany was determined to surf again. Within a month of the attack, she was back in the water. She struggled to find her balance and control with only one arm, falling time and again. Each attempt brought moments of discouragement, but she refused to give up.
Bethany kept her eyes on the goal: proving to herself and others that she could still achieve her dreams. She modified her surfboard for stability and learned to adapt her technique to fit her new reality.
A Triumphant Return
Less than a year after the shark attack, Bethany entered her first major competition. She not only competed but placed fifth against some of the best surfers in the world. Over time, she continued to refine her skills, becoming a professional surfer and winning numerous championships.
Her story didn’t just inspire the surfing community; it became a beacon of hope for people facing their own struggles. Bethany went on to share her journey in her autobiography Soul Surfer, which was later adapted into a popular film.
Lessons from Bethany’s Journey
Bethany Hamilton’s story shows that discouragement doesn’t have to define the outcome. By focusing on the goal, adapting to challenges, and refusing to give up, she turned her tragedy into triumph. Her determination not only allowed her to achieve her dreams but also inspired millions to keep riding the waves of life, no matter how rough they may seem.
Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this.
– Philippians 3:12-15