Christmas Playlist - Week 3 - The CORE - Pastor Michael Ewart
Christmas Playlist
Week 3 - The CORE
Pastor Michael Ewart
Today we take a look at the favorite Christmas. Carol, Silent Night. This is personally. One of my favorites. It's a song that gives me a lot of Peace. On a matter what's happening in my life and maybe it does for you as well. So there's a really neat backstory to this song and there's there's so much that we're going to learn to find peace and a chaotic and hectic world. The piece that this song brings, I think is part of its Nostalgia, and maybe it is for you that is forever. As long as I can remember. I'm 53 years old now and I've been to 252 Christmas services in my life so far, most likely, and every single one of them with a very few exceptions, the Christmas Eve service ended with Silent Night. So it brings back all these family memories and childhood memories. And that's certainly a part of it. And by the way, I did check our Christmas lists for playlist for this. Being Christmas Eve and thank goodness. Jonathan, got it right or worship director. Does have a silent night as the final him. So, so that's a good thing. But what gives us so much peace. When we hear this song is not just a Nostalgia of it. But it's the, the message of it, the words, the lyrics, and then also this beautiful Melody, coupled with it that instills peace in our hearts. So let's take a closer look at this. At this carol, the history of is actually quite interesting. The song is a little bit over 200 years old. It was written by a Catholic priest in Austria, and his name was Joseph Moore.
Joseph wrote this hymn in the year 1816 and it wasn't actually sung until two years later. And I'll explain that in just a minute. But he wrote this hymn. At the very end of the Napoleonic Wars, 12 years Austria had been at War and the people were worn out, the people were stressed. The people were traumatized by War and If that wasn't bad enough in 1815 a year earlier, a huge volcanic explosion, in Indonesia sent a heavy cloud of Ash into the upper atmosphere, that actually changed the climate in Europe for a time and crops were devastated, and there was widespread famine. People were suffering, people were anxious, people were traumatized in the midst of all of that. He thought, what would we need? A Christmas hymn that would give us peace at a time like this. And that is when he wrote the lyrics to Silent Night. Well, he did not yet have them put to song. And so he took a new job, he was transferred, his Parish was moved to another different small town, in Austria in the Alps and that town the church that he was moved to is called ironically Saint Nicholas. And so, the silent night was first performed in a church by people at John St. Nick's is how I imagine it which I think is appropriate. So Joseph Moore himself, did not write Silent Night the music to it. I mean instead he asked a good friend to write it for him, it was the Schoolmaster of a nearby town and a friend, and an organist, a musician who wrote the music that we now know and love so much the name of that man who wrote it, by the way, was Franz Gruber. Now, if your brain looks works like - a wait a minute wasn't that the villain in Die Hard? Right? Somebody I know said that after the first service. Yeah I looked it up. It wasn't Franz Gruber. It was Hans Gruber. Was the villain. So got to keep straight your Hans and Franz anyway maybe your brain doesn't work like mine. Sorry for the good diversion back back to Silent Night. So the song was written but the church organ at Saint Nicholas was broken because of flooding and so actually Joseph more showed up for that Christmas Eve service. With a guitar and that's how silent night was first performed. He strummed the guitar and sang this beautiful Carol for his people and sure enough they received the peace and the comfort knowing that God is still there. God still cares and they went home in peace. You know it took another 20 or 30 years for it to gradually spread and become a viral hit but it did that went worldwide it's been translated into over 300 languages. When I was a missionary in Russia, we sang it in Russian as well. It's all throughout the
World. There's a famous Christmas Truce during World War 1 in 1914. Where on Day trips, from Britain and Germany. Germany, stopped fighting started, sing, some Christmas carols. And one of them was actually Silent Night in. The legend has it that they actually came out of their foxholes and we're shaking hands and at peace for a day singing Silent Night together. It's a pretty incredible song. So this message of peace and hope amidst chaos and suffering and noise. I think that's something that resonates with us today as well, isn't it? So, let's take a look at the verses of this. Before we get to that though. As we look at the verses of Silent Night, we find that it's a relatively Simple Song. Now, if you were here last week, we unpacked Hark, the Herald Angels Sing and there is so much in that one. Pastor Mike couldn't even go into all the details because it is so theologically dense and Rich. If you missed that sermon, make sure you go back and watch that one Silent Night. It is not that rich or dense when it comes to theology or what's in there, it's just a lot lighter. It's a lot more consumable. Which isn't that really true? Of the Christmas story itself. If you have a chance, read through Luke Chapter 2 today and you'll find this. Not, there's not much embellishment there. The story is told in a very direct, simple, almost unemotional way. Fact, let me just share a couple of those verses with you. Luke Chapter 2, verses 6 and 7. So while Mary and Joseph were there in the town of Bethlehem. The time came for the baby Jesus to be born. Mary gave birth to her firstborn a son, she wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a Manger because there was no guest room available for them.
Pretty short and simple deserves a song that's short and simple and gives us peace. And that is silent night. So let's take a look at the verses of this hymn. First one silent night. Holy night all is calm all is bright round yon virgin mother and child holy infant so tender and mild sleep in Heavenly peace. Sleep in Heavenly peace. What a beautiful picture of a peaceful. Quiet, calm night when Jesus was born. Which makes me wonder really think. Maybe Joseph Moore got that one a little bit wrong. I don't think it was a calm, silent, peaceful night. You remember, the setting of Jesus birth? So Mary and Joseph actually lived in a town, a small, small village called Nazareth, but then Caesar came along and said, I'd like to take a census and for my census, I'd like everybody to travel back to their, their their, their town of origin, or their hand ancestors were from and we're going to regular register there. And that's how I'm to count everybody. So Mary just shy of nine months pregnant has no choice but to travel with Joseph, 90 miles from Nazareth to Bethlehem in order to fulfill the obligations that the government had placed on them. You see in the pictures, this nice donkey that Mary was riding on the whole way. They were a very, very poor family. I wonder if there was really a donkey, I'm kind of guessing there probably wasn't. So they made this 90 mile Journey, probably on foot and if they're traveling at an average pace. If they could keep moving eight hours a day, it would have taken them four days to get from Nazareth to Bethlehem. And in Mary's condition, I'm guessing is probably closer to a week, so they get into Bethlehem. It was the town of David's birthday. David's origins were who had lived a thousand years earlier. Lot of people were from Bethlehem. The town was packed with people. So imagine Mary and Joseph going up to an inn or a door. Maybe GP may be just a random house. We really need a place to stay in my wife is pregnant. I'm sorry, but we're full up. We already got people here. Go on to the next house. Sorry, nope, no room here, either. Nope, nope, no room at ours, come to another house and they finally say, sorry, you're not going to find a house. You're not going to find a room in this entire in this entire town. There are a ton of people in town. But I've got a against table over there some animals in it, but you're welcome to it if you want it. That's where they go. They stay in a stable and then you can, you imagine Mary goes into labor, she's not in a sterile hospital room. It's not even in a hotel room. She's in a place with animals nearby where animals have done their business and their she has to give birth to a baby highly doubt. They brought a midwife with them where they able to secure a midwife after getting to Bethlehem, that doesn't seem likely to me. Joseph was probably the nurse delivering baby Jesus. And then, there was Shelly. Sheep nearby. She was there too but probably not much assistance. And into that the Savior was born. What was it calming peaceful? I don't think so. were there. People just outside the door walking through the streets and emotion and hustle and bustle. Probably So sort of Joseph more kind of blow it here. Just wanted to paint in a tidy leak. Seen that wasn't real? No. But I bet there was some calm and peace and silence. When Jesus was born, maybe not in the world around them is, I was a little chaotic and noisy. But in the Heart of Mary and Joseph, what would marry have stopped and reflected on? Who this baby was that was in that Manger. I think she would have. Would she have remembered what the angel had told her months early earlier looked at him and said the Holy One, the son of God. Peace. A silent night in her heart. I think that's entirely possible. And I believe that that is a piece and they calm that you can enjoy as well in the midst of noise and chaos and stress that you may be experiencing in your life to I'm going to get some more of that in just a minute but still you see the rest of the song first, though. Look at verse 2.
Silent night, holy night.
Shepherds quake at the sight,
glories, stream from Heaven afar
Heavenly hosts sing Alleluia
Christ, the savior is born
Christ, the savior is born.
With that Joseph Moore switches the scene and he takes us to the Shepherds who I believe that evening were experiencing silence and calm and peace as they watched their sheep in the fields at night, not much hustle and bustle away from the town nice quiet evening. Until it wasn't. So, their silence was broken by all of a sudden this bright light shines down on them. The glory of the Lord, the supernatural light shines all around them and it scared them. They were terrified and then an angel speaks and an angel talks to them and announces to them today, in the town of David, a savior has been born to you. He is Christ the lord. Which is what was captured in the him, verse right. Christ, the savior is born. Joseph Moore was echoing what the angel announced to these Shepherds and then all of a sudden the entire sky was filled with this choir of angels singing Glory to God in the highest heaven and on Earth, peace to those peace. Peace to those on whom his favor rests Now, why did God announce the birth of Jesus in such a spectacular way? Well, the announcement of the birth of any baby is always something big, isn't it? That's a happy announcement, but God was not content to get the news out there through Facebook, that wouldn't be enough. That would be good enough north sent out some emails or make a few phone calls. No, for the Son of God being born, nothing would do except an angel from heaven itself, appearing, and announcing the good news. That Christ, the Savior was born in Bethlehem and then to praise God for this incredible event, it wasn't enough for that angel to start. Singing it wasn't enough to bring in a good quartet of angels know the armies of angels. All of the Heavenly Host, join their voices because they knew what a big deal. This was even though to humanize, it seemed like a simple baby, born in a manger, and laying in a Manger there, but they knew what this meant. And so they sang praises and glory to God in the highest heaven. And because they knew that this baby meant that there could be peace between God and man. Pretty cool verse.
That's the common peace that you can experience at Christmas as you remember who this baby is. When you remember that, that God knows you. God loves you. And that in Jesus, you are united with god. So let's take a look at verse 3 quick though. It says this silent night, holy night. Son of God loves pure light radiant, beams from thy holy face with the dawn of Redeeming Grace, Jesus, Lord, at thy birth, Jesus, Lord, at thy birth. So with this final verse Joseph, more helps us, remember who this really was and so what that he was born It's critical for us to know. So who was this? That was born. Son of God, loves pure light. So God took a look at our Human Condition. And he saw that we made a mess of things. Has he got God made us originally. He made our first parents, perfect. In a close relationship with him. That's how he intended. It dependent on him, recognizing him for his majesty and glory, and the provision. He gives and living under him in love and joy and obedience. And then God takes to look at what he sees now and he sees Disobedience and rebellion and sin and he finds it ugly. When we don't live a life that lines up with the Holiness, he requires he defines that disgusting. He finds it offensive. He looked at our condition. He said, I wanted them close in a dear, loving relationship and they are far, far from me. And he looked at us and he said, They're not going to fix this. In fact, they can't fix this. They are broken at the most fundamental level. But loves pure light shown in this world. God did what we could? The son of God. Broke into our existence. This is real human history. 2000 years ago, you can go visit the place. God took on human flesh. This was the dawn of Redeeming Grace. That's kind of a hard phrase. Let me unpack that for you. Grace? Well, dawn, first of all, you know what that is? It means the beginning of something, the dawn of humanity, sometimes you hear that phrase has something is beginning, Grace is God's undeserved loving-kindness. We don't deserve it. We didn't earn it, and yet, he loves us anyway. Redeeming Grace means redeem. Redeem means to pay a price or to give something in exchange for something or some one. That's what it means. That God redeemed us, his Redeeming Grace means that God saw our condition. He saw how lost we were and how broken we were, and his heart broke for us and he said, I got to do something about this. What can I give that will get them back? It wasn't money or gold or a human being not not valuable enough. The only thing that he could give in exchange for us, was his son. His son would have to take on human flesh, his son would have to do what we have failed to do, be perfect, his son, would have to take our sin, our guilt our shame, all the ugliness, all the offense, take it on himself, take it to the cross, and through that, through him, through his Redeeming Grace. We can be brought back to God again. We are redeemed. We are forgiven. We are God's children.
This is the beautiful message of Christmas. This is the beautiful message that gives you peace. No matter what you are dealing with in your life. Because of Jesus, because of who he is and what he did for you. That means you are right with God. You're good with him. It means your sins are all forgiven. It means that he is with you and is powerfully at work for you. It means that you have an eternal future with him. Guaranteed his Jesus did it. Are we sure? Yeah, well, we'll cover that Easter. He rose from the dead, remember the proof in the guarantee that the payment he offered in exchange for you was sufficient and God accepted it. You are good with God. Which means you're going to go today with some peace in your heart. I don't know what Joseph Mohr had in mind. Other scripture passages that were going through his head. But I can tell you that when I unpack these verses of Silent Night there is one that immediately popped into my head. It wouldn't surprise me if it was in his as well. And that is Psalm 46. I'm not going to read the whole psalm to you but I do want to share some verses with you, and my challenge to you will be to read it in full several more times this week. Because in that psalm, we hear this God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear though the Earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea. Can you imagine being in a situation where the Earth is falling apart, where a mountain crashes into a body of water and ice giant tsunami starts? How terrifying that would be? And the psalm says, we will not fear, not even in that because God is our refuge and our Length though its Waters Roar and foam and the mountains Quake with their surging. I will be good. We'll have no fear. Because verse 7 next first, the Lord Almighty is with us. The god of Jacob is our Fortress. He says this Almighty, powerful God. Who is our Fortress? He says Be Still And know that I am God, I will be exalted among the nation's. I will be exalted in the earth. Nothing will stop that in the end. God will be exalted, he is in control. He is with you and he says Be Still. So I think a good way to remember what is Silent Night, really all about Would be this Silent Night, fill in these blanks is simply this be still. And know. That he is God. You remember that every time you hear a silent night, be still and know that he is God in any circumstance that you face in life in any season of life, you can be still and know that he is God, and I've experienced this in my own life in so many different ways, so many different stories I could share.
I'm going to go back, aways, and share one with you from way back. When I was a vicar. If you're not familiar with that term, a vicar is a one-year internship. That all of our pastors do where they spend a year in a congregation, getting some practice with ministry. So, you are assigned which congregation you go to. My assignment was to go to a congregation in Anchorage, Alaska, of all places. And that's where I spent my vicar year and it was incredible. Incredible year. In addition to learning how to be a pastor. I also got to experience the beauty of Alaska and I highly recommend that you go there. If you haven't, it is something to behold and you will be in awe of God when you see the beauty of that state. So it was after Easter. Easter fell early April and it was the week after Easter and my future father-in-law, because that is where I met my future wife was in Alaska, funny how God works things. My future father-in-law said, hey vicar, would you were just a vicar, even how much is going on? Would you like to go with me to a remote cabin? So, there was another Pastor who had her cabin out in the remote wilderness of Alaska near Mountain Denali. And would you like to go with me and do some snow machining? Pause snow machine. In Alaska, it is a snowmobile, this exact same machine. They just call it a machine. They're not a snowmobile because they're cooler. So snow. Yeah, yes, that sounds like a blast, that would be fun. So it's just the two of us. We drive two and a half hours, north of Anchorage, get into the area around Mount Denali. We park in this remote parking lot where we were the only car parked. There is a gravel parking lot from there, people would often do some snow Machining, we get our gear, we get on our to snow machines and we ride for about two miles. I have no idea where we were going. We find this remote cabin, he knew how to find it, you know, where to get it, and where to find it and we made it there. And, with time to spare, we decided to do a little riding around that evening and I had no idea where we were, but I'm very thankful that I was following him. He has an impeccable sense of direction. I do not. That's going to play into the story in just a minute. So the next morning our plan was, let's get as close as we can to Denali and see it in all its glory. And so we started out in the morning. We rode for at least it must have been two hours. I think I got no clue where we're going. I'm just following him. The whole way we're reading through all these trees and forests and there were some trails already there, but nobody ever saw another human being. Never saw a road. Never saw another parking lot. Never saw another cabin.
We get up higher and higher as we keep sneaking our way towards an alley and we're finally up above the tree line. Pristine Snow. Nobody had been there. We get up to press this hill and there's Denali in front of us. Totally clear which if you didn't do anything about it. That's pretty rare. Clear and beautiful. Took some incredible shots. Spectacular, that's the good part of the story. What happened? Next was on our way back. There's something you need to know about me. He probably would be surprised to hear, and that is I sometimes have a need, a need for speed, so on the way back, but her score. Now this really long open Hill with no trees. Obviously, I'm not gonna get lost. Well, I opened it up. Fly down that Hill. He didn't. He stayed behind. Got down a long way down that Hill. We started seeing some trees again, and start sneaking through some trees and they're getting more and more dense. And I thought, maybe I should stop and let him catch up or figure out where he is. I look behind. He's nowhere to be seen. Long story short, I look around. I go back and forth. I try to find him. I can't find him. Oh, well, he must. He must have figured I know the way back. He didn't figure that I just thought he did. So I thought it was up to me. I got to figure this out and I start, I start going in the direction. I think we need to go. Everything looks the same, the trees, the paths, the trails, everything looks identical doesn't take long before I realize. Yeah, I really have no idea where I'm at.
So, I'm I start thinking, well, what can I do? And I find a trail where there were probably, you know, 8-10 Trails wide. It was a big old trail. I thought this will, at least take me to another human being, or a parking lot or something. I start following this Trail, and then one path goes that way, another one, another one, another one, another one, another one, until I get to the end and there's four Trails going off in single Trails, going off in random directions on Mike. I don't even know which of these to take. I don't have any provisions. Therein, the other snow melting snow machine. I don't have a compass. I don't have a GPS, so I don't have a cell phone, it's 1994. I had no idea. No idea how big the gas tank was, do I have 15 minutes of gas left? Do I have five hours of gas left? I have no clue. I was in a panic. I was sweating even though it was cold. I didn't know what to do. I go back into the middle of the White Plain where I was. I shut off the snow machine. And I did what I should have done at the start. I laid back on it and I looked up at the sky and I started praying. Say God. I don't know where I am. I don't know how I'm going to get out of this. I am hopeless. I need your presence. I need your guidance. Please, please, please, let me get out of this alive. Spoiler alert. I did but so, then I was this peace and this calm came over me. Once I stopped and prayed my head cleared and I sat up and I looked around and I started thinking if I was standing out the cabin, what would the Siri look like okay that mountain range would be closer that mountain range would be a little bit further. Okay, so I need to drive this way, that's literally what I did. I drove 20 minutes I'm not going to think about. I'm just gonna keep going toward that mountain range. I did that for 20 minutes. I stopped at pause. Then re-evaluated. Okay, it's looking a little better perspective. But now I need to go this way. Did that like three, four or five different times and then all of a sudden I come out of this batch of trees and there's the cabin That whole time. We never saw another human being never saw a road. Never saw parking lot. This random cabin in the middle of the Alaskan Wilderness. I found it like wow, thank God. And there were a bunch of thank you prayers and this load was lifted off and calm and peace came over me. I would suggest to you that even if you're not facing that you can have the same common piece, whatever it is, you are facing I know I've seen your communication card prayer requests and I know what a lot of you are going through. I know the challenges that you are facing and it's not easy. So what is it for you? Is it a health thing that's happening? You don't know how it's going to end or maybe it's a friend of yours or your a relative. That's got it and you don't know how this is going to end.
Maybe you're experiencing your first Christmas. After the death of a loved one. And it's hard.
Maybe you're thinking about your student loan debt, it's the government really going to forgive it or not, who's paying this and how and it's just feeling you're feeling this load on you because of that financial burden. Maybe your company. Layoffs are starting to become more and more frequent in Corporate America, and the rumors are starting. And you wonder if you're a job, might be next. You look at the inflation rate, just went to all the other day, four dollars and six cents for a dozen eggs. That's crazy. It's a lot of money. How am I going to pay? Are we going to meet our budget? How are we going to make our bills? Look at my 401k diving. Or maybe it's a relationship problem. Maybe you are struggling with you and your spouse are struggling in your relationship, or maybe you're in the midst of a divorce, or maybe you just had a divorce, or maybe it's with your children that you're not getting along with them. And there's, there's a strange meant there and it's hard, or maybe it's a co-worker that just you never get along with. So maybe it's a relationship thing. What is the stress that the thing that's out of control in your life? The thing that you're most worried about right now that's robbing you of Peace. That's making you anxious and worried the Noise the chaos.
God, says Be Still. Be still and know that I am. God. Know that the Lord Jesus. Is God in human flesh. The Son of God loves pure light born in Bethlehem 2,000 years ago, Who reunited you with? God, God looks at you and doesn't hold his nose. He smiles. He says you're mine. I know you and I've got a plan for you plans to prosper. You not harm you. I've got an eternal future for you, you're going to love it. Whatever you're dealing with.
Return to God. Put your trust in him. I believe you'll have peace. So can I give you a simple assignment before we go? This week, I want you to have this peace. And here's a simple thing you can do. Would you this week at least once a day? And I think you'll enjoy it. If you do it more than once a day, would you open up a Bible or your app to Psalm 46 and at the same time, would you find your favorite version of Silent Nght or any version for that matter? To go on YouTube and find it? Turn on silent night and read through Psalm 46 the next day, turn on silent night, read through Psalm 46, take a deep breath. Say some prayers to your God. Who loves you? And tell me if you don't experience some calm and peace, a silent night and that you don't give glory to God because I believe you will. God help us do that.
