The Second Sunday of Advent
A Story–A Christmas Carol
by Charles Dickens
Liturgy:
Light Two Purple Candles
As everyone says together: “Jesus said, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will nver walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’” John 8:12
Someone Asks: Why do we light two candles?
Someone Responds: The first candle reminds us of a symbol, light. The second candle reminds us of Ebenezer Scrooge and the story, A Christmas Carol.
Read Aloud the Scripture and Devotion for today.
Time for Reflection: The rush and busyness of the Christmas season can lead us to focus more on material possessions than the real meaning of Christmas. Share how the focus on “things” and “stuff” has been a part of your life lately. We too can change our perspective just as Ebenezer Scrooge did. Share how you might live out the lesson of “God gave us people to love and ‘things’ to use” this Christmas season.
Sing Together: “O Come, All Ye Faithful”
O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant,
O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem.
Come and behold Him, Born the King of angels.
O come let us adore Him, O come let us adore Him
O come let us adore him, Christ, the Lord!
Yea, Lord we greet Thee, born this happy morning,
Jesus, to Thee be all glory giv’n.
Word of the Father, Now in flesh appearing.
O come let us adore Him, O come let us adore Him
O come let us adore him, Christ, the Lord!
Pray: Dear Heavenly Father, help us not to focus on the worldly goods around us but on the people and true gifts you have given us. May the peace of God, which is far beyond human understanding, keep our hearts and minds safe in union with Christ Jesus. Amen. (Philippians 4:7)
Devotional
We had a relative who, over the course of a working life, amassed a large amount of “stuff.” Upon her retirement, after 50 years at her job, she decided to return to her hometown to live. She had already furnished the house she would move into. She sold her current house but, instead of downsizing, she decided to move the contents of the sold house to the retirement house.
At the new place, she had several sheds built and rented storage space to house her “stuff.” All her remaining years of good mental health were spent trying to figure out how to arrange and what to do with the “stuff.” Just a few days ago, we gave the last of it to Goodwill. Our relative made the mistake of building “bigger barns” trying to keep it all.
From what we know, Luke’s “rich fool” was not a bad person. Neither was our relative. Both had lost perspective about the relative unimportance of “things.” The rich man did not live long enough to enjoy the abundance of his recent harvest. His thoughts were centered on the personal pleasure the harvest would bring him. Our relative’s thoughts became centered on how to arrange everything in order to hold on to it. She was tormented and fretted constantly over her belongings.
Based on the conclusions of wise men, St. Augustine among them, there is a three-fold lesson we might take away from Jesus’ parable and our relative’s experience.
• Observe how much God has given us and take from it what we need; the rest is needed by others.
• God gave us people to love. He gave us things to use.
• Things should enable us, not define us.
We should be careful not to begrudge others the material possessions they have honestly earned. The Scriptures do not dictate that we be rich or poor. They do acknowledge that there will be rich and poor. Poverty should not be smiled upon if one has the wherewithal to do better. If we are poor, it does not follow that we are lazy. If we are rich, it does not mean that we are thieves. What we must realize as the Scriptures tell us is that “All things come of thee, O Lord.” Let us use these lessons to govern ourselves in the use of the abundant blessings God has granted us.
John and Lecettie Simpson
Discussion/Reflection Questions
Pastor Mark Miller has prepared Discussion/Reflection Questions to go along with the sermon: A Classic Christmas — A Story.
You can access the Discussion/Reflection Questions in these two places:
- VA Beach UMC app – Download the VA Beach UMC app at the App Store
- www.vbumc.org/sermons
From the app touch the three dots at the bottom right of the screen … (More) there you will find Sermon Weekly Guide. Click the arrow next to the date and sermon title for the week.
On the webpage, click on the sermon series graphic A Classic Christmas. There you will find the Discussion/Reflection Questions for each Sunday in this series.
You can also listen to the sermon from the website or app which will be posted by Sunday afternoon after the sermon is preached that morning. To listen to the sermon:
- from VA Beach UMC app click on the headphones at the bottom of the screen.
- from vbumc.org hover over worship and click on sermons.