Pastor’s Notes for 2nd Sunday of Christmas, B
Date: 1/4/15
Theme: The Light Shines in the Darkness; The Word Became Flesh
Bible Ref’s:Jer. 31:7-14 or Sir. 24:1-12; Ps. 147:12-20 or Wis. 10:15-21; Eph. 1:3-14; Jn 1:[1-9] 10-18.
Prayer of the Day
Almighty God, you have filled all the earth with the light of your incarnate Word. By your grace
empower us to reflect your light in all that we do, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives
and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
Brief Sermon Outline: “Elementary, my dear Watson!”
Focus Stmnt: What we believe is only meaningful to us as it becomes embodied (incarnated) in us.
1. Our daughter, Maddie, recently turned us onto the series “Sherlock” on Netflix. I had never been
much into reading Sherlock Holmes mysteries, but since watching the show I’ve begun to do more
investigating of this classic figure in English literature…he’s also been widely portrayed on screen.
2. Sherlock Holmes is an eccentric figure—brilliant in his powers of deduction, picking up the tiniest
clues and solving mysteries, but somewhat inept in social graces, often rude, arrogant, impatient.
3. Dr. Watson is his companion, & as Watson continuously marvels at Sherlock Holmes’ incredible
powers of deduction, Sherlock will say to him, “Elementary, my dear Watson. Elementary!” Well,
Martin Luther was a bit of an eccentric personality, too. And as he went about visiting parishioners
in their homes, he was incredulous that people didn’t know the most elementary things about faith.
4. 2015 will be a good year to start reading The Lutheran magazine on a regular basis because Peter
Marty will begin a series on the basic elements of Christian belief called “A lexicon of faith.” It will
help people understand key words like “reconciliation” this month. But at the end of this Christmas
season, I wanted us to investigate the word “incarnation” & come to an elementary understanding.
5. To do that, I ask you to find some paper & pencil to write down some clues…and after a little while
of taking down clues, I’m going to ask you to share some of your findings with those around you.
6. Similar to Sherlock Holmes, Luther had this question constantly bouncing around his head that he
used in his Small Catechism to help guide people in their understanding of the Christian faith. He
kept asking: “What does this mean?” To each of the Ten Commandments “What does this mean?”
7. To each petition of the Lord’s Prayer and to parts of the Creed, he kept asking, “What does this
mean? What does this mean?” Pursuing the question of meaning is fundamental to the life of faith.
It’s a question not only of discovering what God has done, what God has revealed to us, but discovering God’s wisdom behind it—Why did God do this? What can we learn about God’s nature
and God’s will? And there’s no better revelation to get us searching for clues than the Incarnation.
8. So to start us off on our investigation of what “incarnation” means, I’ll ask you to write down clues
to answer this question: “What new insight or clue about the Incarnation will you be more mindful
of in the New Year?” Let’s begin our investigation by turning to our gospel lesson from Jn. 1:14.
We get the word incarnation from the Latin verb incarno, meaning "to make into flesh" or "to be
made flesh": “et Verbum caro factum est” “and the Word was made flesh,” (from wikipedia.org).
9. The Cappadocian Fathers are Ss. Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian (of Nanzianzus) & Gregory of Nyssa, who were bishops in Cappadocia (now central Turkey) in the fourth century. They,
along w/ St. Athanasius the Great, laid the pattern for formulating the doctrines related to the mystery of the Incarnation & the Holy Trinity. St. Irenaeus (Bishop of Lugdunum in Gaul, d. 202CE) understood the atonement of Christ as happening essentially through his incarnation (recapitulation).
10.With the revelation of “the Word made flesh” in J.C., we’re given insight/wisdom into the mystery of
God’s will: God’s goodness & pleasure to gather up all things in him. (Eph.1:8b-10) Colossians reinforces & deepens our insight into the mystery of the incarnation by connecting it to reconciliation.
11. We profess our faith in the words of the Apostles’ Creed: “I believe in J.C., God’s only Son, our
Lord, who was conceived by the H.S., born of the virgin Mary…” We come to believe these things
by revelation into the wisdom of God. So it is that we become mindful of this godly wisdom in our
own lives. Jesus has called us to be mindful of God’s love for the world through his Incarnation!
12. <Please turn to 3-4 people in a group & share a new insight or clue re: the Incarnation you will be
more mindful of in the New Year?> Some possible new insights: In the beginning was the Word,
Word became flesh, lived among us, grace & truth; wisdom & insight, mystery of his will, his good
pleasure, to gather up all things; fullness of God, pleased to dwell, pleased to reconcile, all things.
13. Converting mindfulness of the Incarnation into something meaningful is a sacramental conversion
of Christ working in us & through us to become a blessing to the world. The ELCA’s tagline “God’s
work. Our hands” clues us into this sacramental mystery: Christ works in our flesh to bless world.
14. In other words, what we read/hear & come to believe is only meaningful as it becomes embodied
(incarnated) in us, when we hear what Jesus is calling us to do in the world & then act on that call.
Jesus (the Word made flesh) set us an example in humbling himself, being obedient to God’s will.
15. So it is that we become disciples of Jesus when we humble ourselves, when we seek to become
obedient to God’s will & to serve as means of God’s grace in the world. Bishop Aitken has some
words to share in this regard. <Show YouTube video “Serve 2014 SD”> Jesus has called us to
follow him into a life of joyful serving! <Please share with one another how you will seek to serve
as a means of God’s grace to others and to the world in the New Year? >
16. Some possible ways to serve: on church council, on a standing committee (Worship/Music, Congregational Life, Christian Ed., Property, Finance, Administration, Stewardship, Outreach), Habitat
for Humanity, joining Creation Care Team, Piecemakers or WELCA. Nurture the faith of children
by helping with Sunday school, be a Confirmation mentor or teacher, or do a Children’s Sermon.
17.There are the traditional marks of discipleship (daily prayer, regular worship & Bible study, cultivating generosity by working towards a tithe, inviting folks to worship (extending hospitality to all)).
Start up a lay visitation ministry. For your New Year’s resolution, investigate how Jesus is calling
you to follow him into a life of joyful service! Don’t allow God’s will for your life to remain a mystery.
Be mindful of Jesus as “the Word made flesh” in you, then incarnate God’s love in humble service.
Hymn of the Day:
“Word of God, come down on earth” (WOV #716, ELW #510)
Children’s Sermon
<To take up the theme of “solving mysteries,” pastor dons a Sherlock
Holmes hat, puts pipe in mouth and magnifying glass in hand. We
discuss how our lives are an unfolding mystery of discovering God’s
will for the world & how Jesus is calling us to live into that reality.>
Pastor: Good morning, kids. It’s the first Sunday of the New Year! I
hope you had a nice time with your family and friends at
Christmas and New Years. But now we have to get ready to
go back to school and back to work. So that’s what I’m going to do now is get ready to go to
work! <don the hat, pipe and magnifying glass>
Can you guess what I’m going to do? <Take suggestions, but spark their imaginations with hints of
heading out to solve a mystery> Yes, I’m going to head out to solve a mystery. Now can you
imagine what that mystery is I’m going to try to figure out? <Take their guesses> Let me give you a
clue…when you saw all those gifts wrapped up under the Christmas tree, did you know what those
gifts were? No, it was a mystery what those gifts were because you hadn’t unwrapped the gifts yet.
Well, we’re told that the greatest gift we’ve received at Christmas is what? The baby Jesus. That’s
called the Incarnation. But why did God give us this gift? For many people, it’s a mystery why God
chose to become a human being. So that’s one mystery we need to solve: Why did God become
human? But there’s another mystery we also need to investigate: Why is this gift of the incarnation
(God becoming a human) important for you and for me? What are we supposed to do with this gift?
On Christmas Eve, I told everyone that what God has done is laid the Christ child in the manger of
our hearts. But now what does God want us to do with this gift? Let’s pray: Loving God, we thank
you for the gift of the Incarnation (you becoming the baby Jesus). Guide us by your Spirit as we
investigate & gather clues about why you became human, & why you’ve laid this baby in the manger
of our hearts. Help us to understand and to use this gift as you want. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen
The Word
(Jeremiah 31:7-14)
For thus says the LORD: Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob, and raise shouts for the chief of the
nations; proclaim, give praise, and say, "Save, O LORD, your people, the remnant of Israel." 8 See,
I am going to bring them from the land of the north, and gather them from the farthest parts of the
earth, among them the blind and the lame, those with child and those in labor, together; a great
company, they shall return here. 9 With weeping they shall come, and with consolations I will lead
them back, I will let them walk by brooks of water, in a straight path in which they shall not stumble;
for I have become a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn. 10 Hear the word of the LORD, O
nations, and declare it in the coastlands far away; say, "He who scattered Israel will gather him, and
will keep him as a shepherd a flock." 11 For the LORD has ransomed Jacob, and has redeemed him
from hands too strong for him. 12 They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion, and they
shall be radiant over the goodness of the LORD, over the grain, the wine, and the oil, and over the
young of the flock and the herd; their life shall become like a watered garden, and they shall never
languish again. 13 Then shall the young women rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the
old shall be merry. I will turn their mourning into joy, I will comfort them, and give them gladness for
sorrow. 14 I will give the priests their fill of fatness, and my people shall be satisfied with my bounty,
says the LORD.
(Psalm 147:12-20)
12 Praise the LORD, O Jerusalem! Praise your God, O Zion! 13 For he strengthens the bars of
your gates; he blesses your children within you. 14 He grants peace within your borders; he fills you
with the finest of wheat. 15 He sends out his command to the earth; his word runs swiftly. 16 He
gives snow like wool; he scatters frost like ashes. 17 He hurls down hail like crumbs-- who can stand
before his cold? 18 He sends out his word, and melts them; he makes his wind blow, and the waters
flow. 19 He declares his word to Jacob, his statutes and ordinances to Israel. 20 He has not dealt
thus with any other nation; they do not know his ordinances. Praise the LORD!
(Ephesians 1:3-14)
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every
spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the
world to be holy and blameless before him in love. 5 He destined us for adoption as his children
through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace
that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the
forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace 8 that he lavished on us. With all
wisdom and insight 9 he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good
pleasure that he set forth in Christ, 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him,
things in heaven and things on earth. 11 In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance, having
been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel
and will, 12 so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his
glory. 13 In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and
had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; 14 this is the pledge of
our inheritance toward redemption as God's own people, to the praise of his glory.
(John 1:10-18)
He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. 11
He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. 12 But to all who received
him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of
blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. 14 And the Word became flesh and
lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth.
15 (John testified to him and cried out, "This was he of whom I said, `He who comes after me ranks
ahead of me because he was before me.'") 16 From his fullness we have all received, grace upon
grace. 17 The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
18 No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father's heart, who has
made him known.
Sermon Notes
The Incarnation in traditional Christianity is the belief that the second
person of the Trinity, also known as Son of God or the Logos (Word),
"became flesh" by being conceived in the womb of Mary, also known as
the Theotokos (God-bearer) or "Mater Dei" (mother of God). The
Incarnation, then, is the God-man Jesus Christ.
The Incarnation is a fundamental theological teaching of orthodox
(Nicene) Christianity, based on its understanding of the New Testament.
The Incarnation represents the belief that the Son of God, who is the
non-created second hypostasis of the triune God, took on a human body
and nature and became both man and God. In the Bible its clearest
teaching is in John 1:14: "And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us."
In the Incarnation, as traditionally defined by those Churches that adhere to the Council of
Chalcedon, the divine nature of the Son was united but not mixed with human nature in one divine
Person, Jesus Christ, who was both "truly God and truly man". This is central to the traditional faith
held by most Christians…An alternative doctrine known as “Oneness” has been espoused among
various Pentecostal groups. (Traditional Trinitarians believe that the Son always existed as the
eternal second person of the Trinity; Oneness adherents believe that the Son did not come into being
until the Incarnation, when the one and only true God took on human flesh for the first, last and only
time in history.)
The Incarnation is commemorated and celebrated
each year at Christmas, and also reference can be
made to the Feast of the Annunciation; "different
aspects of the mystery of the Incarnation" are
celebrated at Christmas and the Annunciation.
Excerpted from the article “Incarnation (Christianity)”
in Wikipedia