Christmas: The Music And The Meaning - Week 4

Listen to What Child is This? on this week’s playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/71yO4ndhjf0WLWZfE3iG5y?si=6gfcwTlDSpSPk5PERRGIHQ
 
Welcome! We are so glad you’re here, whether in the setting of a group meeting or self-study. The celebration of Christ’s birth is very close, and many groups are taking a break or subbing in a social week.

Opening Prayer:
Dearest God, who is this Holy Child? We have faith He was sent by you as our gift and to fulfill your divine plan of salvation for a sinful world.  We thank you for gathering each of us here together for this time of community.Please dwell in our midst and help us as we explore the magnitude of your Holy Child. It is in His name we pray, Amen.

Ice Breaker:
If there were a movie about your life, what actor would you want to play YOU in the film and why?  Would it be a younger, older, or same-age you?
(Ideas: Johnny Depp, Harrison Ford, Robert Redform, Bill Murray, Clint Eastwood, Sean Connery, Keanu Reeves, Christian Bale, Nicholas Cage, Kevin Costner, Al Pacino, Denzel Washington, Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks, Edward Norton, Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzengger. Angelina Jolie, Sirgouney Weaver, Kate Winslet, Charlize Theron, Scarlett Johannson, Meg Ryan, Sandra Bullock, Glenn Close, Nicole Kidman, Cameron Diaz, Reese Witherspoon, Meryl Streep, Elizabeth Taylor, Julia Roberts, Diane Keaton, Kristen Scott Thomas, Julianne Moore, Michelle Pfeiffer, Frances McDormand. Hilary Swank, Anne Hathaway, Drew Barrymore, Winona Ryder, Jennifer Lawrence)

The Head:  Scripture:  Luke 2: 1-20
In those days Caesar Augustus declared that everyone throughout the empire should be enrolled in the tax lists. 2 This first enrollment occurred when Quirinius governed Syria. 3 Everyone went to their own cities to be enrolled. 4 Since Joseph belonged to David’s house and family line, he went up from the city of Nazareth in Galilee to David’s city, called Bethlehem, in Judea. 5 He went to be enrolled together with Mary, who was promised to him in marriage and who was pregnant. 6 While they were there, the time came for Mary to have her baby. 7 She gave birth to her firstborn child, a son, wrapped him snugly, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the guestroom.

Announcement to shepherds
8 Nearby shepherds were living in the fields, guarding their sheep at night. 9 The Lord’s angel stood before them, the Lord’s glory shone around them, and they were terrified.
9 The Lord’s angel stood before them, the Lord’s glory shone around them, and they were terrified.
10 The angel said, “Don’t be afraid! Look! I bring good news to you—wonderful, joyous news for all people. 11 Your savior is born today in David’s city. He is Christ the Lord. 12 This is a sign for you: you will find a newborn baby wrapped snugly and lying in a manger.” 13 Suddenly a great assembly of the heavenly forces was with the angel praising God. They said, 14 “Glory to God in heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors.”
15 When the angels returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Let’s go right now to Bethlehem and see what’s happened. Let’s confirm what the Lord has revealed to us.” 16 They went quickly and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in the manger. 17 When they saw this, they reported what they had been told about this child. 18 Everyone who heard it was amazed at what the shepherds told them. 19 Mary committed these things to memory and considered them carefully. 20 The shepherds returned home, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen. Everything happened just as they had been told.
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If told by the government you had to return to your birthplace, where would that be, describe the place?  How would you get there?  How would you feel about it (maybe good if you like travel or adventure or bad if it would be a financial or physical burden)?
Pause for a moment and imagine yourself as a shepherd when the angels assembled before you and lit up the skies.  How glorious, scary, ….and maybe loud it was.
After the shepherds saw Jesus with their own eyes, the Bible says they “returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen.”  Author Eugene Peterson wrote in, The Message, a paraphrase of the Bible, that the shepherds “let loose, glorifying and praising God.”  How do you let loose, glorify and praise God? What, if anything, keeps you from this kind of praise?


The Heart:
Our theme song this week is “What Child Is This?” Who is Jesus to you? Based on your answer, what’s your response to him?

The virgin birth speaks to Jesus’ divinity, meaning that He came to earth pure and clean and is not a product of this world.  There in the starlight of Bethlehem was a Messiah…foretold not by physicians, but by angels, prophets, and dreams for a thousand years. Talk about ways you understand or don’t understand the virgin birth.


During advent we frequently depict Jesus in the manger…and we leave him there, quiet and sleeping peacefully.  However his life quickly got on task by listening to rabbis in his Father’s temple, hanging out with sibs, working as a carpenter, choosing his disciples, performing miracles, teaching & feeding thousands, wrestling with temptation in the desert, and dying a painful death of crucifixion.  The life path of Jesus shows how He came as a child. He confronted and conquered every temptation common to humanity.  Jesus lived life on earth as a human. Is this important to your understanding of who he is? Why or why not?  Talk about how your view of Jesus’ humanity impacts how you might love him, trust him or receive him.

The Hands:
Are you familiar with the Netflix sci-fi hit series, Stranger Things?  The series portrays a mysterious, alternate realm known as the Upside-Down. Jesus arrives in a humble and ‘upside-down’ way.

What’s one unexpected act you will do this week to honor the upside-down way of Jesus?

Fill in the blank: I will strive to be __________________ because of Jesus.

He came as a poor person and many of the people he called to be his disciples were considered the marginalized, outcasts.  What people do you feel called to love and serve?


For further study:  Read Hebrews 2:16-18. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Hebrews+2:+16-18&version=CEB
Do you think you would struggle in following Jesus’ footsteps had he not crawled as a child? Why or Why not? How about had he not faced temptation?


Closing Prayer:
Heavenly Father, thank you for this time studying and meditating on your Word. Thank you for sending your Son in the form of a beautiful and helpless human baby.  May we forever praise him as our Christ Child, Prince of Peace, King, Lord, and Savior.  Help His love to dwell in our hearts and our actions this Christmas season and beyond.  It is in Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

Merry Christmas!