Merry Christmas! Everyone. Usually the response isn’t that loud, today morning everyone’s awake today is of course a big day for us as Christians today we celebrate the birth of our Savior there’s a story and can of of introduction that I heard a you a bishop give pastor Bishop NT Wright it goes like this McGuire had been practicing for Jesus the singers were tired the conductor kept the matter though eating back down he made them practice it again and again the reason is they would only have one chance to sing this song it was a beautiful song and singer is thought to himself while we seen this only once this is such great music wouldn’t it be better if we went to different places in front of different audiences and sang this song the conductor looked of the singer and said this is a special song this a special music that you will be singing but it can only be sung once by you after that the ones who hear it have to learn to sing it for themselves the conductor is God the choir are the angels and the audience was the shepherds we look at that Christmas morning and we see and we read this beautiful song that was sung to the shepherds what do we make of that what do we understand from that day from that moment in history that is never repeated and never will be repeated that moment when all I split in two we have the for Christ and then we have A/D that moment in time that defined human history what do we make of it what do we make of this song that was only someone’s it’s interesting because just before the song was sung the angel says to the shepherds do not be afraid for see I bring you good news of great joy for all the people to you born this day in the city of David a Savior who is the Messiah the Lord now we look at that today a Savior has been born… That’s definitely good news if it’s true it’s sure it’s something that shatters all comprehension isn’t there is a a wonderful logical argument that CS Lewis put forth and I’ve still never heard of very good counter to this we look at the life of Jesus Christ we are confronted with three options this Jesus Christ event he was a liar or he was a madman or he really was who he said he was based on the claims that he said about who he was based on the testimony that we have of him he could be a liar he could be a fantastic fraud he could be someone who was able to trick all those people in those days but when we look at that we have to ask if he really were a fraud if he really were a liar when those closest to him have been able to realize this when they have been able to attack his lines why would anyone died for a lie why would anyone suffer for a lie so the we look at that option that we are proud to think about Christ and we must admit that that’s not a plausible option a can’t make sense that Christ was a liar let’s look at another option maybe he was mad maybe wasn’t lying that maybe he was just delusional maybe he really believed he was the son of God all the while he wasn’t again confronted with some strange things going history how does the delusional man creates such a following out of the delusional man perform miracles how does the delusional man lived a perfect life that Christ has been known to live not only does the Gospels of Matthew Mark and Luke get a very his store will account eyewitness account of who Christ was a we have other historical documents that give us a an understanding of who Christ was in none of those documents are we able to even see a glimpse of a madman so he’s not a liar and if he’s not a madman are we left with the only option were left with is this must be a man who says and who is what he says if he really is Christ if he really is Messiah but our hearts should be overwhelmed with joy if he’s not Messiah a we come here needlessly we can go home and relax we need not have waken up this early in the morning but we know we know that this man who lived on Earth was God incarnate we know that Jesus Christ coming to be with us was Messiah for us now if he was Messiah if he really was God what does that mean what does that look like and that’s with this beautiful song comes in glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among those whom he favors we have glory to God then we have peace on earth two things many times he will think of these are two different things we all know the people who glorify God but do very little to bring about peace when it comes to other people’s pain and suffering they don’t do too much but they’re very dedicated and they attend church and there in the front doing all the things that we would expect of a person who follows God to be doing with the thing is you can never separate these two ideas glorifying God in bringing peace on earth are one and the same one of the those old songs that we had signed in sign in stone it never quite struck me the depth of its meaning heaven came down and glory filled my soul Christ is that haven’t come down when he came down we are able to glorify God and we are able to rejoice because with his arrival comes piece our Christian walk our faith is not something detached from the realities of this world our faith is not something that we sit put just on a Sunday was just on a holiday like Christmas our faith is something that in phase all of life that is the meaning of this song but the Angels sung do we do both living in a state like California we know that there are plenty of liberals liberals have good intentions but I was undoubtedly refer to myself as a liberal liberals have in their the a tendency to want to be socially active which is good we need a that we can learn from liberals in that regard will when the liberal goes to the extent of saying I can do ministry I can do social work without glorifying God is utterly confused we cannot glorify God apart from the real fullness of the Christian life and that includes both service and worship when we come here today our purpose is definitely to worship to worshiping community is one of those blessings that I don’t know if we fully fathom we take it for granted perhaps I myself coming together to worship is such a blessing it is such a privilege and but it doesn’t end there glory to God in the highest and peace on earth on earth peace among those who he favors in Jesus is a message at the sermon on the Mount one of the lines that he said that is blessed are the peacemakers for they shall inherit the kingdom of God are we just worshipers do we just celebrate Christmas or are we really listening to that wonderful song with the Angels sung and are we being peacemakers are we bringing heaven down to earth for the world to see what it’s like to be with him are we learning that song of the Angels and are we singing that song of the Angels I just did a quick word search in my Bible software nowhere else no one else is this phrase mentioned in the Bible glory to God in the highest nowhere else is this song some none of the other gospel writers mention it it was someone’s by those Angels and now it is our turn to sing that song it’s our chance to yell from the rooftops to tell our friends at work to tell our friends in the school that today you see who is been born the problems that you face are real problems and we do not ignore them we can’t ignore them to know that in the midst of those problems there is one who has come to be with you and just so you know what that feels like let me do that for you let me be the Christ the you can never see unless you read the Gospels and experience them yourself that’s what Christmases that’s what it should be for us is a reminder the Savior is born and more than that for us today it’s a reminder that we must sing the song we must not be quiet I remember we last to send this back we put all these poinsettias in the choir pews and I couldn’t help remembering averse to goes like this is along the lines of this if the people of God do not worship as the people of God not praise the rocks who cry basically nature will praise him and seeing all those poinsettias nicely lined up in the choir pews I thought to myself are we doing what we should be doing are we praise him like we should be praising it is a profound task that we have and we look at verse 15 we realize that knowing is not enough -itis: and see this go and find this child that God is made known to us we know who Christ is and no doubt that everyone in this room knows who Christ is with this Christmas we must experience him we must go out and meet him in verse 16 it says the shepherds made haste they went in a hurry to go and be with him Christian life is not easy as him into the and it’s not something that ends in something indefinitely one day has a beginning but it never has an and every day he quickly strive every day we must seek after the moment that we as a church is a small new community think that we have it all figured out that’s when with the furthest I pray that this Christmas we would take some time to experience that we would take some time to listen to that him that was sung so long ago and I pray that after having experienced him we would be like the shepherds that we would return rejoicing and proclaiming what Christ has done with the good Lord bless us this Christmas day the good Lord bless each and everyone of you so that you would be a blessing to those around you.