Video Link: https://youtu.be/tKkOt-DVER8
Wishes:
In his book, A Night the Stars Danced for Joy, Bob Hartman imagines a shepherding family sitting under the night sky making wishes.
The shepherd father, who has fought a few battles with wild animals and Romans, wishes for someone to save him from the violence and greed of others.
The shepherd mother, who nurses regrets over things said in anger, wishes for peace of mind and a chance to redeem the past.
While the son (a young boy), who is feeling a bit bored, wishes for fun and excitement, something to sing and dance about.
In some ways our wishes reflect what we don’t have. They point to the emptiness and the loss we feel inside.
Part of praying involves sharing our wishes with God. God is not like a genie in a bottle who grants our every wish, no. But God is still interested in hearing what we wish for. God wants to restore the loss and fill the emptiness we feel with his goodness and love. That’s why Jesus came.
Praying is a bit like a zipper. You know the way a zip merges together, or the way traffic on the road merges together when two lanes become one lane. Prayer is sort of like that.
Prayer is a mystery in which God’s wishes merge with our wishes.
In prayer we don’t just bulldoze our way forward regardless.
In prayer we slow down. We listen to what God is saying he wants (his will) and we let God know what we want. Then we trust the outcome to him.
In prayer we are ready to give way to God’s purpose.
As it turned out the wishes of the shepherds in the story fitted perfectly with God’s wishes. Like the shepherd father, God also wants to see an end to violence and greed. Just as he wants us to have peace of mind and release from the hurts of our past. And God is delighted to give his children something exciting to sing and dance about.
Jesus is the key. Jesus comes to make God’s wishes come true on earth.
The wonderful thing about God’s wishes is they are even better than anything we could have wished for or imagined.
What is it you wish for? What emptiness do you need God to fill? What loss do you need him to restore? I wonder what it is God wishes for you personally. I wonder what God wants for all of us together.
Worship:
Bob Hartman’s story is loosely based on the gospel account of the angels and shepherds. In Luke 2, verse 20, after the shepherds had seen Jesus, Mary and Joseph, we read…
The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.
According to Luke, the shepherds were buzzing with excitement, telling everyone they met what they had been told about Jesus. They responded in praise & worship to God. Their worship looked and sounded like a party.
We might not always think of worship as a party or a celebration. We might be more inclined to think of worship as a sombre sacrifice and sometimes it is. Or we might think of worship as a duty (something we do in obedience to God). And, while that is true, we must not lose sight of the fact that, at its heart, praise & worship is a joyful response to God for what he has done and will do.
In a few moments we are going to sing the Christmas carol, Hark the herald angels sing, as a response of worship to God. During this song we encourage you to dance and express yourself as you sing.
For those who may not feel much like dancing, we have some really cool (and very easy) actions you can do. You don’t have to remember all these actions. Just do what you feel comfortable with.
The first action is the New Zealand Sign Language word for peace, which goes like this. Super easy to remember and low key. Jesus is the Prince of peace.
The next action is the New Zealand sign language word for party. To say party in NZSL you make the hang loose sign with both hands like this. Worship is meant to be a party. Jesus’ coming to the earth is good news. So when we are singing, let’s party.
Another action that fits for Hark the herald is glory. When we worship God in a genuine way we bring him glory. The New Zealand Sign Language word for glory looks like this. Have your thumbs pointing down by your waist and then raise your arms above your head, waving your thumbs as you do.
You can really go to town with this one. Glory, glory to God in the highest.
So, as a response of worship, let’s sing and celebrate God’s gift of Jesus:
Hark the herald angels sing…
Tawa Baptist 