Listen to the Angels Sing

In one paragraph

On the Sunday before Christmas 2015, the pastor preached from Luke 2:8-14, the angels' announcement to the shepherds. He focused most of the sermon on a single phrase in that announcement and what it actually means, then closed with the Lord's Supper as the natural response to the message. The angels' song divides into two parallel halves: glory to God in heaven, and peace on earth to men. The...

Read together

1. John 3:16-17 read as the fourth Advent candle lighting, the candle of love
2. Luke 2:8-14 the primary sermon text, the angels announcing the birth of Jesus to the shepherds
3. Luke 2:15-20 the shepherds respond to the angelic message, go to Bethlehem, find the baby, and spread the news
4. Isaiah 53 referenced briefly during communion, 'by your stripes, by your blood, Lord, we are healed'
5. Ephesians 4:32 quoted near the close, 'forgive one another just as God in Christ has forgiven you,' as the only method for peace

Talk about it

1. The pastor described a 'persistent question' that Christians have wrestled with for centuries: can there really be peace on Earth? What persistent questions do you carry about your own faith, and how do you sit with them?
2. The sermon looked at two different ways to read the angels' announcement, either 'goodwill toward men' broadly, or 'peace to those on whom God's favor rests.' How does each reading land with you personally, and do you think the tension between them has to be resolved?
3. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote 'there is no peace on Earth' in the middle of personal grief and national war, yet his poem ended in hope. Have you ever been in a season where the promise of peace felt mocked by what you were living through? What brought you back?
4. The shepherds received the angel's message, immediately acted on it, found exactly what they were told they would find, and then told everyone about it. Which part of that response is hardest for you, and why?
5. The pastor said that if your dogma is getting in the way of your experience with God, that is a problem, and that the two have to be held together. What does that balance look like in your own life right now?