Jesus The Star of Creation John 1: 1-5 and Philippians 2: 14-16 December 1, 2013 (First Advent) Rev.

. Deborah Dail Denbigh and Second Presbyterian Churches Worshiping Together John 1: 1-5 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being 4 in him was life,[a] and the life was the light of all people. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. Philippians 2: 14-16 Do all things without murmuring and arguing, 15 so that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, in which you shine like stars in the world. 16 It is by your holding fast to the word of life that I can boast on the day of Christ that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.

Sermon There is a house not too far from ours in Yorktown that must have the most Christmas lights of any house in town. The house is nestled in a neighborhood, but you can still see these lights for quite some distance. The lights draw people from all over Yorktown and elsewhere, I imagine. People follow the light to see the light on a side street in a little neighborhood. When looking at this decorated house, I imagine a moment when the homeowners stand before their array of bulbs and wires and pronounce Let there be light! They hold their breath as they await the result of their work. If all goes well . . . the lights come on . . . no community-wide power outages occur . . . no sparks fly . . . their beautiful work of art comes alive. I suspect there are shouts of celebration, high fives or fist bumps, hugs and maybe a warm-hearted toast with hot chocolate. Their handiwork is pronounced good indeed very good. And then it begins. People follow the light to see the light on a side street in a little neighborhood. More than 2000 years ago, people followed a light a bright star. They followed this bright star to a little place on a side street in a little place called Bethlehem. They followed the bright star to an infant named Jesus. Ironically, they would later learn they followed a star which Jesus had created in the beginning. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being . . . not even the star that would ultimately lead others to his lowly manger. You may recall that Jesus is referred to in several places in the Bible (such as Revelation 22:16) as the Bright Morning Star. Ann Spangler has written: The morning star is a herald of a new day, signaling the dawn of hope and joy. The brightest object in the sky aside from the sun and the moon, it is a fitting type for Christ, who ushers in a new day for the entire world. When you call on Jesus as the Bright Morning Star you are calling on the One from whom all darkness flees. (Ann Spangler, Praying the Names of God, crosswalk.com) Jesus, who created the bright morning star, the Star of the East and all other stars, was aptly referred to as the Bright Morning Star. Jesus is the creator, and Jesus is also our re-creator. John tells us: All things came into being through him and without him not one thing came into being. Paul in 2 Corinthians 5:17 Anyone who is in Christ is a new creation. The old is gone. The new has come. We are also told that in Christ there will be a new heaven and a new earth. All things will be made new. Advent celebrates all of this Christ has come, Christ comes to us even now, and Christ will come again to make all things new.
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Jesus the Bright Star of Bethlehem -- is always bringing new beginnings, creating something out of nothing, bringing order out of chaos and shining light into our darkness. And how grateful I am for that. We all need new beginnings. We all need Jesus to take the nothingness into which some of our relationships have deteriorated and bring something out of it something good and hopeful. We all need Jesus to enter the chaos of our lives and to bring order. We all need Jesus to shine in the dark streets of our lives and the dark streets of our world. But sometimes in fact most of the time this process brings with it some discomfort and pain. Roman philosopher Seneca said: Every new beginning comes from another beginnings end. Its interesting that even if the old way of being (that other beginning which is being brought to an end) wasnt working out so well for us, its sometimes hard to let go. Ask any who battle addictions. The new is better. Health and sobriety are better. But letting go of the addiction is difficult. When Christ re-creates us Christ shines his light into our darkness. He exposes our darkness. He exposes our brokenness. He exposes our pain. He exposes our sin. That process is uncomfortable. We grow so accustomed to darkness that when we go into the light it hurts. If youve ever been in a movie theater on a bright sunny day and come straight out from the theater into the daylight you know it hurts your eyes. The One who created the world, brought something out of nothing and brought order out of chaos, also re-creates us. His light shines in us and transforms us. The darkness doesnt overcome us or control us any longer. In fact, we become stars. We become light-bearers. We become those who now guide others to the Light of Christ. God has created us to be the bright stars pointing to Christ. People followed the light more than 2000 years ago to see the Light of the World Jesus. Today, people are also looking for lights for shining stars to lead them to Jesus. In Philippians we read Do all things without murmuring and arguing, 15 so that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, in which you shine like stars in the world. Interesting that Paul here speaks of things we should not do if we want to shine like stars. Dont murmur. Dont argue. Paul knew that people need a light to point them to the Light. Paul knew that people need lights shining in the dark streets of this world to guide them to Jesus. He also believed that our lights are hidden when we are murmuring and arguing. Paul knew first-hand of a situation at Philippi which caused him to write these words to the church members there.
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If youre at school picking fights, it is unlikely those around you will see the light of Jesus and be drawn to him. If youre a thorn in peoples flesh at work, gossiping, putting people down or simply complaining about everything, it will be hard for people to see the light of Jesus and be guided to him. If youre always fighting at home, youre kids or your parents wont see Jesus so well. And, if were murmuring and arguing in the church people outside the church will be less likely to see the light in us and be drawn to the Bright Star of Bethlehem. If, however, we take the high road and walk away from a fight at school others may just wonder what makes us different and be drawn by the light within us to the Bright Star of Bethlehem. Kids, shine like stars at school. People will discover Jesus through you. At work, if we make efforts to refrain from gossip and put-downs; if we find hopeful and positive things to talk about rather than complaining; others may wonder whats different about us. They may see a light in us amid the darkness of the workplace. As we shine like a star we can point others to Jesus. At home, if we try to work out our problems peacefully, focusing on what is good more than what is bad, celebrating more than complaining, we may draw others to our source of life, light and hope . . . to Jesus. In the church, our best witness to the world is our unity. When people outside the church hear of our complaining, murmuring and arguing, they are not drawn to Jesus why would they be? In a crooked and perverse generation, our arguing and murmuring, complaining and disunity is old news. Its darkness. It looks crooked and perverse. If we want to shine like stars, indeed like the star in the sky more than 2000 years ago that led people to the Christ child, then we must live like the new creations we are. We focus our attention on serving others, we focus our attention on making peace and we focus our attention on loving God with everything that we are and loving our neighbors as we love ourselves. When we devote ourselves to loving, people will see us shining like stars and they will be led to the Bright Star of Creation to Jesus, the Light of the World. As Denbigh United Presbyterian Church I pray we will shine like stars in this community and that many will be guided to Jesus the one who creates and re-creates and ultimately makes all things new. I pray people will follow the light within us to see the Light of Jesus. The Star of Creation has made us stars. Lets shine wherever we are.