The
Glorious Impossible
Christmas
Cantata - December 10, 2000
The Christ Lutheran Church Adult Choir
Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence
(verse 1) - Gerard
Moultrie
Reading
1: A Reading from Zecharaiah; 'Wait for it! The
Glorious Impossible."
0 Holy Child of Bethlehem -
Philip Brooks,
Mary McDonald
Reading
2: "Immanuel a child? Impossible!"
Break Forth, 0 Heavenly Light - J.
S.
Bach
Reading
3: "A lowly maid from a mean town ...
Martin
Luther on Mary, the mother of Jesus
My Soul Proclaims Your Greatness (WOV
#730)
Homily: Pastor Geoff Scott
Sing Gloria!
- Katherine K. Davis, John Cowley
Reading
4:
". . an
angel ... made them apostles, prophets and children of
God"
Martin
Luther on the shepherds
Jazz Gloria
- Natalie Sleeth
Reading
5: "God has done it!"
Martin Luther on the Glorious Impossible: the Word
made flesh
Holy Is Thy Name
- Mary McDonald
The words
of Martin Luther in readings 3, 4, and 5 are excerpted from
Luther's Christmas sermons, as found in Martin Luther's
Christmas Book,
Roland H. Bainton, ed., Augsburg Publishing,
Minneapolis.
Generously donated by Lutheran Brotherhood.
The
Glorious Impossible
Christmas Cantata - December 10, 2000
Music
#1 Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence
(verse 1)
Reading 1: A Reading from Zechariah; Wait for it! The
Glorious Impossible,
The Word of the Lord through his prophet, Zechariah: Thus
says the Lord of Hosts: "Even though it seems impossible to
the remnant of this people in these days, should it also
seem impossible to me, says the Lord of Hosts?" . . . I will
bring them to five in Jerusalem. They shall be my people and
I will be their God, in faithfulness and righteousness."
Wait for it. Wait. Can you hear it? The truth is out there.
There, in the hallway or maybe outside these doors. It's a
whispering. A soft buzz. A phrase you can barely hear. Can
you feel how it charges the air? Words that make the hair
stand up on the back of your neck. The glorious
impossible. There! Did you hear it? Hold your breath. It
may come again. Wait for it. Wait for God. For he is about
to perform the Impossible. He is about give us something
Glorious. Wait for it! No, not it - wait for Him: The
Glorious Impossible.
Music #2: 0 Holy Child of Bethlehem
Reading 2: Immanuel a child? Impossible!
Such a strange radiance fills the sky. Can dawn break forth
at midnight? Or is it a new star rising? Or perhaps a
messiah descending?
But if a messiah, where are the ranks of mighty warriors?
The row after row of fearsome bronze chariots? And where is
the King to lead them? Without a warrior king, how can we be
freed from the shackles of poverty and servitude? Without
Immanuel, without a powerful God with Us, how can we
triumph?
Instead, this strange light brings news of a simple child. A
flickering candle when we need a blazing torch. A child to
save us? Impossible. A babe to claim us, to
unchain us? Impossible! Can this be Immanuel? Or some kind
of cruel joke! Is this the light to shatter our darkness?
Will a helpless child born in a stable two blocks down from
nowhere redeem all Israel? And yet this infant, this son of
Mary and Joseph, bums with the glorious radiance of heaven.
Can this be possible?
Music 3: Break Forth, 0 Heavenly Light
Reading 3: "A lowly maid from a mean town..,'
Martin Luther on Mary, the mother of Jesus
"Among the downtrodden she was one of the lowliest, not
a maid of high station in the capital city, but a daughter
of a plain man in a small town ... In all likelihood she was
an orphan ... Her age was probably between 13 and 15 years.
And yet this was the one whom God chose. He might have gone
to Jerusalem and picked out Caiaphas' daughter ... But God
preferred a lowly maid from a mean town.
The angel greeted Mary and said, "God bless you dear Mary,
or [in German] liebe Maria," for any German
knows that this word liebe comes right from the
heart.
Had Mary not believed she could not have conceived. She held
fast to the word of the angel because she had become a new
creature. Even so we must be transformed and renewed in
heart from day to day.
Otherwise, Christ is born in vain."
So writes Martin Luther.
Hymn #4: My Soul Proclaims Your Greatness
(WOV #730)
Homily Pastor Geoff Scott
Music #5: Sing Gloria!
Reading 4:
"...
an angel ... made them apostles, prophets and children of
God"
Martin Luther on the shepherds
"That
was a mean job, watching flocks by night. Common
sense
calls it
low-down
work, and the men who
do it are regarded as trash. But when the angels came
calling, these sheep herders stood their ground and did the
work of their calling: guarding the sheep.
Next to faith, this is the highest act - to be content with
the calling in which God has placed you.
Look at the shepherds. They were watching their flocks by
night and an angel came and made them apostles, prophets,
and children of God. Caiaphas, Herod, and the high priests
were not deemed worthy. I would rather be one of those
shepherds than that the Pope should make me a saint or the
emperor make me a king."
So
writes Martin Luther.
Music
#6:
Jazz Gloria
Reading 5: God has done it!
Martin Luther on the Glorious Impossible: the Word made
flesh
"By
this birth, the true significance of all other events is
defined. For of every other occasion it can be said that it
could have been different. But of this birth, it is the case
that it could in no way be other than it is. And by the
existence of this Child, the proper value of all other
existences is given.
By Him is dispelled the darkness wherein the fallen will
cannot distinguish between temptation and sin. For in Him we
become fully conscious of Necessity as our freedom to be
tempted, and of Freedom as our necessity to have faith.
Because in Him, the Word is united to the flesh. And because
of His coming our redemption no longer hinges on our
pursuing God, but of our surrendering to the One who is
always and everywhere present," God has done it! Glorious
and Impossible. So that by His holy name all things are
possible for us -- even life eternal and glorious in Him -
in Christ, we receive the glorious impossible of salvation.
Holy is the name of Jesus Christ!
Music
#7: Holy Is Thy Name
The
Glorious Impossible
Christmas
Cantata - December 10, 2000
The Christ Lutheran Church Adult Choir
(Cue Sheet)
Let
All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence (verse 1) -
Gerard Moultrie
Reading 1: A Reading from Zecharaiah;
Cue: Wait for it! No, not it - wait for Him:
The Glorious Impossible.
0 Holy Child of Bethlehem - Philip
Brooks, Mary McDonald
Reading 2: "Immanuel a child? Impossible!"
Cue: And yet this infant, this son of Mary and
Joseph, burns with the glorious radiance of heaven. Can this
be possible?
Break Forth, 0 Heavenly Light - J. S.
Bach
Reading 3: "A lowly maid from a mean town...'
Martin Luther on Mary, the mother of Jesus
Cue: Even so we must be transformed and renewed
in heart from day to day. Otherwise, Christ is born in
vain." So writes Martin Luther.
My Soul Proclaims Your Greatness (WOV
#730)
Homily: Pastor Geoff Scott
Sing Gloria! - Katherine K. Davis, John
Cowley
Reading 4:
". . an
angel made them apostles, prophets and children of God"
Martin Luther on the shepherds
Cue: I would rather be one of those shepherds
than that the Pope should make me a saint
or the emperor make me a king." So writes Martin Luther.
Jazz Gloria - Natalie Sleeth
Reading 5: "God has done it!" Martin Luther on the
Glorious Impossible: the Word made flesh
Cue: ... in Christ, we receive the glorious
impossible of salvation. Holy is the name of Jesus
Christ!
Holy Is Thy Name - Mary
McDonald
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