The Symbolism of the Candles of Christmas
Korina Skale; Eleni Atmatzidou

This morning we are starting the 3rd Sunday of Advent, and we’re going to talk a little bit about the symbolism of the Advent candles. First of all, the circle signifies everlasting life because there’s no beginning and there’s no end, and the immortality of the human soul. On the 3rd Sunday of Advent, we talk about ‘Joy’. And the pink color represents rejoicing. We lit the 2 previous purple candles, and this one is our response to the ‘Good News’. The joy that our Messiah has come. The Light of the World sweeps away the darkness, but He does the same thing in our hearts. And that happens when we see Him, and in Him we find Joy.
In Luke 2:10-11, “And the angel of the Lord said to them, ‘Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.’” And it wasn’t the Angel’s message, or the wise men’s gifts, nor the star that led them, it’s the birth of Jesus Christ that makes Christmas Day. And this is God’s desire for us. It’s not about Angels delivering news that is true and beneficial, it’s not about the gifts, as thoughtful as they are, and it’s not about the lights as festive as they are or the carols that sound so joyous. What God desires of us to echo at this time of year, is the truth that Jesus Christ was born to save the world.
He desires us to focus on the humbleness of Christ’s birth, rather than all the tinsel and all the glitz and glam that surround it. The action of God giving His only begotten Son, nullifies our self-examination of giving at Christmas. The heavenly celebration of the salvation of sinners, stands in contrast and vain, hollow and fading to the mood of the festivities.
Let’s pray, Oh Lord, we thank You for You sending Your Son Jesus as a humble Child, and ultimately to the cross. May our hearts be fixed on the King of kings, who gave us this incredible gift to the whole world. Father during this holiday season, help our hearts remain fixed on You, and the joy that You bring, Amen.

Joy – Celebrating Christ
Billy Hellmark; George Ioannou

Thank you. Let’s start reading a few verses from Luke. You’ve already heard part of the message. We read the first 2 verses, but now we will read a longer passage. Luke 2:8-14, “And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. And the angel of the Lord said to them, ‘Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.’ Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, ’Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom His favor rests.’”
I think these are well known verses to most of us who have celebrated Christmas before. And sometimes when you hear something many times, what happens is that some things that are a bit strange, don’t seem to be strange anymore because you’ve heard it so many times. And I want us to look a little bit at the context of what it says here. You know that in the Old Testament that we have today, we have prophets, and these prophets had spoken that the day that would come, an amazing event that would happen, that would take place. God, the Creator of everything, would step into this world in a new way. How, they didn’t know exactly. And they expected it to come and that things would change. Some kind of Savior would come. And even at that time people were waiting and expecting. We read about a couple of these people in these chapters, here in the beginning of the Gospels. Simeon was one of them. He was a righteous and Godly man and was waiting for the One who was to come. And he knew that his life would not end before the Savior would come.
Hanna was another one, and it says that she was praying day and night, waiting for God’s promise to be fulfilled. They knew something was about to happen. A man called John; John the Baptist was sent to prepare the way. He was out in the desert calling people to repent and baptizing them. But he said, ‘I’m not the One, I’m just preparing the way.’ They were waiting for a light that would shine in the darkness. But it didn’t just concern the nation of Israel. He talks about ‘wise men or kings’ we don’t really know who they were, but coming from the east it said. Perhaps they came from Persia, but they came to worship the King of the Jews, it says.
Quite a few years ago we were in south eastern Turkey, and for me it was a very interesting experience. A friend of ours said, ‘Do you want to come to go to a very interesting place?’ So, we got into a car and drove a long way. The roads got smaller and smaller, and in the end, there were no roads. We were just driving across the fields, and suddenly we came to this village, and there were Christians, Syriac Christians living there. And they said this was their story, which was passed on from generation to generation. The placed was called ‘Ha’. It’s a good name. And they said, ‘You know the wise men, that came from the east, there were 12 of them. They came to our village, and they waited there. They knew this King was about to be born, and they waited there to know when it was time to go and greet Him. And when it was time, they sent 3 on to Bethlehem. And those are the ones that we read about in the Bible. And when they had worshipped and honored the King, they returned to this village. They told about this baby that had been born.’ And they said that, ‘They built a church and the stones were still there, 2000 years later.’
We don’t know if that’s true, but that’s the story they told in this village, and I thought it was interesting. And they built this house to worship this King that had come. And do you know what’s interesting with this story is that it says that a star directed them to the right place. Even the sky, the creation was involved in honoring this King that had come. So, even the whole universe was affected by this event. So, it was no small event, even if it happened in the middle of nowhere. It was the peak of history as we know it, when God the Creator came into this world. So, it is a very fitting theme to have joy as a theme for today.
Another thing that shows that this was a very special event was that king Herod, he was not a good king, he felt threatened and he wanted to kill the new-born baby. And he asked the religious leaders that he had around him, ‘Do you know anything about this?’ And they said, ‘From Bethlehem, (from a prophecy), would come a ruler who is a shepherd of the nation’. And Herod was set on killing this baby. He had told the wise men from the east, to come back and tell him where the baby was. But they were warned in a dream that they shouldn’t go back to Herod. And if we read the entire story, we see that there were many dreams involved in the whole story – Mary, Joseph, Elizabeth, many angels involved. It was a huge event, even in the story we read, there was an angel, and it says that the shepherds were terrified. I don’t know if you have ever seen angels, but it seems a lot of times people are terrified, because they are probably so big and mighty and pure – it’s terrifying. But often when they come and they see that people are scared, they say, ‘Don’t be afraid’.
So, all these things were in preparation long before, and also at the time of the birth of Jesus. So, if we turn now to the passage that we read, they were shepherds and they were not so likely people to be informed, otherwise there were angels, there were stars, there were kings, there were wise people. But this angel comes to these shepherds, ordinary people and of course they were scared, and I don’t think they were that used to encountering angels. They didn’t know what to think. But the message was that, ‘Today in the town of David, a Savior has been born.’
We talk about the Gospel, the Good News, the best news that have ever been, and here it comes to these shepherds. Many times, when we read the Bible, there are things that somehow seem a little bit strange in the context of the story. And now we have talked for quite a while about all these different signs, that were pointing to God Himself coming to this earth. But here it says that there is another sign that is quite different, and the angel actually says to the shepherds, ‘This will be a sign to you’, not a star in the sky, or a prophecy from old, but the sign was this, ‘You will find a baby wrapped in cloths, and lying in a manger.’ So, we are waiting for God to come, and the sign is a baby wrapped in cloths, lying in a manger. It is not a very powerful sign, like a star that is moving, and guiding you.
A sign – we can mean different things, maybe different levels, what we mean with a sign. Maybe I will tell George, ‘I will tell you this, so you know it’s true this will be a sign, that will tell you that what I’m telling you is true.’ But there is also a deeper sense that a sign can have. And I think we’ve talked about it before that in the Gospel of John, he talks about signs. And part of the Gospel is built around 7 different signs. Different things that Jesus did, signs and wonders, miracles. And it says in the Gospel that Jesus did more signs than these, so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. And that by believing you may have life, in His name. If you look at these 7 signs – I’m not going to say what they are now – they show us who Jesus was, and what His ministry was like, and they show us His power.
People at that time, wanted a Messiah, that would take revenge on their enemies, that’s what many were expecting. You know that they had enemies. They were occupied as a country. Instead, the sign is a seemingly helpless baby. Is this really the King? Is this the powerful, almighty God? Paul writes about how Jesus left the glory of heaven, and gave everything up and humbled Himself to be like us. Just because of that, He can deal with us, because He’s one of us. He is the Almighty, with all power in heaven, and on earth. But He gave that up and became that sign, the baby born in a manger.
This is the Christ we are celebrating. This was hidden for a long time. But in a real sense first revealed to these simple shepherds, and now it is revealed to us all, as well. It says that even the angels were longing to see what was going to happen, and God chose to reveal it to people, to us. If we are to look for Jesus, we shouldn’t look in the king’s palace, or today where the political power is. That’s not where He is. Maybe we should look on a street corner on a cold December night. This is where He is, and He is with us if we want to find Him.
Being put in a manger can sound like a very cozy nice thing, when we’re so used to talking about it like that, but I’m sure it wasn’t. Probably smelly, dirty, where the animals were eating, but that is where Jesus chose to come into this world, with His creation. He had created everything, and in a way, it was fitting that He would be with His creation, even with the animals. So, we have a contrast here, we saw that first the shepherds were terrified, and then they learned that the sign was a baby wrapped in a cloth in a manger. It didn’t seem that scary. And I think it captures something of God coming into this world. Even seeing an angel is a scary thing. If we had to see God in all His power and glory it would certainly be a scary thing, but He comes to us as a baby.
The shepherds went to look for Jesus. Probably something about this poor baby intrigued them. If He would have been born in a palace, then He would not have been welcome there. But Jesus came in a different way. From His birth He had to flee, because Herod wanted to kill Him. So, His family fled to Egypt. He was suffering in different ways throughout His lifetime. And you know what happened. And, what did He do? He said, ‘Father forgive them, for they know not what they are doing.’ So, can we see the baby, the sign, that it says here. I think it’s more entertaining for us to see the big thing, the star that’s moving, the big scene. But the sign that is described here, is a baby wrapped in cloth in a manger.
The angels scared them, but the baby was the sign. They were all waiting for something to be liberated, but very few had eyes to really see what God did. They were looking to see what God would do according to their ideas. But that’s not us, is it? I think many times we have our own ideas as to what God should do. And I think many times if we pray, that Your will be done, what we really mean is, let my will be done, but we don’t want to say that. But that is what we are hoping for at least.
Jesus came in a different way, and it is good news. It’s not to take revenge on enemies. But it’s to be the Savior of the world, even for our enemies. And what are we called to do with our enemies? Punish them? Kill them? No, to forgive them, to pray for them, to love them. Mary, in her Magnificat, it’s a song, a hymn a prayer to God. She said, ‘He has brought down rulers from their thrones, but has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things, but sent the rich empty.’ So, this is good news for those who are hungry, they are looking to God for help, for salvation. It says, ‘He came to His own, but they did not receive Him’. So, the question is, do we receive Him? Or do we want the story to be our way? Do we want it to be good news just for us? Not for our neighbors. Not for our enemies. Well, that’s not the real good news. The good news is for everyone. He came for everyone. And if that is not good news, then I don’t know what is good news.
I just want to say to you today, if you are like the shepherds, afraid of the angel, maybe afraid of God, look at the sign. Look at this baby that came, to give life. We are not to be terrified about God. He wants our best, our salvation. And the sign is a baby. Can you imagine God coming to this world, in a more gentle, humble, peaceful way. This world where we had become enemies of God, He could have been angry and judged us and wiped us out. But He says He didn’t come to judge us; He loved us and gave Himself for us. This is good news. So, He came as this baby, He wants to satisfy our hunger, He’s not sending us away. He’s here to meet with us.
So, wherever you are today, remember the sign, a baby, it seems wrong to say but a baby is helpless. And almost an impossible contradiction to say that God would be helpless. He that has all power, He comes as a baby. This is the God we serve and we love. He didn’t come with all His power, He gave it up to bring us salvation. So, let’s rejoice about that today.
Let’s pray and then sing another song. And someone asked, ‘Who is this person singing with us today?’ So, I will let you know now, it’s Freda. She has been here before, but not singing with us. Thank you for doing that today. Let’s just turn our hearts to Him, ‘Thank You Lord for this story, thank You Lord that it’s not just a story, it’ actually what happened. And open our eyes to see the marvelous things, and in a sense, we can identify with these shepherds, just by seeing this majestic being that appeared in front of them, were scared, terrified, but Lord, the sign was the baby, a baby brought peace, reconciliation. Thank You Lord that that’s You. Thank You that You come to us that way. You don’t come to scare us, but You come to save us, and restore us heal us. So, help us right now, to turn to You, to give our lives to You. And help us to rejoice from the bottom of our hearts, for all that You have done for us. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen’.