How will your audience react to a “questions only” teaching?

Do you recall past messages you’ve heard at Christmas time? What were their main themes? Is it easier to remember a topic you agree with or one that challenges you? Is it a bad thing that so few come to mind? Can you recall any particular Christmas message that still lingers in your mind today?

But now you are giving it – so what will you say? What will you emphasize with your own message this Christmas? Will you focus on the mangy stable with no room? Will you call to mind how our Messiah had no cradle to rest his head? Will you tell the story of the holy family’s desperate escape to Egypt to save their lives from the murderous King Herod?

Did you even know that the population of Bethlehem at the time of Jesus’ birth was around 300 people? And – have you ever heard that most scholars believe King Herod

– giving orders to kill all the male children two years or younger – killed between 10 and 20 children? Who would have thought that the very idea of another King would challenge Herod to this extent?

And what of the Prince of Peace? Can the remembrance of a Prince of Peace being born in a manger somehow bring peace to our world today? Is it just for some or for all? What would you say if you were giving a sermon at Christmas time?

Would you look to the wisemen? Were there really only three of them as the song implies or many as tradition relates? Were they actually kings or wisemen? Do they endorse astrology when the Bible seems so against it? Or are they a sign that whatever our mistakes and whatever the strange philosophies we experiment with, God can still find us? Do you read your sign? Would you admit it if you did? Which is more trustworthy — Leo & Libra or the Bible & prayer? Am I following a star or is God guiding me? How does God speak to me? Will He call you on a journey that lasts years like the wisemen? Or a short stroll down the hill like the shepherds?

Will a lesson from the shepherds that is relevant to a man at work in an office mean anything to a teenager at school? Do we talk about the shepherds as outcasts – people forced into a cold, smelly job nobody wants? And what do we make of a God who announces the greatest miracle in history – not to millionaires – but to poor shepherds?

How can these texts be applied to the lives of so wide and varied a group of people? How can they be applied to my own life? If it was just me — which Christmas text would I be looking at? Which would challenge me the most? What challenges others the most? Which narrative — wisemen? Shepherds? Prince of Peace? Baby in a manger? Word made flesh? How would you react to a message composed entirely of questions?

And what of Jesus Himself – the Word made flesh? What does it mean when we sing, “Born to raise the sons of earth, born to give them second birth?” Have you

been born again? What could you possibly say that would help people understand

their need of the word made flesh – their own need for a Savior?

Would you rather have the soft focus of a child’s nativity play or the in-you-face facts of the full Christmas story? Or — after all these questions, would you rather just skip the message and drink eggnog? Would you rather be confronted with the real facts and truth of a very real Christmas? Which sermon would you preach?

And was Corrie Ten Boom right when she wrote: “Who can add to Christmas? The perfect motive is that God so loved the world. The perfect gift is that He gave His only Son. The only requirement is to believe in Him. The reward of faith is that you shall have everlasting life.” What do you think?

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