Continuing our preparation toward the birth of our spiritual consciousness, we learn more about the role of the shepherds visiting the new-born Jesus Christ as a symbol of allowing our spirituality to be born into innocence in need of protection from worldly influences.

Join us for another Sunday filled with a mystical unfoldment of the Christmas story, accompanied by Christmas carols, inspiring music, and followed by precious time shared together in fellowship during our second Sunday potluck.

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Sermon Notes

2nd Advent

Theme

Peace

Scripture

“The Lord lifts his face upon you…and gives you peace.” —Numbers 6:25–26

Poem

Peace Plan
by Rev. Ric Schumacher

Listen my child,
And I will tell you of my peace plan.

Peace is my desire for you.
“I will give peace in the land,
And ye shall lie down
and nothing shall make you afraid.”

Peace is My promise.
“Ye shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace.”
Peace is a prize and a goal.
“Let us follow after the things which make for peace.”

Peace is the result of knowing me, and
Brings forth prosperity.
“Acquaint thyself with him and be at
Peace: thereby good shall come unto thee!”

Peace is the result of your right thinking.
“Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace,
Whose mind is stayed on thee.”

Peace is the result of your right living.
“And as many as walk according to
His rule, peace be on them.”

Peace is my blessing to you.
“Blessed are the peacemakers.”
My peace is a blessing to share.
“Peace be unto this house.”

Peace is with you now.
“My peace I leave with you.”
Peace is with you.
“To be spiritually minded is life and peace.”

Do you understand now?

Main Scripture

The Shepherds and the Angels (Luke 2:8–20 NRSVUE)

8 Now in that same region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for see, I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: 11 to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah,[a] the Lord. 12 This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.” 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host,[b] praising God and saying,

14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace among those whom he favors!”[c]

15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.” 16 So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the child lying in the manger. 17 When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child, 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them, 19 and Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. 20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, just as it had been told them.

Supporting Scripture

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” —Philippians 4:4–7

Metaphysical Interpretations

MBD (Metaphysical Bible Dictionary, Charles Fillmore)
RW (Revealing Word, Charles Fillmore)

angel (RW)—Thought of the Lord (Luke 1:11). Our angels are our spiritual perceptive faculties, which ever dwell in the presence of the Father (Matt. 13:49).

Bethlehem (MBD)—house of bread, symbolizing the abiding place of substance.

shepherds—The shepherds watching by night are the protecting entities of God that watch over us. They are the conservers and protectors. To affirm "Jehovah is my shepherd" is to acknowledge that God (Spirit) is the source of understanding and of all help.

city of David (Jerusalem; RW)—"Habitation of peace." The spiritual center in consciousness. In man it is the abiding consciousness of spiritual peace.

Messiah (RW)—The promise of the visible manifestation of the Christ. Christ is the fulfillment in man of this promise.

manger (MBD)— They represent confinement to the limitations of the physical nature of this first emanation of divine life, "because there was no room for them in the inn” (outer consciousness).

manger (Rev. Edward Rabel)—The manger in which the birth takes place, is the human consciousness; the ordinary, natural man, human consciousness, that is where it is really born. That is not where it comes from, that is where it goes to; where does it come from? What is its origin in the personal or individual consciousness? The Christ. But Christ is not it; Christ is what makes it possible. We have Jesus Christ or Christ Jesus.

bands of cloths (MBD)—The helplessness of man's thoughts about the new life can also be said to be represented by the "swaddling clothes."

Mary (MBD)—The feminine, the soul, the affectional and emotional phase of man's being, both when seemingly bound and limited by sensate thought, and in its freed, exalted state…Mary, the mother of Jesus, represents the soul that magnifies the Lord "daily in the temple" and through its devotions prepares itself for the higher life. She signifies the divine motherhood of love. She can also be said to be intuition.

Joseph (MBD)—Joseph and Mary, the parents of Jesus, represent wisdom and love, which have been ideas in mind but are now to bring forth a manifestation in substance (Luke 2:4, 5)…Joseph was merely betrothed to Mary…This means that we do not in the first stages of the birth of Christ in us understand the process, and sometimes are moved to put it away from us. The soul is heavily charged with divine life, and so full that it cannot express itself intelligently, because no union has yet taken place between it and the understanding (Joseph).

Jesus (MBD)—The I in man, the self, the directive power, raised to divine understanding and power--the I AM identity…Jesus represents God's idea of man in expression; Christ is that idea in the absolute.

Christ (MBD)—Christ is the divine-idea man. Jesus is the name that represents an individual expression of the Christ idea. Jesus Christ is the form of the name that is commonly applied to the man of Galilee who demonstrated perfection. Christ Jesus is the idea that is being expressed by men as the result of their faith in and understanding of Truth.

Christ, the birth of (MBD)—The birth of Christ in man is the bringing to consciousness of the spiritual idea of man the Christ of God--through the quickening power of the word of Truth.