Go Tell It On The Mountain

A Sermon Preached by Reverend Patricia Rowe-Jones

December 10, 2000

Poland Community Church

Have you heard the good news? Mark starts off his gospel with the announcement of the coming of the good news. He reveals to us the content and nature of that good news. It is the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. And that is what Advent is all about--the preparation of the coming of Jesus Christ. Every year we sing songs of praise as we remember the birth of Jesus As we contemplate anew the birth of the Christ child that occurred so long ago. We contemplate it still, for still it is the single most life-changing, mysterious event we have to ponder that God, the creator of the universe who existed not only in the beginning, but before the beginning came to us in finite time as one of us so that we would have the knowledge of the way to life and forgiveness from the hard crusting of sin surrounding our hearts and destroying the cables of love that bind us to one another, as we are bound to God. In an African-American spiritual we lift up a song of praise to God for his gift to us of Jesus Christ. Go Tell it on the Mountain!  Over the hills and everywhere; Go tell it on the mountain, that Jesus Christ is born. The good news is that Jesus was born in an obscure village in an out of the way place that was shadowy, barren and unknown. Today, Christ comes to the shadowy and barren places of our lives. And in this miracle the shadowy places are somehow illuminated so that we can ‘see’ properly and clearly through the illusions of human sin. We are born anew in Christ, In the Christ child we are born in the sense that we can experience ourselves as being’ forgiven’ and truly ‘loved’ Knowing God and responding to God through the wisdom granted by the holy spirit moves us up and out of sickness for it is the disease of sin that closes the doors of our hearts on God And so Go and Tell It on the Mountain indeed that God has come to us as the Christ child of Bethlehem so that we can move up and out of our neurotic fears and sick phobias that keep us as slaves to a tyrant master the purpose that God has for us in this life is revealed to us by God through the person of Jesus who came and walked with us on this very earth who knew first hand what people lacked and what they needed Jesus loved us because he was us and yet, he wasn’t; Jesus is what the world had been waiting for the answer is here, and many know it and more do not So GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAINJESUS CHRIST IS BORN! This is what Advent is all about. This is the Good News! The Good News of the birth of Christ began in the poverty and obscurity of the first century. It is amazing to contemplate the greatness of Christ pictured at Christmas in the helpless gaze of a dependent human infant. This good news was good news for the first century and it is good news for our century. Today is a good day to celebrate the birth of our Lord To “Go and Tell it on the Mountain” TELL OTHERS THAT . . .Our God has blessed us Our God touches our hearts Our God touches our lives With the announcement that God is with us. Yes! Jesus came as a babe so long ago in Bethlehem Yes! Jesus walked along the shores of Galilee, but the Good News is that today Jesus is walking the darkest corners of our lonely city streets Jesus is with us and those in need even amid the strains and stresses of life God is Personal and Close. GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN and the message of the good news of Jesus Christ is about personal relationships the fundamental relationships of human beings to one another and to God Personal relationships don’t change. Love, hate, honor, and loyalty remain the same And yet if we don’t GET GOD then we certainly won’t GET ONE ANOTHER!OUR NEED FOR GOD’S GUIDANCE IN ALL MATTERS OF LIFE IS MORE THAN A NEED; WE ARE DEPENDENT ON GOD; THERE IS NO SHAME IN THIS; NO MORE THAN THERE WAS SHAME IN THE CHRIST CHILD, THE VERY SON OF GOD, DEPENDING ON THE LOVE AND GUIDANCE OF MARY AND JOSEPH.THERE IS NO SHAME IN DEPENDANCE ON GOD AND THIS TEACHS US THERE IS NO SHAME< EVEN HONOR< IN OUR DEPENDENCE ON OTHERS But our relationships are stunted because we are all too proud to accept our need we all want to do it alone! not depending on others is considered a virtue The infant Christ and all infants on the earth teach us differently. That is why when we look at the Christ child or any infant all of us feel so good inside Always it has been this way! Earliest man sat together around the fire and shared what is most common to life we have computers and cell phones and personal organizers but we are in some senses more isolated and needy than ever! But in the infant Christ lies what is most essential what is fundamental Jesus came to meet the basic human needs of the first century and our century. Jesus entered into life ‘then and there,” and “here and now.” Across the ages Jesus, born in a lowly manger is so powerful in his meekness that his incredible love has lived throughout the ages. The love of Christ is a living love that meets the needs of yesterday’s world, today’s world, and tomorrow’s world too. There is not a victim of torture, incest, rape; people caught in the crossfire of war, those who are hungry or homeless, those with Alzheimer’s disease or the disease of AIDS, there are none that are not loved and heard by our God who came to us so silently, so silently that wondrous gift was given God imparts to human hearts . . . .so “Go Tell it on the Mountain Indeed” That is the Good News that in Jesus God became flesh and knows life exactly as we know it, every pain, every tear; every aspect. Emmanuel, Truly God is with us. GOD IS WITH YOU! The message of the good news was earthshaking for the first century and it is earthshaking still today. There is an answer to our world’s ills and problems there is an answer to your ills and problems Go Tell It On the Mountain That Jesus Christ is born