O come, let us adore him.
O come, let us adore him.
O come, let us adore him,
Christ the Lord.

The shepherds came to adore him.
They had heard the angels message,
and they believed.
They believed what was told them,
the good news of great joy,
that today in the city of David 
a savior has been born for you who is Christ and Lord.
They believed the message of the angel
and responded to their song
by going to see what the angels had proclaimed.
But more importantly,
they did not keep the good news of great joy to themselves.
They spread the news of what they heard
and what they had seen.

O come, let us adore him.
O come, let us adore him.

This morning we are invited to be amazed
just as the shepherds were.
We’re invited to be amazed
not only at what God had done
so long ago
in a stable in Bethlehem,
but also to be amazed at what God is doing in our midst today.

We are invited to be amazed with the prophet Isaiah
that we have been called the holy people,
the redeemed of the Lord.

We are invited to be amazed when we see
that light dawns for the just;
and gladness, for the upright of heart.

We are invited to be amazed by God’s kindness and generous love,
..not because of any righteous deeds we had done
but because of God’s mercy.

We are invited to be amazed that God has saved us through the bath of rebirth
and renewal by the Holy Spirit,
whom God richly poured out on us
through Jesus Christ our Savior.

O come, let us adore him,
Christ the Lord.

We are likewise to be amazed
because God is with us
Christ is present whenever two or more are gathered in his name
as we are this morning.

We are likewise to be amazed
when we hear the Word of God addressed to us.

We are to be amazed whenever we gather
to break bread and pour wine
in memory of the Christ,
whenever simple food and drink
become the very presence of God
for us to eat and drink
and be transformed into the presence of God
for others.

We are to be amazed at what God is doing
whenever we see the hungry being fed
the thirsty being given something to drink
the naked being clothed
the stranger being welcomed
or those who are sick or imprisoned being visited.

At this season of great joy
we’ve seen people sharing with strangers
and those in need
in many, many ways
and we ought to be amazed
at the generosity of God revealed
in so many acts of kindness.

O come, let us adore him.
O come, let us adore him.

But more than amazed,
we ought to be inspired to do the same,
for as the philosopher/theologian Howard Thurman wrote so long ago:

"When the song of the Angels is stilled,
When the star in the sky is gone,
When the kings and the princes are home,
When the shepherds are back with their flocks,
The real work of Christmas begins.

"To find the lost,
To heal the broken,
To feed the hungry,
To welcome the stranger,
To release the prisoner,
To rebuild the nations,
To bring peace among the peoples,
To make music in the heart."

Our work is just beginning
but God is with us as we set out
like shepherds on their way to Bethlehem
to hear, to see and to do great things
because of what God has done for us.

O come, let us adore him.
O come, let us adore him.
O come, let us adore him,
Christ the Lord.