Friday, November 18, 2011

#Occupy Christmas - a sermon idea

"The Word became flesh and pitched his tent among us" (John 1:14)

For the #Occupy Christmas sermon you will need:

 - the above Bible text
 - a tent
 - a suitable banner ('what would Jesus do?' etc.)

and a sermon incorporating some or all of the following ideas:
 - the Incarnation as a protest camp
 - the Incarnation as a public conversation about change and justice
 - attempts to evict Jesus by the ruling powers as he was getting in the way of normal commerce and politics
 - Jesus' plan to Occupy everything and everyone
 - the question of how many of us have pitched our tent next to Jesus, but then gone back home because it's more comfy there.

I have the first two items on this list, still working on the rest. Any thoughts welcome!

2 comments:

  1. Brilliant!
    The idea that Jesus was/ is subversive - existed on the margins. He came to obscure parents in impoverished settings - not the most obvious "power base" to change the world? So, we have a God of the grassroots - transforming from the bottom up, not the other way round?

    The idea that the living word spreads - just the Occupy movement has spread out to different cities and countries?

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  2. David - Would this idea work best as a brief dramatic sketch (or series of sketches) rather than a sermon? Or to set the scene before a sermon on incarnation?

    In response to previous comment: occupy Christmas! Yes! Occupy Christmas with Christ!

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