Folktales and Christmas Classics (For Christmas 2025)

Is there a movie, song, or holiday special that you just have to see or hear in order to get in the mood to celebrate Christmas?

Is it one of the classics–Handel’s “Messiah”; George Bailey’s epiphany in “It’s a Wonderful Life?”; Scrooge’s change of heart in “A Christmas Carol"? Maybe it’s going to see the Rockettes at Radio City, or the look on Ralphie’s face when he almost shoots his eye out in “A Christmas Story.”

There’s Charlie Brown’s pitiful tree, Clark Griswold’s luminous house, Seinfeld’s “Festivus for the Rest of Us” episode, and Will Ferrell’s Buddy the Elf.

Perhaps you’ve been binging on Hallmark Channel Christmas movies since Halloween.

Whatever tops your list, I applaud it, and I think that it’s fair to say that these sights and sounds rightfully have a special place in our hearts at this time of year.

Far from detracting from the season, in my opinion, they add to it and remind us of the humorous, poignant, often beautiful magic of these Holy Days.

Addison Del Mastro comes to a similar conclusion in a piece he wrote for The Bulwark this week entitled “America’s Two Christmases—and Why They’re Both Pretty Great.”

Holding in tension Christmas’ religious significance and the cultural excesses associated with it, Del Mastro notes,

I observe Advent. I try to remember that quiet, expectant…thought that God walked on this earth.

But also, I must confess, I love the American secular Christmas. I love the Christmas songs on the radio for a month or more, the giant, tacky displays of artificial trees in every height and color in the stores, the inflatables ranging from Snoopy to Star Wars contraptions in the front yards, the dorky commercials rewriting carols and seasonal tunes with lyrics about going crazy while shopping. I love Frosty and Rudolph, the observation that “it’s a marshmallow world” when it snows, the general brightening up and enlivening of the winter….

He concludes,

None of this takes away from the “reason for the season.” Why should it? Why can a human heart, and our nation, not be big enough for all of it?

Since bad news and heartbreaks don’t ask our permission before bursting into our lives throughout the year, why shouldn’t we open ourselves to stories full of hope and love, dancing sugarplums, marching toy soldiers, and other assorted Christmas miracles as the year comes to an end?

The truth is that such stories have been a part of Christmas for ages.

There’s an old French Christmas carol and folktale called the “Friendly Beasts,” for example, that says that on the night that Jesus was born God blessed the animals in the manger with the ability to speak in gratitude for the hospitality that they showed the Christ Child and the Holy Family.

The legend recounts how the animals used their gift to praise God and to bear witness to the part they played in Jesus’ story.

“I,” said the donkey shaggy and brown, “I carried his mother uphill and down, I carried his mother to Bethlehem town; I,” said the donkey shaggy and brown.

The cow sang out, too, as did the sheep and dove. All of the animals sang in a glorious chorus of praise.

I absolutely love this carol.

I love it, in part, because like every other person who’s ever lived with a beloved pet, I’m convinced that there were moments when actual words were on the tip of my dog’s wagging tongue.

But its appeal goes much deeper.

I love the simple message of “The Friendly Beasts”--that everyone has a part to play in Creation’s redemption story.

Everyone of us has something worthwhile to contribute.

Everyone of us has a song a sing, and, like the manger animals, we’re invited to make it a chorus of praise.

What a beautiful thought!

If the animals could talk they would tell of the ways in which they graciously received the Christ child and worked to welcome him into the world.

If their barks, neighs, coos, and calls became clear, theirs would be a witness to the joy that one experiences when they find themselves in the right place and doing the right work that they recognize as holy and a gift from God.

Jesus our brother, strong and good, was humbly born in a stable rude, and the friendly beasts around Him stood, Jesus our brother, strong and good.

“The Friendly Beasts” invites us to consider how we will employ our gifts and talents—all that they have and all that they are—in welcoming Christ into our lives, into our time, into this world, just as the manger’s animals did so long ago.

And so it is that old French folktakes, like our favorite holiday movies and traditions, can bring a little magic into our lives tonight.

Such special moments and remembrances have a way of reminding us and empowering us to be present with grateful and open hearts at Christmas and to experience in greater measure the hope, light, joy, and peace Christ shares with the world.

So come, let us sing our songs of praise and adoration.

Let’s worship this barrier breaking Christ, who empowers us to love boldly, to live by the truth, and to forgive as we are forgiven.

Let’s lift our hearts and bow our egos as we live generously and humbly and as we renew our commitment to mend what’s been broken, to lift up the lowly, and to remember the poor.

Let’s treasure the magic of a night when animals talked and God became one of us.

Thus all the beasts, by some good spell, in the stable dark were glad to tell of the gifts they gave Emmanuel, the gifts they gave Emmanuel.

Thanks be to God and Merry Christmas! Amen.

Report of the Pastor to the 2025 Church Conference

“Asbury Church needs you more than your money.” I included this statement in a letter to the congregation this Fall and believe it remains a useful assessment of the state of the congregation at the end of 2025. While financial stewardship remains an area of focus, Asbury’s biggest challenge isn’t financial in nature. Rather, our biggest challenge is aligning the use of our financial, spiritual, and personal resources with a vision for the church’s mission and ministry that motivates and empowers people to participate in ways that are meaningful to them and impactful on our community. The purpose of this report is to review where we are progressing toward meeting this challenge and areas of our life together in which we need to invest greater attention, creativity, and support.

Creating opportunities for people to connect and build relationships with one another is an area in which we are making solid progress. Our Fellowship Committee is active and expanding the number of events they sponsor. In addition to Sunday Potlucks, Fat Tuesday Pancakes, and Fall Kickoff S’mores, in 2025, the group also planned our first off-site retreat since the pandemic at Blue Mountain Trail Lodge in Cordlandt Manor, NY. These events are well attended and create a low stress, welcoming atmosphere where connections can blossom. Sunday Coffee Hour creates similar vibes. The majority of people who attend worship stay for Coffee Hour, a sign that people at Asbury want to know one another. In order to enhance this ministry, this year we invested in a ping pong table and monthly birthday celebrations. We also purchased a new dishwasher which has allowed us to live out our values and to dramatically reduce our use of plastic and disposable items.

Making it possible for the people of Asbury to get to know one another is one of our growing strengths. Inviting people into life at Asbury is an area that needs greater focus.

We’re excited when visitors attend an event at Asbury, but we don’t have a clear plan for inviting them into a closer relationship with God or to further develop the ways in which they participate in Asbury’s ministry. I raised this issue with the Committee on Nominations this year and it was the subject of a good conversation at our annual church meeting in November. At that time, I introduced the congregation to See All the People resources published by UM Discipleship. Since then, I’ve announced that we’ll begin a new study series in January 2026 called “Get Their Name.” Based on a book by the same name, the series guides congregations that want to “create an outwardly focused environment where hospitality and invitation happen Sunday and every day of the week.” Growth in this area and in classic Christian concerns like evangelism and spiritual formation is essential for Asbury’s future vitality.

The People of Asbury also need to carefully assess how we deploy our time and energy. I’m sensitive to the fact that the members who lead and actively participate in most events at Asbury have been doing so for many years, especially since the pandemic, and I am concerned about weariness and burnout. Connecting our activities with our mission–the “what we do” with “why we do it”--is an important part of keeping spirits fresh and ministries vital. Wearing ourselves out by doing what we’ve always done while hoping for different results isn’t an enticing thought.

As a small membership congregation, we also need to be honest about the volume of ministries that we can adequately sustain at this moment. For example, is it realistic for us to plan a mission project or spiritual development event two weekends a month? Once a month? A few times a year? The correct answer is it’s realistic for us to plan whatever we can energetically and eagerly support.

I believe that when our ministry is in alignment with God’s vision we will find that we have exactly what we need to help that ministry flourish. However, I also believe that worn out leaders and volunteers are a sign that such alignment is lacking. Prayerful discernment around these issues is another essential endeavor regarding Asbury’s future vitality.

In one of the primary texts of the See All the People campaign, Junius B. Dotson writes,

For too long, The United Methodist Church has looked for a quick fix to help guide our discipleship efforts, and it is not working. We have lost our focus on intentional discipleship, we have forgotten the reasons why we said “yes” to Jesus, and we ourselves have stopped growing as disciples. We have forgotten that being on a path of discipleship is a life-long journey of growth and maturing.

I feel convicted by these words and believe many of you would admit that Dotson is right, too.

God isn’t calling Asbury Church to chase after fads and quick fixes. God desires and makes possible authentic, sustainable, impactful growth–within our hearts, among our relationships with one another, and in a ministry through which people experience God’s love in profound ways. This is the kind of growth that we must pursue, and in order to do that, “Asbury Church needs you more than your money.”

In the Meantime (James 5:7-10)

In 1965, an American folk rock band called “The Byrds” had a number one hit song with “Turn, Turn, Turn” thus making a passage from one of the Bible’s most unusual books one of the most unlikely additions to the pop culture soundtrack of the 1960’s.

Legendary folk singer Pete Seeger wrote “Turn, Turn, Turn,” but in reality, the lyrics are almost a verbatim transcription of Ecclesiastes 3:1-8.

Here’s what that scripture says,

For everything there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven:

a time to be born and a time to die;

a time to plant and a time to pluck up what is planted;

a time to kill and a time to heal;

a time to break down and a time to build up;

a time to weep and a time to laugh;

a time to mourn and a time to dance;

a time to throw away stones and a time to gather stones together;

a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing;

a time to seek and a time to lose;

a time to keep and a time to throw away;

a time to tear and a time to sew;

a time to keep silent and a time to speak;

a time to love and a time to hate;

a time for war and a time for peace.

The passage’s content, along with its rhythm and cadence, creates the impression of a world set on repeat–of predictable cycles and routines.

Feast and famine, war and peace, love and hate–round and round go the seasons of life.

But predictably can be a double-edged sword, at times offering comfort and dependability in life’s steadfast relationships and blessings, at others, creating dread and anxiety as we face challenges and pressures that just won’t let up.

The predictable world of Ecclesiastes falls into this latter camp. In fact, I’d go so far as to say the passage from Ecclesiastes is disorienting because it lacks a clear prescription for how to heal what is broken within life’s cycle.

There’s no “should” or “ought to” language here, just a reflection on what is–a perspective that has bedeviled and confused readers of scripture for centuries.

People of faith, after all, crave direction and purpose and often find strength to face life’s unrelenting challenges because we have a sense that we’re at least making progress, or a difference, or doing good work.

But Ecclesiastes tends to withhold such comforts.

Whereas prophets like Isaiah cast a vision of what the world could be if the Faithful changed their ways or lived by love or what will be when God takes decisive action on behalf of the poor and outcast, the Teacher at the heart of Ecclesiastes was laser focused only on what is happening right here, right now–a point of view that has led to charges of nihilism, hedonism, and even godlessness.

Some have asked, where’s hope in this book? Where’s faith? Where’s God?

This morning I want to make this unusual passage into a key to unlock some powerful truths about Advent, waiting, and the relationship between having hope for tomorrow, but being rooted and grounded in the here and now.

So let’s take a closer look at chapter 3 and the song lyrics.

One of the most unsettling aspects of the passage is the inclusion on the list of all things that have their season of forces that we regard as wicked and problematic, specifically killing, war, and hate, for example.

Is Ecclesiastes saying that these aren’t as bad as we’ve been led to believe?

What’s going on here?

I don’t think Ecclesiastes is endorsing destructive actions and attitudes or telling us that they’re somehow part of God’s plan for us.

Ecclesiastes doesn't declare that it’s God’s will that people are going to hate each other so don’t bother trying to change that.

Rather, Ecclesiastes asks a question, “How are you going to live your life in a world where destructive forces like these exist?”

What this passage, this scripture, this Word from God, wants to know, even if your hopes and dreams for peace, justice, and all things holy will be realized tomorrow, what will you do today when those same hopes and dreams look like little more than a flickering candle in a sea of darkness, or, in Ecclesiastes’ famous refrain, when those hopes and dreams look like the “vanity of vanities,” like a cloud of breath dissipating on a snowy morning.

“When you’re waiting for God to move, what do you do in the meantime?” the wise Teacher asks.

One of the readings for this Third Sunday of Advent invites similar considerations.

The Epistle, or Letter, of James addresses a very common phenomenon among Jesus’ followers–the same Jesus who loves and calls people like us has a way of loving and calling people that we don’t care about so much. Rich, poor, men, women, old, young, liberal, conservative–as Saint Paul would say, “If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; look, new things have come into being!” (2 Cor. 5:17)

Leaders like James and Paul knew that God was molding and shaping the people into something beautiful and important, inviting and empowering them to participate in Creation’s amazing redemption story, but even as the Spirit continued to work within them, old habits died hard among God’s people.

James recognized that one of the most persistent habits was the way the people talked down to and disrespected one another.

He wrote,

The tongue is placed among our members as a world of iniquity; it stains the whole body, sets on fire the cycle of life, and is itself set on fire by hell. For every species of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by the human species, but no one can tame the tongue—a restless evil, full of deadly poison. (James 3:6-8)

With this, James had identified the fundamental tension at the heart of Christian discipleship–the tension between the promise that we are a New Creation and will be filled with God’s love, but that we’re still, very much, works in progress.

In the language of our Methodist tradition, we are going on to perfection, but we still have a very long way to go.

So, what do we do in the meantime?

Be patient, therefore, brothers and sisters, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious crop from the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains. You also must be patient. Strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near. Brothers and sisters, do not grumble against one another, so that you may not be judged. (James 5:7-8)

When we’re waiting for God to complete a good work in our midst, be patient, strengthen your hearts, and don’t grumble against one another.

You know, looking back at The Byrds’ big hit, there were only two lines from the song that Peter Seeger didn’t take directly from the Bible. The first was the title, “Turn, turn, turn.” The second was the song’s last line. That’s where the Seeger shared his own hope for a better world.

A time of love, a time of hate

A time of peace, I swear it's not too late.

That might not come from the Bible, but Seeger’s hope wasn’t misplaced.

Do you carry in your heart today dreams for peace, or healing, or turning your life around, or making a positive difference in our community or in this church?

Are you hoping that tomorrow will be better than today?

Don’t despair because it’s never too late.

And in the meantime, be patient, strengthen your hearts, and don’t grumble against one another.

Thanks be to God. Amen.

Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pete_Seeger_sings_(cropped).JPG

Angry Birds (Matthew 3:1-12)

Note: I delivered this sermon extemporaneously. The text printed here is a lightly edited AI generated transcript taken from the church's video of the serivce.

John the Baptist is one of those characters who always grabs our attention at this time of year. It is one of the funny things, one of those moments where we sense a little bit of tension between the biblical stories that we read during the leadup to Christmas and the way in which we celebrate Christmas as a culture that while we fill our lives with presents, festive occasions, parties, food, and decorations, we get the wildest, craziest prophet anywhere in the New Testament preaching to us and calling us and inviting us to open ourselves to what God might be doing in our world and in our lives.

John's physical appearance is the stuff of legend. He's wearing the wild clothes, the camel's hair. He's got the leather belt around his waist. He's eating locusts and wild honey.

But above all, his message strikes like an arrow to the heart of the people.

It's simple really.

“Repent. Repent. The kingdom of God has come near.”

We read these words every year during the Advent season. And today, I think it's worth pausing for a moment and to think about what that even means.

What does it mean to repent, to be a people of repentance?

Frankly, we talk about that throughout the year, offering prayers of repentance, acts of repentance throughout our life as Christians.

What does it mean?

What did the people who were drawn to John's message, the people who were coming away from civilization and into the wilderness where he was working and preaching?

What did they understand his message to be?

I think one of the classic ways we're schooled to understand repentance is as an invitation to stop doing the things that we know are wrong. And that's certainly a part of what we're talking about here.

You know, you're doing something, but you keep doing it.

You know it's not right. You're cooking the books, you're telling lies, you know, in your heart, I’ve got to stop doing this stuff.

So, yeah, part of John’s message is “Stop doing those things that you know are hurting people and that you know are wrong!”

But as we dig into John's message and as we kind of look at our lives a little bit, well, obviously if you're doing something wrong, stop doing it. But I think there's something else going on in John's proclamation of repentance.

It seems to me that while we've all willingly done the wrong thing at different times in our lives, most of the trouble we find ourselves in is caused when we've perhaps even stepped out with good intentions but just ended up in a mess. Or we tried something and it didn't work and we were just so stubborn about it, we just kept doing it and we dug ourselves into a deeper and deeper hole.

You know the word in scripture that we translate as sin comes from comes from the Greek and its roots are actually in the practice of archery, in shooting arrows, and in that context the word that we translate as sin means to miss the mark.

It's the archer shooting the arrow and missing the bullseye. And I think that's very evocative and very interesting as we think about what this message of repentance might mean for us because no archer except for the most insane archer would stand up there and say, "I'm deliberately not going to make the best shot possible."

Of course not. Right? They keep trying and they shoot and they miss.

They miss the mark.

Now, a good archer at that point will make the corrections, right?

Did I not judge for the wind? Did I not have the right angle? They will make the correction so their next shot is better.

The foolish archer would say, "I'm going to do the exact same thing I did last time." And they would continue to miss the mark.

Now, I've never been an archer, but I've recently become obsessed with the old video game Angry Birds.

Have any of you ever played that game before?

This has been my little moment of zen. I know some of you do Wordle and you like to stimulate your mind by expanding your vocabulary.

I like throwing angry birds at pigs.

Angry Birds is a puzzle game.

This will sound crazy if you’ve never played the game, but the goal of Angry Birds is to sling shot birds at structures in which there are pigs.

You're trying to knock down the structure and wipe out the pigs.

All right? It's a very, very sensible game.

There are two ways you can play it. One is to get all the pigs. You get to move on to the next level if you get all the pigs.

Or you can try to accumulate the most points to get a three star win and then you move on and try to accumulate as many stars as you can.

I've noticed something in my behavior as I play that game. In the effort to score the most points, I will sit there and repeatedly do the exact same thing, throwing the exact same bird to the exact same spot, expecting a different result, and I will do it repeatedly, obsessively.

It's not healthy. Dana probably wants to take away every device in the house that has this game on it.

But I will sit there, why am I not scoring the point?

Why am I doing the exact same thing expecting a different result?

Then finally, sense and reason take over and I think maybe I have to try a different approach.

Throw this bird over here instead of over here. And you know what?

Almost inevitably within one or two tries with that new perspective, there will be a breakthrough and I'll score the points and get the stars and move on.

I'm convinced that playing Angry Birds is not the only area in our lives where we demonstrate such behavior.

We don't set out to do the wrong thing, but our stubbornness gets the best of us. And even as we are trying to do something, maybe even trying to do something good and positive and uplifting, we keep doing the same thing in the same way, expecting a different result, and we get nowhere with it.

So what if we were to understand repentance as, in addition to stop doing the things that we know are wrong, as an openness to the way in which God might be showing us a better way and a better pattern for doing the things that we'd like to do that will yield the results that we'd like to accomplish.

We talk about making a positive difference in our community.

We talk about being an open and inclusive church.

We talk about living our lives centered in God's goodness and God's grace.

But if we keep doing the exact same things that we've been doing, are we really going to get there?

Are we going to make progress in that regard?

Or do we need to say, "No, I've missed the mark. I want to be open to the correction that I need to hit the mark to accomplish the good and positive things, the holy things that God has set before me.”

John came into the wilderness and said, "Repent. The kingdom of God is near."

I don't think his only goal was to shame people into not doing what they knew was wrong.

I think that there might be something about playing Angry Birds that helps us understand John the Baptist's message a little bit more clearly.

God is present in our midst, moving and guiding and leading us forward.

Are we willing to be humbled, to open our hearts and minds to changing the behaviors and attitudes that have blinded us or led us astray from the path that God would set before us.

Maybe that's what repentance can mean for us today.

Maybe God is calling us to make the corrections to throw the birds at the pigs in a different way, to make the changes that God wills for us so that we might experience the transformation of life and community and heart and mind that God's grace makes possible.

And if we do that, we will truly be a people of Good News.

Thanks be to God for this Good News today. Amen.

Image: Eyck, Jan van, 1390-1440. John the Baptist, Ghent Altarpiece, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the C Divinity Library, Nashville, TN.