Merry Christmas from Worship Anew! This season, we are bringing a special program to you on Christmas Day. While we have offered Christmas programs in the past (and many have fallen on a Christmas Day that was a Sunday), we have not done a Christmas Day worship program when it has fallen on another day of the week.
As we are expanding the ways that we are able to bring Worship Anew into your homes, we are offering a digital-only broadcast of our Christmas Day program, featuring guest pastor, the Rev. Jonathan Meyer.
Rev. Meyer serves as the Shepherd of the School for Emmanuel-St. Michael Lutheran School in Fort Wayne, Ind., and is in his second year at the school, which offers preschool through 8th grade.
His position in the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS) is unique as only a few serve in this pastoral role.
“My purpose is to serve as a singular pastoral presence for the 450 students and the 81 faculty and staff that make up Emmanuel-St. Michael Lutheran School,” he explained. “I do that by working with the pastors of Emmanuel and St. Michael, and I do that by working one-on-one and in groups with all the kids.”
Rev. Meyer brings his exceptional talents to Worship Anew in his first time on the program. His Christmas Day program speaks to the “Mundane and Beautiful” view of the birth of Jesus Christ.
The inspiration for his sermon comes from the hymn “Where Shepherds Lately Knelt,” which tells of the birth of Jesus from the perspective of the people in Bethlehem. It tells of how the people were in the city for the census and had no idea that nothing would ever be the same.
“I had never even thought about that. It probably looked normal—looked like any other baby boy, right? But, the world had changed overnight, and that is a beautiful thing to think about,” he said. “It also then ends up speaking to us about the preconceived notions we have about God. ... It reminds us that God works in a way that’s different, which is, I think, one of the best things about how He works.”
The sermon will focus on the text from John 1:14 (ESV): “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
Rev. Meyer is a graduate of Concordia University-Chicago and the Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne. He served as a pastor in Hartford, Wis., and O’Fallon, Mo., before coming to Emmanuel- St. Michael in 2023. He and his wife, Carolyn, have three girls.
Where Shepherds Lately Knelt LSB 369
1. Where shepherds lately knelt and kept the angel's word,
I come in half belief, a pilgrim strangely stirred,
but there is room and welcome there for me,
but there is room and welcome there for me.
2. In that unlikely place I find him as they said:
sweet newborn babe, how frail!
and in a manger bed,
a still, small voice to cry one day for me,
a still, small voice to cry one day for me.
3. How should I not have known Isaiah would be there,
his prophecies fulfilled? With pounding heart I stare:
a child, a son, the Prince of Peace for me,
a child, a son, the Prince of Peace for me.
4. Can I, will I forget how love was born, and burned
its way into my heart unasked, unforced, unearned,
to die, to live, and not alone for me,
to die, to live, and not alone for me?
The Christmas Day program will be available through our online and streaming options. Watch our program on our website at WorshipAnew.org or streaming on YouTube, Roku, Apple TV, Google TV, or the Amazon Firestick. Also, please tune in to see our special Christmas Eve Choir Program. To learn more about Worship Anew’s digital offerings, please visit worshipanew.org/app.