Sermon for the 25th of December - Christmas Morning

In December of 1868 a clergyman in Philadelphia decided that his Sunday School could do with a new Christmas carol. Three years earlier he had visited the Holy Land. He called to mind the verse from the Old Testament Prophet Micah, writing in around 720 BC:

But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah, who are one of the little clans of Judah,
From you shall come forth for me
One who is to rule in Israel
Whose origin is from of old,
From the ancient of days”

The following year the author would move, now aged 34, to Boston, to be the vicar of the city’s main church, Holy Trinity.

You’ve probably guessed by now that the Carol is “O Little Town of Bethlehem.”

The author was Phillips Brooks and we will sing the carol later in the service when we take the collection.

Brooks’ words this Christmas are raspingly apposite.

I’d like to reflect on some of the words from O little town of Bethlehem.

How still we see thee lie! The streets of Bethlehem this year are indeed unusually still.
Due to the conflict in Gaza, 5,700 hotel rooms in Bethlehem are empty.

How ironic and deeply sad for a town indelibly linked to the phrase “no room in the inn.”

This brings me to the line:
The hopes and fears of all the years

The inhabitants of Roman occupied Palestine were no stranger to “fears.”

Today is sadly no different for the citizens of Israel and Gaza.

The world this year seems as uncertain as ever.  Conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine
the cost-of-living crisis and
the rise of populist leaders.

So we too have our “fears.”

But Christmas also reminds us that we also have “hopes.”

The words from the carol:

How silently, how silently,
The wondrous gift is given

Today, we celebrate what for Christians is the most important event in human history.

Possibly for many others too, if they reflect on the impact of Christian teaching and values on our heritages.

God has become present on earth in human form, with all the vulnerability of a new-born baby.

The words from the carol:

The dear Christ enters in

Jesus who teaches us how life can and should be lived. That love can conquer the world. That death can be overcome.

O holy child of Bethlehem,
Descend to us we pray;
Cast out our sin, and enter in,
Be born in us today.
We hear the Christmas angels
The great glad tidings tell:
O come to us, abide with us,
Our Lord Emmanuel.

This morning, like the shepherds, we lay our hope and fears in front of the Holy Family, gazing at the infant Jesus, and ask Christ to be present in our hearts.

This Jesus of whom
St. John writes:
“In him was life and the life was the light of
all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not
overcome it.

The light falls upon us in different ways. Some have deep Christian faith, some not so much. For some it’s all very unclear. Whatever your position you are very welcome here.

I’d like to tell you about a writer who recently let the light of Christ in.

A writer who has been described as “one of Britain’s top ten trouble makers

Paul Kingsnorth has described his experience, to use of words of the Carol, of “God imparting to his human heart, the blessings of heaven” in this way:

Something happens when you stand (in church), immersed in it all. You come to feel as if you are being carried down a great timeless river to an almost unfathomable destination that you could never reach on your own. But of course, you are not on your own. Not now. You will never be on your own again. You have come home.

O holy child of Bethlehem,
Descend to us we pray;
Cast out our sin, and enter in,
Be born in us today

This Christmas, I pray that we allow Christ to enter our hearts.

To give us encouragement when we are fearful.

To support the weak.

In our daily lives, with Christ in our hearts, may we narrow the gap between Heaven and Earth.

This Christmas and during the coming year, I pray that your fears will be stilled, and your hopes fulfilled.