Sermons for the Season of Christmas
Matthew 2:13-23 The story of the massacre of the innocents punctures the sentimentality of Christmas. There is a possibility that our celebration of Christmas becomes like the pictures on the lids of tins of biscuits or on Christmas cards. We turn it into a warm glowing image of bovine contentment and family bliss. It is …
A Sermon for the Second Sunday of Christmas (01/01/23):Herod and Joseph Read More »
Luke 2:1-20 On the first Christmas night, the events take place in two different locations. God enters the world as a helpless baby in one place. And God’s glory becomes visible somewhere else. Despite the way in which we arrange the figurines in our crib scenes, or picture this night in our mind’s eye, the …
A Sermon for Christmas Day (25/12/22): A Birth in One Place, Angels in Another Read More »
Matthew 2:1-12 The wise men are some of the oddest characters in the Bible. They are almost out of place. They are from a culture that is alien to the Bible. They are in possession of knowledge, of a kind and a quality that makes them seem, to ordinary folk, like magicians. Their careful study …
A Sermon for the Epiphany (06/01/22): Following the Star and the Scriptures Read More »
Luke 2:1-7 There is no denying that the circumstances of Jesus’ birth are difficult. Months into her pregnancy, which in itself was as much a source of unkind gossip as it was of joy and anticipation, months into her pregnancy, Mary is required to travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem. On the whim of some different …
A Sermon for Christmas day (25/12/21): The Birth of Jesus: Where and With Whom Read More »
Unexpected Homage, Unexpected Opposition Matthew 2:1-12 The birth of Jesus is announced in Jerusalem by the arrival of a group of foreign magicians! We call them wise men, and in comparison to most of their contemporaries they seemed wise. They studied the stars, and other natural phenomena, in order to discern what was happening or …
The Meaning of Christmas Galatians 4:4-7 What is the meaning of Christmas? That is the sort of rhetorical question which a preacher is likely to ask at this time of year. Or perhaps it might be posed more sharply, or even bitterly: What is the true meaning of Christmas? The implication of asking the question that way is …
A Sermon for the First Sunday of Christmas (27/12/20): The Meaning of Christmas Read More »
The Birth of Jesus Luke 2:1-7 We all know that the focus of Christmas, the very reason for our celebration, is that scene which we can picture in our mind’s eye. Mary and Joseph are bending over the manger gazing at their new-born son Jesus. But in telling the story Luke has us look somewhere else first: …
A Sermon for Christmas Day (25/12/20): The Birth of Jesus Read More »
Light in Darkness Isaiah 9:2b-7 Perhaps our reading should have started a few verses earlier: They will look to the earth, but will see only distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish; and they will be thrust into thick darkness. This is is the experience of the people of whom Isaiah speaks at the …
A Sermon for Christmas Eve (24/12/20): Light in Darkness Read More »