Tag: Christmas
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What are you Giving for Christmas?
At Christmas we often think, and rightfully so, of God’s gift of Jesus to the world. We celebrate and rejoice that God has been born into this world as one of us. God is with us in a new way. God has given us himself in the baby Jesus. The early Church, while recognizing God’s Read more
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Advent Preparation – Let the Baby be Born
“Now the birth of Jesus took place in this way….” (Matthew 1:18-25) Matthew’s description of how Jesus’ birth happens does not mention anything that is on my to-do list. There is no busyness in his description. There are very few words spoken. Mary and Joseph are silent. They say nothing. An angel announces and declares as Read more
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Walk Away from the Manger
The crowds from last night’s liturgy have gone home. There’s just a few of us here this morning. The noise, song, and voices of last night’s celebration have fallen silent. The candlelight of Christmas Eve has given way to the dawn of Christmas Day. That sounds a lot like the second half of St. Luke’s Read more
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Luke, Tell Me the Story Again!
There are some stories that simply bear repeating. Children want to hear the same old bed time story. Lovers tell the story of meeting and falling in love. Parents tell the story of their child’s birth. Tonight the Church tells the Christmas story. None of these stories are new. They have been told throughout the Read more
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Christmas – The Gift of Union
The feast of Christmas is the feast of the mystical Body, for it is through the Incarnation that men have become members of Christ. Whatever theological interpretation we give to this great scriptural and patristic affirmation of our incorporation into Christ, we must believe that with the Incarnation, an ineffable union – that passes all Read more
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Nativity Scenes Here, There, Everywhere – A Sermon for Christmas Eve, Luke 2:1-20
I probably need to begin with a disclaimer. My understanding of the nativity has changed. It is not what it used to be. I no longer see the birth of Jesus the way it is so often portrayed. The image of sweet baby Jesus asleep on the hay has given way to a vision of Read more
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Boots and a Blue Bra, a Modern Nativity Scene
This is the world into which Jesus is born. Come quickly, Lord Jesus. For the yoke of their burden, and the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian. For all the boots of the tramping warriors and all the garments rolled in blood shall Read more
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Irenaeus and the Purpose of the Incarnation
How could the human race go to God if God had not come to us? How should we free ourselves from our birth into death if we had not been born again according to faith by a new birth generously given by God, thanks to that which came about from the Virgin’s womb? – Irenaeus Read more
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The Manger Is Not In Bethlehem – A Christmas Sermon On Luke 2:1-20
The collect and readings for Christmas may be found here. Every one of us could probably tell the Christmas story. We know it well. A young virgin named Mary conceives a child by the Holy Spirit. She and her betrothed, Joseph, travel to Bethlehem by order of the emperor. There Mary gives birth in a Read more
Interrupting the Silence 