Christmas Day Year A 25th December 2022
Lectionary Readings: Isaiah 9 v2-7; Psalm 96; Titus 2 v11-14; Luke 2 v1-14.
Good news for everyone.
A child has been born for us. We have been given a son who will be our ruler. His names will be Wonderful Adviser and Mighty God, Eternal Father and Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9 v6).
Announce to the nations, “The Lord is King!” The world stands firm, never to be shaken, and he will judge its people with fairness. (Psalm 96 v10).
God has shown us how kind he is by coming to save all people. He gave himself to rescue us from everything that is evil and to make our hearts pure. He wanted us to be his own people and to be eager to do right. (Titus 2 v11,14).
That night in the fields near Bethlehem some shepherds were guarding their sheep. All at once an angel came down to them from the Lord, and the brightness of the Lord’s glory flashed around them. The shepherds were frightened. But the angel said, “Don’t be afraid! I have good news for you, which will make everyone happy. This very day in King David’s home town a Saviour was born for you. He is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2 v8-11).
The good news was then and is today for everyone. All eight billion of us alive today need to be reminded that God came to us in the person of Jesus to rescue us from ‘everything that is evil’.
Jesus, the Lord of all, was born into a working class family, part of a poor rural community.
He was raised, along with his brothers and sisters, among ordinary people, not among the ruling classes. Jesus was then, and remains now, well aware of just how tough life can be.
The gospels tell us that Jesus was a kind and compassionate man with a heart for the poor, those who considered themselves, the least, the last or the lost in this world. But they also tell us that Jesus challenged those who misused their power for selfish gain. He spoke truth to power, but the powerful chose not to hear such inconvenient truths and eventually they had him killed, thinking that would put an end to Jesus’ influence over his many followers.
God raised Jesus from the dead, vindicated his ministry and poured his Holy Spirit upon us. The power of evil has been defeated. Jesus, our Lord and our Saviour, has made it possible for us to be reconciled with God. Good news for everyone.
Shirley Erena Murray reminds us of who it is that we celebrate today. (Singing the Faith 194).
Child of joy and peace, born to every race- by your star, the wise will know you,
East and West their homage show you, look into your face, child of joy and peace.
Born among the poor on a stable floor, cold and raw, you know our hunger,
weep our tears and cry our anger- yet you tell us more, born among the poor:
Every child needs bread till the world is fed; you give bread, your hands enable
all to gather round one table- Christmas must be shared, every child needs bread.
Son of poverty, shame us till we see self-concerned, how we deny you,
by our greed we crucify you on a Christmas tree, Son of poverty.
Bible quotations are taken from the Contemporary English version.