Christmas Day (Light into Darkness)
It is Christmas day. Let us celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, the light of the world!
Welcome to our service, Christmas service & I’d like to pick up on this theme of darkness and light. Jesus known as the light of the world. Jesus brought light to dark places not by greatness in power but by becoming one of the vulnerable people.
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The people walking in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of deep darkness
a light has dawned.
3 You have enlarged the nation
and increased their joy;
they rejoice before you
as people rejoice at the harvest,
as warriors rejoice
when dividing the plunder.
6 For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Of the greatness of his government and peace
there will be no end.
He will reign on David’s throne
and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
with justice and righteousness
from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the Lord Almighty
will accomplish this.
After reading Isaiah 9 v 2-7
[Silhouette 1] It’s hard to believe the reading from Isaiah 9 was written 750 years before the birth of Jesus Christ. Notice the prophet Isaiah was so convinced that his prophetic word would happen that he writes it as though it has happened already. Even though those who heard him w/h/thought he was crazy. Today we know it is fulfilled in the arrival of Jesus Christ 2000+ years ago. NB the tense: ‘The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. They lived in the land of the darkness but now light is shining on them.’
Picking up on this theme of light into darkness - Jesus brought light to dark places not by displays of authority or power but by becoming one of the vulnerable people. Dark places such as places of poverty, places where there is conflict, places of poor health, places where there are relationship problems. In fact the dark places of Jesus day are still dark places today, yes in our Island and the world beyond.
Let us revisit the Christmas story this year determined to allow the story to become part of the story of our lives. Today we celebrate in words and carols the birth of Jesus, this day 2025 years ago when he was sent to bring light into the darkness of our world. Joy to the World!
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In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2 (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 And everyone went to their own town to register.
4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.
After reading Luke 2 v 1-7
Here is a silhouette of the birth of Jesus. Joseph had to go to Bethlehem to register for a compulsory census and Mary went with him. Maybe it was the bouncing donkey ride that did it. [Capri with springs gone] but while they were in Bethlehem at that very busy time, the notion came on Mary to give birth! Jesus born at a time when there was no room for him…& like many other children he was born in poverty and wrapped in rags and a trough for a cot.
There in the darkness in Bethlehem, the long-expected hero of the Jews took his first breath and bawled his first cries and received his first loving embrace. It wasn’t in a castle that the King of Kings was born it was in the darkness in an outhouse in Bethlehem. Mary was ‘the mother mild, Jesus Christ the little child.’ Think of it, someone as humble as a young unmarried mum would be chosen to play a major part in God’s rescue plan to bring people out of the darkness and into his great light.
This baby was the long awaited Messiah, the son of God, the leader who would lift the Jews from the darkness and save them from those who were oppressing them.
As it had been written in the OT 700+ years before the birth. Micah 2:5 foretold that Christ would be born in an unfashionable northern town called Bethlehem. That was God’s way of reaching out to humanity. Jesus, the light of the world, brings light to dark places, not by greatness in power but by becoming one of the vulnerable people.
Mary Did You Know? Ellie Baker - Solo
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8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
16 So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.
[Silhouette 3 - Shepherds in the Fields]
Imagine if you were the angel to tell the world that Jesus Christ had been born, who would you choose to tell (the King, UK Prime Minister, President of USA)?
The people God chose to tell were the roughest people of the day, the shepherds (as they watched their flocks by night)….they worked on the hills outside Bethlehem when they were told by an angel, ‘This very day the Saviour is born – Christ the Lord (Luke 2:11).’
I wonder why God chose such lowly people to be the first to hear the good news of Jesus?
I believe that God chose to identify ordinary people in the darkness of society, underappreciated, underpaid, unclean, undervalued.
The humble, the ordinary, the shepherds would be honoured as the first to know.
And if you’re inclined to feel that you’re near the bottom of the pile remember this that to the likes of you that God makes a beeline.
It is to you Jesus said in Matthew 5:15, "You are the light of the world." Jesus, the light of the world chooses to shine through us. What a challenge.
However, there was one phrase that linked Mary and the Shepherds - ‘Don’t be afraid.’ That is the Angel’s message to you as you shine for Jesus today.
Carol: While Shepherds Watched
[Silhouette 4] I invite you to look at your hands and feet and compare yours with those of a child. The tiny hands and feet of the baby Jesus turned into full-grown limbs. His hands did ordinary things like woodworking and cooking. His hands did spiritual things: blessed children, washed disciples’ feet, made wine at a wedding and food for thousands. These hands worked in the dark places with downtrodden people, identifying with the poor, touching and healing lepers, healing the blind, the sick and disabled people. The reality of it is this: His hands were the hands of the creator of the universe. Think about his feet where they walked, throughout the holy land, spreading the good news. Dark places we know today, Jerusalem, Nazareth, Cana, Capernaum, feet that walked on the water on the sea of Galilee, feet that walked from the garden of Gethsemane to Calvary.
[Silhouette 5] And there they were nailed to a cross with those full-grown hands in that crucial act of God’s salvation plan as Jesus gave his life to save us.
Christmas is not about hopeful prophecies and promises but prophecies and promises fulfilled. Christmas is about Christ our light coming into the darkness, replacing conflict with peace, injustice with justice and replacing fear with a love that casts out fear.
And today Jesus Christ calls you to be his hands and his feet as we walk the journey of our lives, he asks us to follow him, not just in his footsteps but to ask him into our hearts to live by his spirit in and through us. What better gift could we give to God this Christmas than give him our Hearts?
What can I give him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb,
If I were a wise man, I would do my part,
yet what I can I give him, give my heart.
Carol: In the Bleak midwinter
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4 “Listen, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone.[a] 5 And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. 6 And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. 7 Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. 8 Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. 9 Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
‘Yet what I can I give him, give my heart,’ Give your all to God this Christmas!
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!
O Little Town of Bethlem
Footnote: Christmas Day Service @ St Paul’s Barton 2025
