In a very real sense, the birth of Christ in history is not just restricted to a time and place some 2000-odd years ago. The reasons why we celebrate Christmas every year are as multiple and various as there are Christians, but at its root, the birth of Christ represents, if nothing else, the birth of the best of what humanity had and has to offer. Christ preached and practiced the values of compassion, peace, love, acceptance, forgiveness and tolerance perhaps more radically that any other human who has ever lived.
As such, every Advent and Christmas season, we are encouraged to venture into our own wildernesses, to get back in touch with those aspects of our spirituality, our values, our morals which may have become dormant in the interim. We are asked to reflect on what aspects of ourselves the birth of Christ is reminding us that we need to "give birth to", those aspects of ourselves that we need to bring into the world to affect positive change in our lives, our communities and in the world.
This was my sermon for the 4th and final Sunday of Advent this year. It is somewhat shorter than usual as we had to save room for the Christmas Pageant, which is always a chaotic and spirit-filled gong show:)
My sermon was based primarily on the Gospel reading for the week, Luke 1: 39-45.
To download the podcast of my sermon, click here.
No comments:
Post a Comment