In These Last Days: 2022/2023 Christmas Sermon Seeds Series
But in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds. 3 He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word.
Hebrews 1:2–3a
Many cultures mark birth with a celebration of the naming of the child. Names have the significance we assign to them. Some honor a loved one, living or deceased, by bestowing their name upon the new addition to the family. Others choose names based on the meaning of the name itself. Whatever the background, names serve as a means of identification. The Christmas season lifts up the baby Jesus in many ways through many names. We might remember the prophesy of Isaiah with the promise of the “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Son of God and Son of Man, depending upon which Gospel account you read, also speak to who Jesus is. Perhaps the most indicative and faithful to the season of Christmas is “Emmanuel” (“God With Us”).
The Christmas event is the gift of incarnation, mercy manifested, and love made visible.
The Work of Christmas
Howard Thurman
When the song of the angels is stilled,
When the star in the sky is gone,
When the kings and princes are home,
When the shepherds are back with their flock,
The work of Christmas begins:
To find the lost,
To heal the broken,
To feed the hungry,
To release the prisoner,
To rebuild the nations,
To bring peace among others,
To make music in the heart.
In these last days, let us do that work, bring that beauty, and live that love.
In These Last Days
December 24/25, 2022 (Christmas Eve/Day): Isaiah 52:7-10 | “Beauty” | Sermon Seed
January 1, 2023: Isaiah 63:7-9 (CEB) | “Love and Mercy” | Sermon Seed
“Christmas Eve was a night of song that wrapped itself about you like a shawl. But it warmed more than your body. It warmed your heart…filled it, too, with melody that would last forever.”
Bess Streeter Aldrich
The Rev. Dr. Cheryl A. Lindsay, Minister for Worship and Theology (lindsayc@ucc.org), also serves as a local church pastor and worship scholar-practitioner with a particular interest in the proclamation of the word in gathered communities.
The poem, “The Work of Christmas” is excerpted from Howard Thurman’s The Mood of Christmas and Other Celebrations and is used by permission of Friends United Press. All rights reserved. https://bookstore.friendsunitedmeeting.org/collections/howard-thurman/products/mood-of-christmas-and-other-celebrations-the