Category: Sunday Sermons

It is the start of the New Year and I wanted to suggest a New Year’s resolution to you this morning which I think would be very worthwhile. It is the resolution to get to know God better in 2022. It is a resolution which I would argue should be the distinguishing mark of every Christian. It is our duty and our joy to be called to be disciples of Jesus. And at the heart of discipleship is the idea of getting to know the one whom you follow. How well then do you know God in and through the person of Christ?

This evening we have gathered with a purpose. We have gathered to remember the true meaning of the Christmas message. We have gathered around a tableau, a crib scene, which is a reminder that others gathered when the message of God coming amongst us was first announced. Mary, Joseph, shepherds, wise men angels and animals all gathered to welcome Jesus into the world. A child who would live and die with a message of light and hope! The gathering welcomed him into the world and our gathering welcomes him once again tonight into our world this Christmas.

This morning we recall once again that Advent is a season of expectation and preparation .. perhaps we experience this more than we know in the secular rush to prepare for Christmas. Perhaps you feel you are well into the season of getting ready in a practical sense. But let me ask you where you are in a spiritual sense of preparation. How much time have you taken to pray and reflect in comparison to time spent in shops or putting up decorations?

Malachi 3 v 1-4 and Luke 1 v 68-79

Last week we started our Advent season reflecting on the theme of expectation. We mentioned that whilst we associate this expectation with the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem at Christmas , Advent also calls us to look ahead to a final advent at the end of time. A second coming of Christ.  And in this sense we are still called to prepare!

1 Thessalonians 3 v 9-13 and Luke 21 v 25-36

Advent is a season of expectation as the Church awaits the coming (adventus) of Christ in his incarnation. Perhaps you associate this in your minds with the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem. The theme of preparing to receive the Christchild once again into the world through the retelling of the Nativity and the events of the Holy Family.