Sermon for Christmas Day

A sermon preached at Trinity-Mount Rainier on the Feast of the Nativity of Our Lord during the Christmas Day Festival Eucharist, December 25, 2022.

Wonder of All Wonders
John 1:1-18
(Other Readings Appointed: Isaiah 52:7-10; Hebrews 1:1-12)

Having grown up with the tradition of going to worship on both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, I have grown in learning the wisdom that those who put together the lectionary readings for the services which make up the Feast of Our Lord’s Nativity.  And in my years of preaching on Christmas, I have tried to follow their lead, using the “In the Night” service of Christmas Eve to reflect more on the story of the birth of Christ found in Luke’s Gospel, and on Christmas Day, using the great prologue of John’s Gospel, to reflect on the great meaning that is discovered behind this wondrous birth—the Incarnation of the Son of God: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth.”

In reflecting on these words this year, my thoughts kept getting drawn back to what has become one of my many favorite musical works to listen to at this time of year.  Richard Dirksen, one time organist, choirmaster and Precentor at the Washington National Cathedral, composed a choral piece in 1957 entitled “Welcome all Wonders” for the 50^th Anniversary of the laying of the Cathedral’s foundation stone.  It set to music the words of the 17^th century English priest and poet Richard Crashaw from some of his poetry written around the themes of Christmas, one of which is titled, “On the Nativity of Our Lord”.

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Sermon for Christmas Eve

A sermon preached at Trinity-Mount Rainier on the Feast of the Nativity of Our Lord during the Christmas Eve Candlelight Eucharist, December 24, 2022.

An Invitation to a Christmas Feast
Luke 2:9-12
(Readings Appointed: Isaiah 9:2-7; Titus 2:11-14; Luke 2:1-20)

The problem that faces many a preacher on Christmas Eve is the same every year: How do preachers find something “fresh and new” to say in their sermon so that they don’t feel that they’re just saying the “same old thing” again this year; while at the same time respecting the fact that the people hearing their sermon this Christmas are most likely expecting exactly that: “the same old thing”?  And so it is as we once again come together in this most holy night of Christmas, gathering in the stillness of that silent night of so long ago, recounting again what is perhaps the most touching and memorable part of that “Greatest Story Ever Told”: the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ into human flesh.

But as it is with many a familiar story, perhaps sometimes we know them so well that nothing seems to bring us a sense of surprise as we hear it once more.  It reminds me of a thought made by a character in the British Comedy, The Vicar of Dibley, as she gave her thoughts on the Christmas story: “Yeah, it’s a good story the first time you hear it, but after that it’s a bit predictable, isn’t it?  I mean: man and woman get to inn.  Inn full.  Woman has baby in a manger.  Angels sing on high.  Blah, blah, blah.”  Now, while I don’t believe many of us think the same way as this character did, we can at least relate a little to the feeling that she expressed.  This story is in some ways predictable for those of us who know it well.  But there are sometimes, even with the most familiar of stories, that it is a good thing for us to perhaps “dig a little deeper” into them and maybe find something in it that we might have not thought of before, finding an insight that brings a new and even deeper meaning to what we have already known.

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Sermon for Advent 4

A sermon preached at Trinity-Mount Rainier on the Fourth Sunday in Advent, December 18, 2022.

God With Us
Isaiah 7:10-17 and Matthew 1:18-25
(Other Reading Appointed: Romans 1:1-7)

Thinking on the theme found in today’s Old Testament Reading and Gospel, I was reminded of a piece of military history trivia.  In both World Wars, the soldiers of the German army, the Wehrmacht, had these words inscribed on their belt buckles: Gott mit Uns: God with us.  To be sure, the way these words were being used was most certainly a misinterpretation of them, especially when the battles these men fought were not about God being on their side for the sake of what is good and right, but rather that they believed that “might makes right” and because they thought that they were in the right then God must be on their side.

In both of the readings today which relate to us the promise of Immanuel, God with us, we come to see who our God comes to be with, why He is with them and what He seeks to do for them.  And as we answer these questions, what we come to be surprised by is to learn that when our God comes to be with us, He comes in ways that surprise us because He does things in ways that we least expect and does things according to His way and not ours.

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Sermon for Advent 3

A sermon preached at Trinity-Mount Rainier on the Third Sunday in Advent, December 11, 2022.

Signs of the New Beginning
Isaiah 35:1-10 and Matthew 11:2-15
(Other Reading Appointed: James 5:7-11)

In our appointed readings during the Sundays in Advent, we are given two weeks with what some might call the “preacher of Advent”, John the Baptist.  Last Sunday, we were met with the figure that many of us are familiar with when we think about John: the lone voice crying in the Judean desert, his “strange” fashion and dietary choices, and his “no nonsense” preaching that sought to comfort those terrified by their sins and to terrify those who seemed comfortable in their own religiously lived lives.  Through his work of preparing the people for the coming of the Messiah, calling on them to open their hearts and change their minds and lives. John is indeed a prophet that speaks to us even now of our need to prepare and to be ready for the comings of the Lord that we await in this sacred season—the remembrance of His first coming in the flesh, His continual coming to us now in Word and Sacrament, and His coming again at the end of time.

It is then interesting for us to see the John the Baptist that we meet in today’s Gospel.  Why it is interesting is that what we don’t see today is that fiery preacher, full of confidence and certainty, the man who drew people to him with his message that declared peace to those who confessed their sins and that called out the self-assured who felt no need for repentance.  Instead, we actually don’t meet or see John today.  We hear of him, sitting in Herod’s prison, and sending his disciples to Jesus to ask an important question: “Are You the One who is to come, or shall we look for another?”

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Sermon for Advent 2

A sermon preached at Trinity-Mount Rainier on the Second Sunday in Advent, December 4, 2022. It was also proclaimed later that day at the worship service of Lamb of God Lutheran Church, Landover Hills, MD, as Pastor Schiebel was the Preacher and Celebrant making a visit to the Congregation as Circuit Visitor.

A Kingdom of Peace
Isaiah 11:1-10
(Other Readings Appointed: Romans 15:4-13; Matthew 3:1-12)

I believe that there are still many of us who turn on and watch the news because we want to know what all is going on in the world.  Of course these days there are probably the same number of us who seem to regret doing that because when we hear the news we more often than not feel discouraged and sad by what we have heard.  Hearing of all of the “wars and rumors of wars” around the world, the violence that comes into our communities, the hateful words that spawn division and strife, and the list goes on, we would like to hear somewhere a word that speaks peace to us, especially in this time of the year where we like to think the words of Christmas carols could become true, longing to see a world where there is “peace on earth, goodwill to all”.

This longing for a world at peace with itself and among its peoples is nothing new, for it has been a desire that has filled people’s hearts and minds for ages.  Last Sunday, we heard the words of the Prophet Isaiah speak to us of the hope which those of his time desired to see fulfilled: “They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore” (Is. 2:4).  These words about a world at peace are so aspirational that they are found engraved into stone along with a statue depicting this scene right in front of the United Nations building in New York.  Yet, as the news tells us, it seems perhaps that there are those in leadership in some parts of our world who would much rather work to reverse these prophetic words, turning their tools of lives lived in peace back into weapons of strife and war.

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