“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given”
This Christmas Day I will not be preaching, as we will be doing a joint service, where I will be baptising my child, Theodor. I will preach tonight, however, Christmas Eve, and here is my homily, which will be preached in Ænes Church, Kvinnherad, Norway. The readings are as follows: Isaiah 9:1-2.6-7; 1 John 1:1-4; and Luk 2:1-20. When quoting Scripture, I will use the Revised Standard Version of Scripture (RSV), unless otherwise noted.
Collect of the day (translated by yours truly):
Let us Pray:
Dear God, you sent the angels to the fields of Betlehem the night of Christmas. We pray: Be a light for us in the dark and let us, like the shepherds, find the way to our saviour, Jesus Christ, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one true God, world without end. Amen.
About four months ago, I experienced one of the greatest things that can be experienced. On the 17th of August, my son, Theodor, was born. Becoming a father cannot really be described, it has to be experienced. And I think it has given me a slightly different perspective on the Christmas message. I have received a great gift, a miracle. As we sing in one of our baptismal hymns in Norway, here translated into English: “A miracle happens in the world every time a child is born.”1 But do you know what the name “Theodor” means? It comes from the Greek words theós (‘God’) and dṓron (‘gift’). Theodor, in other words, means “the gift of God.” Our children are indeed gifts to us.
After becoming a father, I have understood more what it means for a child to be completely dependent on you and how incredible it is that this is something God chose to do. God came to us as a little child, completely dependent on his parents, Mary and Joseph. And he did not come as a rich little prince, even though He is the Lord of all lords and the King of all kings, but as a poor little child. His first bed was a manger, an animal feeding trough, not a royal four-poster bed. Jesus came to us as a gift from God. God became one of us, for our sake. So when I take care of Theodor, I can remember the great gift that God became one of us, that he became a little child.
Jesus is the greatest Christmas gift in the world. He is the reason we celebrate Christmas. God sent his Son, Jesus, to us as a gift. By becoming one of us, He made it so that we could become one with God. Jesus saves us, He helps us. For we are all children of God, and no one is so naughty that they cannot receive the gift.
Jesus is a great, loving, and forgiving friend who helps us when we mess up. He understands that we all make mistakes, and He wants to help us. He came to earth to save us but also to show us how much God loves us and to teach us how to love one another.
But this is first and foremost about us receiving. When we receive Christmas presents, from mom and dad, from grandma and grandpa, from siblings, friends or others, these should remind us of the greates Christmas present of all. They should remind us that God sent Jesus, who comes to us with joy and peace, as it says in a famous Christmas hymn.2 But what is joy? It is something that is glorious, wonderful, magnificent, splendid and radiant. And what is peace? It is to be without war and conflict. Without fighting and bullying, without teasing. But there is also more. It is to be a child of God, and to live with God. And that is something only we can receive.
And that is what Christmas is all about: that God gives, and that we are allowed to receive. And best of all: it is completely free! We do not have to do anything to deserve his love – he just gave it to us. But we are also allowed to pass it on, by the help of God. Christmas is about receiving and also about giving, but only because we have first received all from God, free of charge. Then we can give, then we can show that we want to what as Jesus does.
At Christmas, but also the rest of the year, you will probably meet many who need help, and Jesus wants us to remember them, and to help them, those who are not so well off. It may be they often have to beg for money, those who are poor, those who now have to flee from war, those who are affected by illness, especially in poor countries.
When we have received such a great gift from God, completely free of charge, we must also help others, and show that Christmas is about receiving from God, but also about giving to those who need help, though only because we have first received. As St. John writes:
Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of God, and he who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God; for God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No man has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us (1 John 4:7-12).
We do not do this because we are going to achieve something, but we do it because we are so grateful for everything we have received. And that is the attitude we should all have.
Jesus is the love, forgiveness, and hope that we all need. So let us remember to thank God for sending us such a special and wonderful gift in Him. And let us try to follow his example by showing love to one another, just as he did.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, who was, is, and will remain, one true God, world without end. Amen.
“Det skjer et under i verden” by Gerd Grønvold Saue (1994, 1996), melody by Kjell Mørk Karlsen (1996), in Norsk Salmebok 2013 (Stavanger: Eide, 2013), no. 591.
“Det kimer nå til julefest” by Nikolaj Frederik Severin Grundtvig (1817), melody by Carl Christian Nicolaj Balle (1850), in Norsk Salmebok 2013, no. 44. The words, in Norwegian (and Danish), as ‘fryd’ and ‘fred.’