A sermon on Matthew 2:1-12, preached on Epiphany Sunday by Rev. Judy Davis.

A sermon by Rev. Dr. Sivin Kit on Luke 2:22-40, preached on the First Sunday of Christmas.

If we have seen this light—and the gospel assures us that we have—then we have a role to play, pointing to that light for others, no matter how dark the winter may be.

In the Christmas story—and in the God to whom it points us—all of our stories find their center and their place. The baby in the manger holds them all together.

While life may give us a few opportunities for assenting to God in momentous ways, it is in fact mostly made up of much smaller and far more ordinary occasions for saying yes—for responding to what writer Roger Owens calls “the divine summons of this moment.”

Sure, to be an oak is to be rooted and stable and steadfast. And maybe it is also to be deeply connected to others—to be bound in webs of mutuality, sharing, and concern.

Yes, the angel says, much is fleeting and uncertain. But here’s what’s not: God’s promise, God’s faithfulness, God’s word of grace to us.

"O that you would tear open the heavens and come down!" Isn’t asking for that a bit unrealistic, a bit bold? Maybe—but maybe it’s still just what we need.

We do, it turns out, have something to work on while we wait, in this time like in any other. The problem is, we might wish for a different set of instructions – one that asks a bit less from us.

Listen up, church, Jesus says. You have one whopper of a precious gift in your collective hands. What are you going to do with it?