Wishing all my friends on social media a great Christmas Day! To the eye of faith the image of Jesus in swaddling bands is telling, the baby bound pointing to his future binding on Good Friday freeing us from the power of sin and death. Happy Christmas! Full sermon this morning at Presentation Church, Haywards Heath Twisleton.co.uk
You never know when there’ll be children at Presentation so I did some joke research and here are my best findings:
What did the snow man order at Macdonalds?
Iceburgers with chilli sauce
What do you get if you cross an apple with a Christmas tree ?
A pineapple!
Well, Christmas is here so we’re going to light the Christmas candle from one of the Advent candles. Which reminds me
What did the big candle say to the little candle?
I’m going out tonight!
Well this one isn’t going out, it’s coming on! Light candle
Christmas is here and it’s time to be thankful for Jesus.
All the gifts we’ve been sharing this morning are given to honour the greatest Gift from the greatest Giver!
[So what gifts have we been given?
Time for children to share.]
All of these gifts were given us because of what the angel told the shepherds in our Gospel reading.‘Do not be afraid; for see – I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.’
Good news of great joy! God has come to earth to give himself a human face, the face of Jesus!
St Luke describes how the child was wrapped in ‘Bands of cloth’ or what were called swaddling bands. Swaddling is an age-old practice of wrapping infants snugly in blankets or cloth strips so that movement of their limbs is tightly restricted. People believed that swaddling bands helped an infant to develop proper posture.
Swaddling fell out of favor in the seventeenth century. It has become popular again as modern medical studies indicate that swaddling assists babies to sleep, and to remain asleep.
Come back to Jesus though, the baby tightly bound lying in a manger.
We believe this infant – Jesus – was bound up so we could be free!
When Jesus was bound up in the manger it pointed towards his being bound in the scene depicted in the awesome east window of Church – bound 33 years later to the cruel Cross.
Mary and Joseph were told to call their son Jesus, which means Saviour. We know about Jesus more because of how he died and rose than on account of his birth. We keep Christmas because of Easter.
This Christmas eucharist is Christ’s Mass in which we see the broken body and shed blood of Jesus. The eucharist is about the gift of Jesus who’s always alive and with us and loving us – that’s the truth of Christmas.
Jesus was bound so we could be free!
In recent weeks through serving confession and spiritual direction as a priest I have seen people released from the power of guilt by the power of Jesus’ forgiveness, people released from the power of sickness by his healing power, worried people released from their anxieties. I have heard of people I know dying freed from fear of death by their faith in the power of Jesus’ resurrection.
Do not be afraid; for see – I am bringing you good news of great joy.
In the joy of this morning you may know many constraints in your life. There is the constraint of a guilty conscience. There is the constraint of regret, of anxiety, of the fear of death, of loneliness.
Today the Son of God was bound in swaddling cloths to free you!
We know as Christians, as lovers of Jesus, what we call salvation, a new dimension of freedom in our lives that is the best gift of Christmas.
God who made each one of us in love loves us so much he wants each of us to be one with him. The Son of God became man so all who open their hearts to him could know the liberty of the children of God!
Let’s pause for a quiet moment to reflect on that great thought.
Your ability to explain things clearly is a real gift. Thanks for sharing it.