Christmas Message 2025

forgive the lack of posts here! Since I began preaching without note I have not been posting sermons here. But I have a plan for 2026, watch this space - Revd Graham

Scripture: John 1:1-14

You know how I really wind up my wife? I manage to really get on her wick, because every summer, I end up singing Christmas carols or songs. Now this isn’t me deliberately winding her up, or being particularly strange, mad or anything else. No, the thing is, because I grew up in the tropics, Christmas is forever associated in my mind with turkey on the beach, presents in tropical temperatures and Christmas parties as a child organised by the community in Ascension Island at one of the community Beach huts or wherever. So, for me, unfortunately for Claire and everyone else, when its hot, it gets me feeling those feelings of joy we all associate with Christmas that were engrained in many of us by loving families, which unbidden come to mind when those same conditions are replicated many years later.

One of the amazing things about having my formative Christmases whilst living on Ascension Island was some of the amazing things we went to do as a family with friends. You see, Ascension is in the middle of the Atlantic, 800 miles from the next nearest Island and just shy of 1000 miles from the Coast of Africa. There is nothing there and so light pollution is virtually zero. Fairly frequently, we would go down to the beach with friends, my parents with cocktails, children excited to stay up beyond our bedtimes and simply lie on the warm sand and watch the stars. As the sun set, first one than another star would begin to populate the encroaching darkness. When the darkness was complete, the skies, nearly always clear of cloud where awash with thousands upon thousands of stars. The light and beauty that shone in the darkness of those true nights was simply astounding, enough to take the breath away something that frankly you cannot really experience in Europe or indeed in any populated part of our globe. It was a magical and amazing experience, shedding light on the reality of our universe and one that I cherish to this day.

In our reading, we hear John begin his gospel giving a similar glimpse of the beauty and majesty that the coming of the Christ child at Christmas means for humanity and for us individually. ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.’

How much beauty and majesty can be crammed into 70 words. John is telling us that Jesus, the Word, is with God and is God and through Jesus everything was created. Through Him life began, and that that life is the light for all people, including us. He came, was born, into a dark damaged world, full of sin, and pain and hurt, and came as a light. That light, just like the light of those stars in the night, cannot be overcome by the deepest darkness, in fact it is there they shine all the more brightly. Here John tells us that the birth of Jesus isn’t a small simple thing but is the event through which light is restored to our broken world.

But what is more amazing is that it isn’t simply in the reflected light of Jesus come amidst a dark world that we get to bathe. No, the claims of our faith are so much more than that. Look what it says later in the passage: ‘But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.’

My friends, the light of Christ didn’t stay within a manger, but through His teaching, His Death and His resurrection, we were given the opportunity to have that same light shine from us through the Holy Spirit living within us, to be, like Jesus, a light for the world. Like I remember watching in the night sky as a youngster, as the sun set the brightest light came out first and slowly, the light spread as other lights came out until the whole sky was a fire of light, beauty and life, and there was no darkness that could ever overcome it. That is the claim, that is the hope, that is the promise that begins at Christmas. It is a claim that is so much more than we can imagine and a promise that is so much more than we deserve. ‘The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.’

So, if you are a follower of Jesus, remember the light of Christ shines from your heart – shine brightly as you celebrate this special day and shine brightly sharing that light so that other stars who you know may also shine to the glory of God the Father. You, literally, bring the light of Christ close to a dark world. If you are here and have never felt the light of Christ in your heart, if you don’t know the joy that comes with the Christ light, please take the opportunity to find out. Because simply, if you do, you will know blessing and love that will take you through the thick and thin, the good and bad and will see you to that place where no darkness can exist. Don’t take my word for it, find out for yourself, and see what a difference the Christ light makes to your heart.

At Christmas time, ‘the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.’ Celebrate the light, shine the light out, glory in the beauty of  God become Man; love God and love your neighbour, your family and all you know this Christmas time, for Christ is born, and darkness cannot and will not overcome Him. Amen