A sermon for St Peter, Bramley, Christmas Eve 2025. Readings: Isaiah 52:7-10 / John 1:1-14
The last of a series of five Advent talks based on the prophecies of Isaiah
Here we are, gathered in a dimly lit building, at midnight on one of the darkest days of the year, around the winter solstice. What earthly reason could there be, someone might ask, for us to be here?
The people of Isaiah’s day lived in times of darkness, humanly speaking. Jerusalem had been devastated by the Assyrian army and most of its inhabitants either killed or sent into exile. Jerusalem in the time of Jesus was equally dark, subject to the cruel rule of the Roman empire. Our own time may also seem dark, with Russia and China seemingly the evil empires of our day. Other people are sowing division closer to home, with all kinds of threats to our peace and security. Just this week, Army chiefs have warned that British communities and households should have contingency plans for acts of war and terrorism – what would we do, as individuals and as a church, in a time of emergency?
God does not do nothing when good people suffer. His timing, when he does step in, is a mystery to us, though it often seems that he waits for people to cry out for help. Just as the situations seemed hopeless, into both these historical situations came a message of hope. The prophet Isaiah spoke of the time that was coming when God’s people would be rescued. They would return from exile with joy, Jerusalem would be rebuilt, God himself would be their rightful ruler once more, and their civilisation could carry on as before. The image in these verses is of the city watchmen seeing a messenger – a female herald, to be precise - coming over the hills with this hopeful prophecy. The herald brings good news, she announces peace and salvation, that is, wholeness. God spoke light into darkness.
In the darkness of Jerusalem in Roman times, people were again crying out to God to send the Messiah, the promised Prince of Peace. The first sign that God had heard their cry and was answering it came with came John the Baptist, who preached a message of salvation. This is presented by the gospel writer John in terms of light coming into the darkness. John himself was not the light: like Isaiah, he was only the messenger. Very soon, God’s own Word would come, once again to speak light into the darkness.
The ’Word’ of God means God’s communication with his creation, his active involvement in the world. The Word was the one who brought all things into being: time, space and matter; flesh and spirit. God’s Word never stopped communicating with his creation, speaking the living breath of God into every living being, wanting us to be always and everywhere in conversation with the God who knows and loves us intimately.
But people rejected the Word of God. Time and again, despite the message of the prophets, God’s people fell into the trap of loving money, status and power more than they loved their neighbours; living selfishly, breaking the commandments that the Word of God had given them to live by, waging war rather than living in peace with each other. What was to be done?
God’s solution was for the Word to become one of us. To be born as a human, to experience human life, to speak our own language – not just words of Aramaic, Hebrew or Greek, but the love language of acceptance, generosity, smiles, touch, forgiveness and reconciliation. As in Isaiah’s time, he came with peace, with good news, with salvation. To those living in the darkness of a strict Jewish law and oppressive Roman rule, the Word came as a brilliant light – heralded by angels and dazzling the shepherds.
Once again, not everyone welcomed the light. “The world did not know him … His own people did not accept him”, writes John. Jesus was welcomed by some, but rejected and hated by others, leading to his unjust death on the Cross. “But to all who received him” continues John “he gave power to become children of God”. Those who believed, both before and after the Resurrection, received the good news and experienced salvation – forgiveness of sins and a wholeness of life.
They also became lights to the world themselves. Those who believed were open to receive the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, and spread the good news of peace and salvation. Their mission was not just to the Jews, not just to the people of the Middle East, but to the whole world. We continue that mission here, today.
God’s Word, Jesus Christ, is eternal. He still lives, though unseen by human eyes. [i] He lives by the Holy Spirit within us, lighting our path so that we can be lights to others. St John writes elsewhere, “the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining”. [ii]
At Christmas, we gather to celebrate the time that God came as a light into a dark world with his message of peace and salvation. He still comes to all who will receive him, to all who will believe. To lighten our own lives, and to empower us to take that light to others. This is God’s Christmas gift to each and every one of us. Will you receive God’s gift of his son: the Light of the World, the Word of God, the Messiah?
If it seems that things are getting dark in our own time, we can trust that sooner or later, God will intervene again. The situation will no doubt need to get worse before people are crying out to God for help, at least in the UK. But we must pray into our situation, knowing that he is listening, and he will respond. Just as he called Isaiah to announce that he would redeem the Jewish people, just as he called John the Baptist to announce that God’s light was coming into the world, so God calls people today to be his messengers.
Will you be the one to speak light into the darkness in the personal lives of your family, friends, colleagues and strangers? Will you be the messenger, who comes with words of good news, with acts of peace, with a promise of God’s salvation? Can you, like Isaiah and John the Baptist, be the herald preparing the way for the Word of God, speaking light into their darkness?
As the darkness of this night turns into the radiant dawn[iii] of the birth of Christ, I wish you a Merry Christmas, a happy New Year, and the Light of Christ in your lives. Amen.
[i] See the previous sermon in this series, ‘Seeing the Invisible’
[ii] 1 John 2:8
[iii] I recommend listening to a performance of the choral work ‘O Radiant Dawn’ by James Macmillan, e.g.