Friday, December 24, 2021
/Christmas Eve
Isaiah 9: 2-7; Psalm 96; Titus 2: 11-14; Luke 2: 1-14
The Rev. James M. L. Grace
In the Name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. AMEN.
I was at a loss for what to say for a Christmas Eve sermon this year. I knew that I wanted to say something about the reading we heard from Titus, but I did not know what. So, I pitched a question to the Vestry at our regular Vestry meeting earlier this week. I said to them, “let us hypothetically say that you are a priest and that you just might be preaching on Christmas Eve on this short reading from Titus. What would you say in your sermon?”
Members of the Vestry had all kinds of responses, and I will share a few of them here – with you. One Vestry member – let us just say it might have been Mary Eyuboglu – said that this reading from Titus describes the grace of salvation’s appearance. She added that Titus reminds us that Jesus’ birth offers salvation to all, and that salvation should inspire us to do the next right thing. That is a good sermon there.
Another member of our Vestry – maybe it was Spencer Vosko – said that Titus encourages us to take the gift of Christmas and to pass it on. Also good. Another member of our Vestry – John Alexander – suggested that Titus is helpful for all of us during a season in which we easily can get caught up on worldly things. John suggested that Titus reminds us of what we should be focusing on.
I was struck by the wisdom of our Vestry members, and for my sermon tonight I am just going to say “ditto” to everything they already said. It has occurred to me more than once that we might have a better sermon tonight if they were standing in this pulpit tonight rather than I. Nevertheless, in addition to what has been said about Titus, I have three truly short points, and then I will wrap up.
1. Titus is an easily overlooked book in the New Testament. It is a short letter of only three chapters possibly written by the Apostle Paul to some new congregations on the island of Crete. Kind of random for Christmas, don’t you think? I believe the reason we read it on Christmas is because it mentions the appearance or manifestation of Christ – his birth.
2. Which brings me to my second point – the letters, or Epistles, in the New Testament say little about the birth of Jesus. Titus is an epistle, a letter, and it is perhaps unique in this way – it mentions Christ’s birth. So, Titus is somewhat unique in this regard in its reference to the birth of Jesus.
3. Which brings me to my last point. In the very last verse, Titus identifies the guiding principle behind Jesus’ birth – that he would redeem us and save us from ourselves. We are carrying a lot on our shoulders right now – sadness, pain, loss, hardship, financial insecurity, anxiety, pandemic fatigue, illness, addiction, etc. But we are not carrying any of it alone, because the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all of us. We are saved.
Now the wonderful thing about choosing to preach on a short passage is that it results in a short sermon, which on a late Christmas Eve, you might consider an early Christmas present. Merry Christmas, everyone. AMEN.