“‘Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.’” (Matthew 2:2)
After 40 years in one Church, I wonder each year what I can say about Christmas to our congregation that I haven’t already said. 40 years of Advent services and Christmas Day messages. But then a part of me also wonders if anyone would notice if I recycled an idea. Who would remember what was preached last Christmas?! And over those four decades I have developed a strong dislike of the commercial jamboree that passes for ‘Christmas’.
Yet each year God’s gentle whisper breaks through and I manage to see beyond it all and remind myself and our congregation of what it’s all really about. This year it was an idle scan through the Advent resources from the London Institute of Contemporary Christianity (licc.org.uk/?s=Advent) that gave the spark that has rekindled our season. It was a line in their 2025 Advent meditation about ‘The Infinite in an Infant’. So, this Advent we are reconnecting with ‘The Infinite in an Infant’ (John 1:1-14), wondering at ‘The King in a Crib’ (Matthew 2:1-12), meeting ‘The Creator in a Census’ (Luke 2:1-7) and worshipping ‘The Saviour in a Song’ (Luke 2:8-20).
May we each hear again God’s gentle whisper this Advent and Christmas. May we find again the one who has been born King.