Sermon for Christmas Day (2025)

Christmas 2025: No Words

Hebrews 1:1-12; Luke 2:1-20; John 1:1-14

The Reverend Paul D Allick, The Church of the Advent, Dec 25, 2025

At Christmas Eve Mass we get to hear the well-known

Christmas Story from the Gospels. It is the one According to

Luke. (Also known as the Charlie Brown version.)

We hear of Joseph and Mary, the babe in the manger, the

angels, and the shepherds. It’s what we expect to hear on

Christmas.

On Christmas Morning we hear the story from John’s

perspective, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word

was with God, and the Word was God...all things came into

being through him (the Word).”

In popular vocabulary, the “Word of God” means the Bible.

Certainly, the Holy Scriptures are our best tool for hearing

from and learning about God, but the Word of God cannot

be contained only in the words of the Bible. The Bible is a

library of Scriptures written and edited by humans.

In John’s Gospel, the Greek word used for The Word, is

logos.

One of the earliest uses of this word, logos, is found around

the year 600 B.C. A Greek philosopher used the term to

designate the divine reason which coordinates a changing

universe. The Word is the wisdom and logic of God.

John is saying, “In the beginning was the Divine Reason,

and the Divine Reason was with God, and the Divine

Reason was God... And the Divine Plan became flesh and

dwelt among us.”

When the “Word” of God means only the Bible, we lose an

important sense of awe. The Holy Scriptures are inspired

words of human beings attempting to explain the Word. We

ought not to confuse the two.

Ultimately, the Word is beyond our words.

According to St. Luke, the Angel tells the shepherds that the

Savior is born, and this will be a sign: a child wrapped in

bands of cloth, lying in a feeding trough in a barn.

Astonishing.

The Divine Reason of God, everything that matters and

makes sense came into existence just as we did. The Divine

Plan arrives as an infant. The Divine Reason is born to a

human mother!

This is the true gift we receive on this Feast of the Holy

Nativity.

We hear the gift described in the Letter to the Hebrews,

“Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various

ways by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken

to us by a Son...He (the Son) is the reflection of God’s glory

and the exact imprint of God’s very being, and he sustains

all things by his powerful word.”

This is the gift we unwrap each Christmastide. The Wisdom

of God is accessible to us now. God went through human

life, death and resurrection to deliver this gift to us.

It is important that we regularly discern what it is in our lives

that we are doing with this gift.

Mary of Nazareth sets a good example. After the Shepherds

come to see the Word Made Flesh cooing and fussing in a

feeding trough, they cannot keep quiet. They cannot keep

still.

“But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in

her heart.” As she hears human language attempting to

explain the Word, she stops to ponder what it means.

The world is full of words, non-stop communication. All of

those cell phone conversations that can’t wait until we are off

the road or cause us to walk right into each other on the

sidewalk. All those emails, texts, and postings that fly

through the unseen atmosphere. All that talking and those

words printed in the news. The never-ending analysis often

of nothing. All those social media accounts where one can

jabber on sowing damage and deceit. And those sermons

that seem to go on forever.

In a world so full of words, pondering may seem like a waste

of time.

The Divine Reason is among us, walking this difficult path

with us. This path of life is so full of profound joy, grief,

happiness, and tragedy all at once. The Incarnation calls us

into a silent night. We are speechless as we ponder the

depth of God’s gift to us.

We have no more words because we have the Word.