St. Matthew's Evangelical Lutheran Church, Welland, Ontario, Canada

***NEXT SUNDAY – Special Congregational Budget Meeting following the service

Today’s attendance -> 14  Last year -> 16

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Today’s attendance -> 6  – last year  -> 12

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Transcript of Gospel and Sermon

Worship Guide

Christmas Day 2025

Sharon and I wish you all a blessed Christmas and joy in the year to come.

Prayer of the Day
All-powerful and unseen God, the coming of your light into our world has brightened weary hearts with peace. Call us out of darkness, and empower us to proclaim the birth of your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Gospel:
Luke 2.1-20 In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3All went to their own towns to be registered. 4Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. 5He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. 6While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. 7And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. 8In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: 11to you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is the Messiah, the Lord. 12This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.” 13And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, 14“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favours!” [ 15When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.” 16So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. 17When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; 18and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. 19But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. 20The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.]

SERMON
Not long before Jesus was born, the emperor Augustus orders the words “The beginning of the Good News”…to be chiseled in stone onto the calendar he devised. The so-called Preiene stone declares that the emperor’s birthdate is “the beginning of good news.” The word used for “good news” is the same word we now recognize as “Gospel”. This may be why Luke’s story mentions Augustus first. One gets the impression that the emperor is indeed so vain he thinks the Gospel is about him! To which Luke says, “Yeah, no”. In short order, Luke exposes the imperial world order for the rapacious user that it is.

On to the next detail….At the emperor’s order, the Roman-installed governor of Roman-occupied Syria named Quirinius designs a world wide system of tax collection. People’s sweat, tears and even blood feed the imperial beast’s insatiable appetite for power and luxurious wealth. That news is good only for the emperor and his toadies. For everyone else, the emperor’ news is NOT good; notably for one couple making the dangerous trip to Bethlehem…a couple including a woman nearly ready to give birth.

Now…Luke conveys us away from palaces and overcrowded inns to an encampment of wandering shepherds. Here, we witness the contrast between counterfeit Good News and the real thing. Cosmic glory overtakes the mundane as the messengers God has dispatched announce sure-enough good news for ALL people.

Good News for people the empire considers ‘nobodies’— like shepherds

Good News for people displaced by the occupying Roman Empire.

Good News for people regarded by the empire as a ‘tax unit’ sent on a forced and dangerous trip to sign up for the privilege of being used by the empire.

The Good News that God is with us comes in ways that have been called scandalous in their particularity. God enters our existence embodied as an infant born in the equivalent of an emergency shelter; a newborn swaddled and protected by his parents Mary and Joseph.

Does Good News for All really mean all? Is there Good News for Quirinius or the Emperor Augustus? Probably not in the short run. They likely didn’t hear Mary’s song of Good News for the poor and about a time when tyrants will be chucked from their thrones.

Yet, if All really means all, we must hope God’s not done yet…that God’s world-creating, life sustaining, raising Jesus from the dead sort of love and goodness carves a path of redemption for even for tyrants; deposed or otherwise.

If all truly means all, one day God’s dream of shalom will come true. ALL will see the healing and wholeness of ALL things. All will truly mean all—This is the Good News at Christmas, in the days to follow, and forevermore.

Today’s attendance (4:30pm) -> 28  – last year (7pm) -> 21

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CHRISTMAS EVE 2025

“I will light candles this Christmas. Candles of joy, despite all the sadness. Candles of hope where despair keeps watch. Candles of courage where fear is ever present. Candles of peace for tempest-tossed days. Candles of grace to ease heavy burdens. Candles of love to inspire all of my living. Candles that will burn all the year long.” (written by the Rev. Dr. Howard Thurman)

Prayer of the Day
Almighty God, you made this holy night shine with the brightness of the true Light. Grant that here on earth we may walk in the light of Jesus’ presence and in the last day wake to the brightness of his glory; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Gospel:
Luke 2.1-20 In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3All went to their own towns to be registered. 4Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. 5He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. 6While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. 7And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

8In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: 11to you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is the Messiah, the Lord. 12This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.” 13And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, 14“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favours!” [ 15When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.” 16So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. 17When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; 18and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. 19But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. 20The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.]

Attendance today -> 22 – last year -> 21

Sermon 🔈 (audio only)

Transcript of Gospel and Sermon

Worship Guide

FOURTH SUNDAY OF ADVENT December 21, 2025

Intro to the Season and Day: Advent and Christmas don’t really work for people who like EVERYTHING neat, tidy and predictable. Today we hear about the upheaval one couple lives through—and we also hear that God’s disruptive ways are about to generate a whole new thing.

Prayer of the Day Stir up your power, Lord Christ, and come. With your abundant grace and might, free us from the sin that hinders our faith, that eagerly we may receive your promises, for you live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen

Isaiah 7:10-110Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz, saying, 11Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven. 12But Ahaz said, I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test. 13Then Isaiah said: “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary mortals, that you weary my God also? 14Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel. 15He shall eat curds and honey by the time he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. 16For before the child knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land before whose two kings you are in dread will be deserted.

Matthew 1:18-25. 18Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. 19Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. 20But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: 23“Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,” which means, “God is with us.” 24When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, 25but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus.

Reflections— The life stirring inside Mary is from the Holy Spirit. Matthew tells us this. God’s messenger appears to Joseph in a dream to tell him that the child conceived in Mary is from the Holy Spirit.

Now is an opportune time to remember how God’s Spirit is imagined in the scripture—the word in the Hebrew scripture sounds breathy…ruah…and the word can mean “breath”. Some of us perform breathing exercises that can either calm us or energize us. Most of us are partial to regularly having air move in and out of the lungs. None of us neglects breathing; at least for very long. So we might imagine God’s Spirit as essential and as close as our own breath.

The scripture also imagines the Spirit of God as wind and the wod ruah can also mean wind. At creation the Spirit of God blows gale force knocking chaos and nothingness into the wondrous creation itself.

Spirit gusts into the lives of kings and prophets knocking their lives into trajectories they might not have ordinarily committed themselves to.

Now Joseph learns in a dream that the life Mary carries within her is from such a Holy Spirit. If Joseph felt as though life ways careening sidewise before he might have felt like he was in freefall now.

Joseph is called righteous; which is far more than being a nice guy or a mensch. Just treatment and ethical living are woven into his character. His betrothal to Mary is much more of a commitment than our modern engagements to be married. In fact, if someone’s betrothed died in that period, the surviving partner was considered widowed. Having sexual relations with another person during this betrothal was considered adultery. The social and moral code of the day and culture allowed for death sentences in cases of adultery.

Joseph’s intended course was merciful and just and not borne from a bruised ego. He tries to bring about the most workable resolution to a complicated and painful situation. Then God shows up and tells him that the very path Joseph thinks is a blind alley is actually God’s pathway to bringing wholeness and healing to the world.

Mary and Joseph’s story is all about disruption—the very thing most of us risk averse types fear most.

Now might be an opportune moment to imagine God as trickster. The notion is hardly original to me. Indigenous people believe that trickster’s schemes are meant to open new pathways to wholeness and living in the world as it is. Christian theologians like Lewis Hyde believe that God’s trickery is integral to a world that is being birthed; a world like the prophets envision where lion lies down with the lamb and humans finally come to their senses and work to feed people instead of displacing them or killing them.

Advent reminds us that life is full of disruption—we’re also reminded that once in a while the disruption isn’t the end. Words from Professor James Boyce as he quotes from Robert Smith’s respected commentary on the Gospels prove apt and may they be both comforting and challenging to us as a community of faith:

This Jesus is “pure gift, holy surprise, a fresh act of God, a new genesis, a new creation.” And all it comes about “from the Holy Spirit.” We live with the awareness that God’s power is among us and ready to lead us in ways that we can only imagine. Is that good news, or is the prospect a bit frightening? If we do not anticipate the Christmas event both with hope and with just a bit of anxious fear, then we are not sufficiently tuned to the implications of God’s presence among us. (From Working Preacher, an online resource from Luther Seminary St. Paul, MN USA-2007)