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

Sermon 🔈 (audio only)

Transcript of Sermon and Gospel

Worship Guide

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

Sermon 🔈 (audio only)

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

Sermon 🔈 (audio only)

Transcript of Gospel and Sermon

Worship Guide

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