Recycled Christmas Sermons

And why I love them.

DISCLAIMER: I’ve already been called a hater just for the title. Please this is a positive post!

Growing up in church, I used to find it a fascinating feat to see how my church was going to remix the theme for Christmas convention (a week of services prior to Christmas) for yet another year. And this is God given creativity because after 3 themes I’d probably start repeating.

I opened some old notes and was able to find some themes going back to 2015.

“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given..”

• Immanuel, God with us

• His kingdom will last forever

• And you shall call his name Jesus

• Jesus Christ light of the world

• We have come to worship him

Year by year, we bounce between Isaiah, Daniel, Matthew and dig deep to explore the wonder found in the nativity.

I enjoy this thoroughly. There aren’t many other events in the Bible that you’re guaranteed to revisit every year in the same way beyond personal study. Is the Christmas message exhaustive? Can you reach the end of a perfect gift?

That being said, this phenomenon isn’t limited to Christmas in the slightest but perhaps it’s more notable in this season. Whilst the gospel message - more specifically the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus for the salvation of all creation - is preached at Easter but also throughout the year, the Christmas message appears to be more seasonal.

But the Christmas message is also part of the gospel (good news). I’ve considered engaging debates on what’s more important, Christmas or Easter but beyond practicing critical skills, I don’t think it’s all that beneficial to argue.

To me, Christmas embodies the humanity of the Saviour. The contrast of the King of glory laying in a feeding trough. That God has humbled himself into babe (Isaiah 9:6). And if anything, the saviour needed to be born in order to die.

Easter tends to focus on the shedding of innocent blood to bring about salvation (Hebrews 9:22). But if the saviour wasn’t born and didn’t live a life on earth, he would not have been tempted in every way and able to empathise with us (Hebrews 4:15).

I could go on but this is a tangent so I hope you see my point. Life and death go hand in hand. Both points of history are crucial to our redemption to God.

But back to the point, even if I heard the same sermon every year, which I never quite do, I’m grateful for it.

I was blessed to hear a sermon by my pastor on Sunday that truly cut to the heart. He linked Christ the perfect gift to the promised Holy Spirit and how Christ said it was better he departed so the Helper would come. Good food!

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday today and forever (Hebrews 13:8). So it’s nice to know that if he was Immanuel, God with us (Matthew 1:23) last year, he’s still with us this year.

This Christmas, I’m grateful for Jesus; the most sustainable gift the world has ever known.

But hey, AkuaSaid Merry Christmas. Dropping my Christmas playlist too in case this blog wasn’t gift enough.