Trinity Church in the City of Boston
Christmas Day 2025
Collect:
Almighty God, you have given your only-begotten Son to take our nature upon him, and to be born [this day] of a pure virgin: Grant that we, who have been born again and made your children by adoption and grace, may daily be renewed by your Holy Spirit; through our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom with you and the same Spirit be honor and glory, now and for ever. Amen.
Hark the Herald Angels Sing
Glory to the Newborn King
Peace on Earth and Mercy Mild
God and Sinners Reconciled
Joyful all ye nations rise, join the triumph of the Skies
With Angelic host proclaim,
Christ is born in Bethlehem
Amen.
Merry Christmas My Friends!
Welcome to Trinity Church as we celebrate the morning of the birth of Jesus. Born to Mary and Joseph, with guests arriving from afar.
I welcome you with the same joy as we sang that carol, with the same joy as the angels greeting the shepherds and with the same joy that unfolded as Mary and Joseph welcomed this newborn child into their lives. Divinely sent and in plain sight.
No matter how you found your way here this morning, I want you to hear the hope and the joy of the Christmas message bright and crisp and clear this morning.
Shiny with angels wings and stars
Clearly, to you, personally and encouragment to you right where you are.
Spoiler Alert: We read this same portion of scripture each and every year on Christmas Day.
Angels appearing, Shepherds receiving the most bizarre message and reacting immediately and finding the newborn baby in the most ordinary of places.
Angels, Shepherds, Mangers and Mommas.
Each year I love hearing how the Shepherds were petrified by the announcement of the Angels and yet they overcome their paralytic fear and run with haste to find this new thing.
Each year I listen to how it is Shepherds on the outskirts of town, in charge of others’ livestock that are invited to be the first guests to this birth.
Each year I listen as Mary, deprived of sleep having not slept and ridden on a donkey for miles and then given birth in rustic conditions, doesn’t weep with joy or gnash her teeth with exhaustion, instead, she ponders these things in her heart with generosity, patience and tenderness.
Each year I wonder anew how this ancient message is still relevant in this world and in my own life.
Our scripture from Isaiah celebrates the feet of the messenger who brings the good news. The angelic toes of angels to the weathered soles (souls?!) of the shepherds receiving and sharing the news of what they could see in plain sight and what set their hearts singing.
Right before we read the Gospel this morning we sang (con mucho gusto) Hark the Herald Angels Sing. A treasured Christmas Carol- singing like the Angels familiar words loudly and joyfully.
This hymn has quite the story.
While we sing this hymn every Christmas season- the mortal angels that penned the words and the music are quite a story.
In 1739 Charles Wesley penned the first version of this hymn. All ten verses of it….. needless to say- this version –while beautiful, did not take off…until it was adapted.
In 1753 George Whitfield took ahold of the hymn and modified it to the version we now know (I am pretty sure that the Wesley brothers are still upset by this fact.) In a further twist of time, in the 1850s William Hayman Cummings took the 1840 composition by Felix Mendelsohn and melded the words with a rousing melody to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Gutenberg’s printing press. A tune that, in 1840, was deemed not suitable at that time for sacred text, Cummings saw things differently.
The same message and yet through different messengers, sharing the news of the birth of our Lord and Savior through time and talent.
Each bringing song to each of us as we continue to sing along and ponder anew this message of the Angels on that holy night.
HARK we and the angels sing.
What a fun word, right? Similar to the “HEY YOU GUYS” or the southern “ALL YA’LL”- this message is for all – everyone. Angels divine and mortal have news to share.
Good News to this world-
And what is that Good News (or Gospel) that we share?
Each Service we hold here revolves around the birth, life, and resurrection of Jesus. The incarnation, that God became flesh, one of us, “dwelled in the neighborhood” with fingers and toes. God emptied himself into mortal flesh to guide our footsteps, encourage us, and call us by name into restored relationship with God.
This holy birth reminds us that even in the darkest of nights- there is a new beginning.
While we may feel alone, the darkness is not the end- rather the canvas where the holy interrupts, breaks through and restores us.
Christmas reminds us that restoration beginning in a new, holy, most bizarre way.
A Baby
God With Us
Tender, mild, vulnerable
Courageous, Enduring, and Inviting
God in our midst
Emannuel
Do not let your fear of this disrupting news and the world keep you from responding in this loving invitation to see God breaking through in new ways.
Invitation seen in the feet of those on the outskirts
The Feet of those who appear divine and out of our reach
In the feet of those who are weary and those who have always been carried.
HARK, is for you, too.
Let your heart, too, sing with this irrational joy.
This revolutionary hope that we know God is working, even in the challenging times, to restore this world to wholeness, wellness and we too can be messengers.
We may not be the final version of the good news being shared.
AND
Know that your sharing of this good news of hope and love matters. Your words (spoken and unspoken) are carried by the next person and ultimately joins the familiar chorus of Angels (and Whitfield, Wesley, and Mendelson).
Right here, Right now in plain sight, we are invited to both worship and adore and go out with joy and hope in this world.
God and Sinners Reconciled
Joyful all ye nations rise, join the triumph of the Skies
With Angelic host proclaim,
Let your life sing today with this joy and hope, the same that God has for you.
"I will with God's Help" 