Husband, father, and Anglican priest living in the North Georgia Mountains. Sermons, reflections, and articles promoting the "Ancient Faith for Modern Times". Subscribe below to get the latest posts in your inbox.
Walking in the light means that we stop hiding from the truth about ourselves because we have learned the truth about Christ. The light exposes, but it exposes in the presence of the Savior whose blood cleanses. Christ calls us into the light because there is forgiveness there.
John’s enduring testimony gives the Church words with which to receive the mystery of Christmas: the eternal life was manifested, the Word became flesh, and what the apostles saw and heard they proclaimed so that we also might share their fellowship in Jesus Christ.
The Christmas Preface says that the Son was born for us so that we might be cleansed from sin and given the right to become children of God. Stephen shows us what that grace can produce in a human life: humble service, fearless witness, mercy toward enemies, and trust in Christ even at death.
The cradle and the stones belong to the same Gospel. The Son who entered a world of sin, resistance, and death would gather a people who followed him even when faithfulness became costly.
Christmas Day: The baby in the manger is no ordinary child; he is the eternal Word, the radiant glory of God, who upholds the universe yet became flesh to dwell among us. Through John 1, Hebrews 1, and Psalm 98, we behold a God full of grace, truth, and unending love.
Christmas is therefore more than a single feast day. Christmastide allows the Church to remain with the mystery proclaimed at Bethlehem and to see how that mystery unfolds through the Holy Days, Sundays, Collects, and Scripture readings of the season.