Christmas 2025
December 24, 2025
St. Dunstan’s
The Rev. Patricia Templeton
It is good to be gathered here with you on this most wondrous night of the year, the night we celebrate the birth of a baby who will change the world.
Everything about this evening is special – the music by our wonderful choir, the beautiful flowers and altar arranged and prepared by faithful and loving hands, the glittering candlelight that adds to the magic and mystery of this night.
And so do each and every one of you. Whether St. Dunstan’s is your church and you are here every Sunday, whether you’re visiting from out of town, or whether you’ve not set foot in a church in years, yet somehow felt drawn to this place this night, we are glad you are here. Your presence adds to the joy of our celebration.
We are here tonight to hear the ancient story of God taking on flesh and blood in the birth of a baby to a poor, peasant couple in an obscure corner of the Roman empire. For almost 2,000 years people have gathered on this night to hear this story that has brought hope and joy and comfort to more people than can be numbered.
It’s not the usual birth story of royalty. I remember when Princes William and Harry, and then their children, were born. Those royal births occurred in the plushest of hospital suites, surrounded by the best nurses and doctors prepared for any occurrence.
And then hours later those babies were presented to the world by the proud fathers and the mothers, who appeared well coifed, makeup glowing, wearing fashionable clothing. The only evidence that they had been through the physical ordeal of bringing new life into the world was in the infants they held in their arms.
The Prince of Peace did not enter the world like that.
The story we heard tonight does not even begin with Joseph, Mary, or Jesus. It begins with the emperor Caesar calling for a census, which requires his subjects to travel to the places they were born. Caesar is exerting his power over his subjects.
It doesn’t matter how inconvenient the travel might be. It doesn’t matter what else is going on in people’s lives. It doesn’t matter that a young, poor peasant girl is about to give birth any minute and is in no shape to undergo such a long and difficult journey. The emperor speaks, and the people do as they are told. There really isn’t any other choice.
Bishop Rob Wright says in his Christmas message that the “story starts this way, not because Caesar matters most, but because he thinks he does. The empire wants to count, control, and secure the world.”
Tyrants and emperors throughout history have wanted that same thing.
But “while the empire is busy managing the world, God is busy redeeming it,” the bishop says. “Christmas is the celebration of God working quietly and decisively beneath the arrogance of earthly power.
“God doesn’t confront the empire head on. God slips through a birth canal in the empire’s blind spot – poverty. This child is born in a borrowed room, laid in a feeding trough.
“Which means God chooses vulnerability over visibility and humility over dominance.”
Poverty is every empire’s blind spot. Tyrants of every age, including our own, are not concerned about the needs and suffering of the poor. The poor are there to prop up the rich, to satisfy the needs of the emperor, to carry out his decrees. Other than that those in power pay little attention to them.
Which means, Bishop Wright says, “If we’re only watching the empire’s headlines, we will miss the holy things being born right in front of us.”
The birth of this obscure, holy baby is announced not to the rich and powerful, but to shepherds watching their flocks. Shepherding is a job for those who have no other skills. This ragtag bunch of shepherds are the first to hear of the birth of Jesus, and the first to learn this birth was something special.
It was to this group that the angel and all the heavenly hosts appeared singing, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will to all people.”
That peace, Bishop Wright says, “is not the empire’s peace, bloated by over consumption and enforced by violence, but God’s peace, born of justice and mercy and restoration.”
Tonight we celebrate the birth of the baby God who will be known as the Prince of Peace. We know all too well that this birth does not mean there is no longer darkness or strife or systems of oppression.
It does mean that God is with us through it all, shining light and love to a broken and battered world.
“In this messy world, just like the one Jesus was born into, we do not deny the darkness,” Bishop Wright says. “We do not sanctify the system, and we will not surrender the promise God has made to us and to all the world – that love came down at Christmas and love is revolting against everything that is not love.
“That is the center of our Christmas joy.”
Merry Christmas!
Amen.