Sermon for the Feast of the Nativity of our Lord—Christmas Evening, 2025

Unto you is born a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord. Unto you, Beloved: you, who fear, you, who grieve, you, who are guilty of and afflicted by sin. Unto you, He is born. Not because you were ready, not because you made room, not because your hearts were pure or your lives ordered; rather, because you were lost, because you were helpless, and, more than that, because He loves you. 

For this “unto you” does not remain in the fields outside Bethlehem. The angel’s proclamation that night rings out, down through the ages, to this night: Unto you is born a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord. Yet more than that: lo, the same Christ, born then and there, is now here. Here, in His Word, for He is the Word made flesh. And, most especially, here, in the Blessed Sacrament, where He distributes to you His very Body and Blood, which He gave and shed upon the Cross, for you: for the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. Here, in His Word and Testament, the Saviour is given. Unto you.

Readings:

• Old Testament: Isaiah 9:2-7

• Epistle: Titus 2:11-14

• Holy Gospel: Luke 2:1-20

  
  

Sermon: