Tag: angels

The Angels’ Lullaby

A sermon for Christmas Eve
December 24, 2025, at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Hot Springs, AR

Readings: Isaiah 9:2-7; Titus 2:11-14; Luke 2:1-14(15-20)

It must have been something to hear, the angels singing in the fields on the outskirts of Bethlehem. I imagine it sounded like Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture. If you know that piece, you know that it has cannon fire and bells and brass fanfares. It is loud and glorious and wakes the dead. And surely the fiery angels lit up the sky like fireworks. “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on Earth peace among those whom he favors! Gloria in excelsis Deo!” For the Word Made Flesh, the Son of God, the One Long Hoped For is here at last. I don’t know how it all sounded, but I do know that when God comes among us, there must be music. The night is dark, but the music–the heavenly music–rings out. For how else could heaven and earth welcome their newborn King who is doing a new thing, who has come to save us all? 

Continue reading “The Angels’ Lullaby”

Shepherds and Angels

A sermon for Christmas Eve
December 24, 2024, at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Hot Springs, AR

Readings: Luke 2:1-20

Just about every year I was a shepherd. I imagine parents fought over whose children would get to be shepherds at the pageant. The costumes were easier. A bathrobe for the tunic, a bath towel for the headcovering, a stick, and you’re set. Every year, dressed in my bathrobe, I would stand there as one of the teenagers pretended to be the Archangel Gabriel, announcing good news, usually without much conviction: “Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you. You shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.” 

Continue reading “Shepherds and Angels”