My dear brothers and sisters, Christ is born; let us give glory. Christ is from the heavens, let us go to meet Him. Christ is on the earth, let us be lifted up. Sing to the Lord, the whole earth. Let the heavens be glad and let the earth rejoice, for the heavenly One is now earthly. Christ is in the flesh, exult my dear brothers and sisters with trembling and with joy. Exult with trembling, because of sin. Exult with joy, because of hope. Christ comes from a Virgin; let us all practice virginity, which is humility of a heart that loves God above all else, that Christ being born in our heart, can be born in the hearts of others through our love and adoration of Him. Who would not love and adore He Who is Alpha? And who would not love and adore He Who is also Omega?
Again, this night, Christ is born, Christ is born this day. And again, the darkness is dissolved, again the Light is established. Let the people sitting in the darkness of ignorance see a great light of knowledge. “The old things have passed; behold, all things have become new.” The letter of the law withdraws; the spirit of the Law advances; the shadows have been surpassed, for Truth Himself has entered after them. The world above must be filled. Christ commands, let us not resist. All nations, clap your hands, He told David in the Psalm. For to us a Child is born, and to us a Son is born, the power is on His shoulder. For He is lifted up along with the Cross, and He is called by the name “angel of great counsel,” and that of the Father.
Let John Baptist yet proclaim, Prepare the way of the Lord. Let us all proclaim the power of this day. The fleshless One takes flesh; the Word is made coarse, the invisible One is seen, the impalpable One is touched, the timeless One makes a beginning, the Son of God becomes Son of Man. Jesus, Christ, the same yesterday and today and for the ages. As Paul says, He is stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles. In all things He becomes a human being, except sin. He was conceived by the Virgin, who was purified in both soul and flesh by the Holy Spirit. He comes forth, God with what He has assumed (which is the flesh of His mother). O, the new mixture of Spirit and flesh! O the blending in paradox! He Who Is (as He named Himself to Moses) has come into being, and the uncreated is created, the uncontained is contained.
The One who enriches becomes poor, He is made poor in our flesh, that we might be enriched through His divinity. The Full One empties Himself; for He empties Himself of His own glory for a short time, that we may participate in His fullness. What is the wealth of His goodness? What is this mystery concerning us? We were born to participate in the likeness, made so by God, we humans did not keep that likeness, for it was defaced and disordered through our disobedience and sin. Christ participates in our flesh both to save the likeness with the image and to make flesh immortal.
Let us welcome His nativity and leap for joy, if not indeed like John Baptist in the womb, and then like David danced when the ark came to rest in Jerusalem. Let us revere the birth through which we have been released from the bonds of birth. Let us honor little Bethlehem, which has brought us back to paradise, and bow before the manger through which we who were without true knowledge have been fed by the Word. Let us like the Ox know our owner, and like the donkey know our master’s crib. And let us run after the Star, and bring gifts with the magi: gold, frankincense, and myrrh, as to a king and to a God and to one dead for our sake. Let us with the shepherds give glory, with the angels sing hymns, with the archangels dance. Let there be a common celebration of the heavenly and earthly powers. They rejoice and celebrate with us today, if indeed they love mankind and love God.
Your Nativity, O Christ our God, has shone to the world the Light of knowledge; for by it, those who worshiped the stars were taught by a star to adore You, the Sun of Righteousness, and to know You, the Dayspring from on High. O Lord, glory to You! Christ is born today, Whom even now we pray to be manifest to us as clearly as is possible to prisoners of the flesh, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to Whom be glory and sovereignty unto the ages of ages. Amen.
[Note: this sermon is an adaptation of a portion of Oration 38 by S. Gregory Nazianzus “On the Nativity of Christ”, and includes the Troparion prayer used by the Eastern Orthodox tradition.]
Christ is born!