Sermon - Christmas I, 2023 - Luke 2:22-40
Simeon and Anna in the Temple , Rembrandt, 1627 The Child who divides the world. Some reject this child and fall Others by faith receive His redemption and are lifted up Merry Christmas! I know the secular world around us has already put away their Christmas decorations and is celebrating New Years’ Eve today, but in the church we’re still celebrating Christmas. We get twelve days of rejoicing in our Savior’s birth and taking comfort in the incarnation. We Christians are delighting in the new birth given to us through Christ’s birth. Yet today much of the world is engaged in nothing but hedonistic drunkenness and debauchery. The secular New Year has been a time of sinful living since at least the beginning of the use of the Roman calendar. In antiquity it was a time of pagan celebrations and certain gods and goddesses were worshiped. The old year was put to rest and the new year was ushered in. This pagan worship wasn’t reverent, but it was very similar to what is done today at ne...