Sermons And Gubbins

This poem was given in place of a sermon at our 10:15 service on Christmas Eve. It's (obviously) based on Clement Clark Moore's famous poem, A Visit from St. Nicholas .  I hope you enjoy it. ‘Twas the day before Christmas, and all o’er the world Every grown-up was busy; every boy, every girl. The stockings weren’t up yet, the mulled wine not yet spiced, The presents unwrapped still – <gasp!> – the cake’s not been iced! Church-goers were dotted alone in their rows Whilst shopping lists higher thoughts in their heads o’er-imposed. And mum’s getting frantic, and dad’s getting ‘merry’ And – oh no, no, no! We’ve just run out of sherry! And out in the towns, packed shops fill up their coffers As last-minute shoppers vie for last minute offers. Home, quick! Put lights up, to compete with our neighbour; But somewhere else, now, a teenage girl is in labour. And she’s waited – her advent has been 40 weeks – And she thinks of the child that she be...

This sermon was preached on the morning of Sunday 13th December 2015; Advent 3, or Gaudete Sunday. The readings for the day were Zephaniah 3:14-20 , Isaiah 12:2-6 , Philippians 4:4-7 and Luke 3:7-18 . Christmas; it starts earlier every year, doesn’t it? Or at least it seems to. All of the big department stores have been playing ‘I Wish it Could be Christmas Every Day’, ‘Santa Baby’ and - let's face it - a handful of other Christmas songs on a loop since November, and the local Co-op has been selling Advent calendars and selection boxes since before they removed the Halloween sweets and masks from the shelves. It’s not just the shops though; I am friends with a colleague on Facebook who posted a photo of his neighbour’s house, all decked out in Christmas lights. No harm in that, now is there? Except he took the photo and posted it to Facebook on September 12th. There’s a part of me that wonders whether his neighbours did it purely to annoy him…! It’s still Advent, and ...