Good News! A Homily for Christmas Eve

Preached at Good Shepherd, Stayner, and All Saints, Collingwood, Anglican Diocese of Toronto, Christmas Eve, 2024.

Readings for Christmas Eve: Isaiah 9:2-7; Psalm 96; Titus 2:11-14; Luke 2:1-20 

But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for see, I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: (Lk 2.10)

One of the great ironies of life in our so-called information age is that we are deluged with news.   Our phones are constantly pinging and notifying us of breaking events.  We have dozens of 24 hour cable news stations to chose from.   We can read newspapers on our tablets, download podcasts, and listen to news in our cars.  In the year of Our Lord 2024, news comes at us like water from a firehose.    And yet the great irony of our age is we’ve never distrusted the news more.

We’ve gotten used to phrases like “fake news" and “alternative facts”.  We’re told that the media, at least the media we dislike, our “enemies of the people”.   We chose the news that we like and trust, from sources that confirm our worldviews and stoke our biases.    We share memes and gotcha stories with our like minded friends.   News has made us tribal, suspicious, and cynical.  If news was water, then we are like Coleridge’s Ancient Mariner, with “water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink”.

Tonight, on Christmas Eve, we hear the words of the angel to the shepherds, “I am bringing you news of great joy for all the people”.   The word angel means messenger, and while the angel’s appearance is terrifying, as all heavenly messengers are in scripture, there is nothing for us to fear.    This angel brings good news, the best news, joyful news, and it’s not just for a few.  This is not news for one tribe, it’s not blue news or red news, it’s for “all the people”.   

This is news for everyone, no exceptions, and it’s very simple.  Go to Bethlehem.  Find a baby who’s been newly born in great poverty, lying in a manger, an animal’s trough, and believe that this baby is the saviour that God long promised to send.  That’s it.  There’s no spin, no expert analysis, just a promise that this news will be a promise of peace and will reflect the glory of God.  There’s nothing in this news that arouses suspicions or hatreds, nothing to denigrate any one group or minority.  

I can’t prove to you that this actually happened.   All I can say to you is that the news of the angel has echoed down through the centuries, repeated by countless generations this very night.  It is news that has been passed down by people who long for something more than hatred and fear and suspicion, people who long for one great truth, that we are loved and that we are not alone.

So tonight I want you to ask you this.  Can you accept that there can be good news for everyone?    Is it good news for you that God’s peace should end our hostilities and divisions?   Is it good news for you that God became human and lived among us because God loves you?  For my friends, if this is good news for you, then you should do as the shepherds did.  Go.  Find Jesus.  Find out what he wants you to do.  Love him and be loved in return.   Share that love with others.

“But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for see, I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people.”