Children, on Thursday morning, what presents might be under the Christmas tree, waiting for you? . . . I think many of us, both children and adults, are going to open many Christmas presents. However, some of us might well be unemployed, as I was for four years from 2005 to 2009; but my wife Sylvia was working, so we were OK financially; and I was serving as a volunteer. I could still buy Christmas presents during that time.

I want to suggest today that whether you are at school or at home, working or unemployed, whether you have responsibilities at home or outside home, whatever your age, there is a special Christmas present waiting for each of us, wrapped up, ready to open, but each present can only be opened by the person to whom that present has been addressed. In other words, you can open your own present; but you cannot open the present of anyone else. That means you have to decide yourself that you want to open your present.

Now, I have a secret I’m going to share with everyone. I know a little bit about each of your presents. I do. I don’t know precisely what the shape of your present is or what you will think of that present when you open it. Surprisingly, some of us might decide not to open our own presents because we don’t want to know yet what is inside that special Christmas present that can only be opened by you. Before you can open the present, you have to trust that this unknown present is going to be good for you, and worth taking the risk to open.

My secret is that the special Christmas present that is waiting for each of us is faith in the Lord, Jesus Christ. On this Sunday before Christmas we celebrate the birth of many righteous and holy men and women who lived before the birth of Christ. We also celebrate the birth and growth of faith within each of us—that is, we celebrate that the righteous and holy people who lived before the birth of Jesus Christ on earth are truly united with Christ and with us. We are each different, unique, special human beings. Yet in the midst of our uniqueness we are one with each other, because of our faith in the power and competence of God to implement His will in three very different ways. First, God drew those earlier holy men and women to Him. Second, God implemented His will by bringing Christ into the world as the person, Jesus Christ. Third, God is now, today, drawing each of us closer to Him so that we can trust Him enough to unwrap and open that special Christmas present that God has prepared for each of us.

I don’t know about you, but I tend to forget sermons rather quickly—especially my own sermons. However, there is one sermon given many years ago that I remember very well. It was a sermon given by Metropolitan Antony at the Russian Orthodox Cathedral in Ennismore Gardens, London. Metropolitan Antony was then quite elderly. He took his shepherd’s staff on which he leaned as he walked unsteadily into the middle of the congregation, while people crowded around him and were then immediately silent. His sermon was short—less than five minutes; and he made only one point that I remember. Metropolitan Antony said in essence, “We have each been given faith in Christ. Some of us have greater faith than others. Whatever degree of faith we have now or in the future, we each have a responsibility to communicate that faith to our families, our friends and others. We should not try to communicate more faith in Christ than we actually possess. However, we should recognise that we each have some faith that we can communicate to others. Do not try to communicate to others a faith in Christ that you do not actually possess yourself,” advised Metropolitan Antony, “but do accept your responsibility to communicate to others the genuine faith in Christ that you already have within you.”



What is this faith in Christ that we already have, but which can grow stronger within each of us? The 11th chapter of the book of Hebrews, from which the epistle for today is taken, begins with the words: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by [faith] the elders obtained a good testimony.” Those words are written personally to each of us: Faith is the substance—the essence, the basic meaning of what we seek in our own lives. The dictionary defines substance as “a touchable reality, a foundation, truth” with a small letter t. If you look up the origin of the word substance in the dictionary you find that the word is based upon the Latin words sub which means “under” and stare which means “to stand.” That’s where we are today on this Sunday before Christmas in the midst of “the substance of things hoped for”—standing under Christ, looking at the lives of people who lived on earth before Him and looking inward at ourselves, at our anticipation of the birth of Christ growing within each of us and within our families and our friends as we prepare to gather and to worship to celebrate Christmas.

How can each of us grow our very own faith in Christ? We can read the Bible; we can pray; we can help others with financial or emotional or spiritual needs (whether or not they are Christians); and we can come to the liturgical services, especially the Divine Liturgy. When we commit ourselves to those four activities—read the Bible, pray, help others in need, come to liturgical services—that commitment to the Lord gives us the freedom and the possibility of listening to what God is saying to each of us. We don’t have to hear a voice telling us precisely what we should do. That is seldom the Lord. However, when we are puzzling over how best to live our lives, how to make the best use of the time on earth that has been given to each of us, we can often experience a deep sense of calmness about a particular action; and that is often the Lord guiding us into His purposes for our lives.

In order to be able to grow in our very own faith in Christ, we need to know that we have each been forgiven by God for our sins. Some of us went two weeks ago to hear Handel’s Messiah. It was a magnificent performance that began with the words of the prophet Isaiah, chapter 40, verse 1: “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, says your God.” It is important that we understand that when the people of God are given this promise of being comforted and forgiven that promise belongs to each person who is a member of God’s people. Therefore, God is saying to each of us today, “Comfort ye, comfort ye my person, says your God.” In other words, God is with each of us helping us face whatever problems we experience in living our lives. Whatever our ages, we need to bring our problems in prayer to God to ask for his help, because none of us can solve our problems on our own.

However, the kind of comfort that God is offering us may not be exactly what we were expecting. There are two Hebrew words for comfort. One word is nāham which means to be comforted in the sense of being moved to pity and compassion, to be consoled in the midst of our problems. That sounds somewhat attractive, doesn’t it? To be consoled in the midst of our problems—“there, there, you’ll be OK; don’t worry.” That is not the Hebrew word that is used in this verse and ten times throughout the book of Isaiah. The Hebrew word to which Isaiah is remarkably attached is balag which means “brighten up, be encouraged, be invited” to come into the presence of God to experience His power. The Greek word that is used in the Septuagint translation for this verse is the verb parakaleō which also means comfort in the sense of “be invited, be called, be exhorted”—e-x-h-o-r-t-e-d—that is, “be advised strongly and sincerely.” The comfort that Isaiah offers us is the encouragement to listen to the Lord, to be part of His plan, not necessarily our plan. So as we are comforted by the Lord, we are also called by Him to His purposes.

This Thursday, children and adults, open your presents, enjoy them; but let me advise you strongly and sincerely—this Christmas open the gift of faith in Christ that is being offered especially to you. I can and do pray for you, as many of us pray for each other, but it is for each of us to read the Bible, to pray, to help those in need, to come to church, and to know that our past sins have been forgiven. This Christmas let us all strengthen our faith and be open to the power of Christ to forgive our past sins and to act now in all of our lives.

And so we ascribe as is justly due all might, majesty, dominion, power and praise to God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, always now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.                                                  Deacon Emmanuel Kahn