First Sunday of Christmas 

28th December 2025

Reflection with readings below

Isaiah begins with what, I think, is a prophetic description of God’s Messiah. It is the continuation of the passage that Jesus will declaim in the synagogue in Nazareth – “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me;“ (Isaiah 61:1 and Luke 4:18). This part of the prophecy speaks of the wonder and glory that comes when good news has been brought to the oppressed, when the broken hearted have been healed, the prisoner releases and liberty proclaimed! It will be like a garden flourishing with new and abundant growth! How can we fail to understand the joy and abundance we would all enjoy of we whole heartedly welcomed in the kingdom of heaven!

The passage goes on to tell us that the Messiah will not keep silent but will shout aloud the message of this salvation – this message of vindication. 

According to Etymology online, the word vindication comes from Latin, from the past-participle stem of vindicare “lay claim to, assert; claim for freedom, set free; protect, or defend.” This is the sort of word that asserts that God’s kingdom has come here on Earth as in Heaven. It claims humanity as God’s people. And this is why the final part of this passage praise the second person plural. The establishment of God’s kingdom, of God’s rule, enriches and blesses the lives of all. This is salvation!

Salvation – the restoration and vindication of God’s reign – has been present on creation from the beginning. It has been like a light, always burning, never extinguished. But unless you look for the light, it can be hard to see it. If you close your eyes to it, you won’t see it. If you look in the opposite direction, you won’t see it. In the world there are people who do not look for the light, who close their eyes, who look the other way. Not just individuals, but communities and systems too. And such communities and systems may prevent those within from seeing the light. Seeking salvation and healing is not something we do just for ourselves – just for our own wellbeing. We need to do it together and do it together for everyone’s wellbeing. 

Peace will only prevail in Gaza, in Palestine, in Ukraine when all sides come together, work together, and create a future that is for the wellbeing of everyone. Everyone needs to be brought into process – and that is something we can advocate for whether through writing to our MPs, signing petitions, or by boycotting products and services that destabilise the balance needed to ensure everyone’s voice is heard. And justice can and does grow from the ground up. So we can certainly begin by challenging our government’s oppression of the Palestine Action remand prisoners (ie people who are innocent until proven other wise!)

The climate crisis will only be resolved when we all come together, work together, and create a future that is for the wellbeing of everyone. Everyone needs to be part of the solution which means that we all need to be doing all that we can now in changing our lifestyles, and that we all need to be talking about and advocating for the change that is needed, so that like the proverbial yeast in the dough, change happens.

Tomorrow we mark the Feast of the Holy Innocents – innocent victims of the distortion of power. It is a reminder of what happens when those who should not, close their eyes to the light, and turn away from the light. It is a reminder of the way in which systems of power can become corrupt and self reverential. Lord have mercy.

Isaiah 61:10-62:3

I will greatly rejoice in the Lord,
my whole being shall exult in my God; 

for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation,
he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, 

as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland,
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

For as the earth brings forth its shoots,
and as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring up,

so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise
to spring up before all the nations. 

For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent,
and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, 

until her vindication shines out like the dawn,
and her salvation like a burning torch. 

The nations shall see your vindication,
and all the kings your glory; 

and you shall be called by a new name
that the mouth of the Lord will give. 

You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord,
and a royal diadem in the hand of your God. 

Psalm 147:13-21

13 Worship the Lord, O Jerusalem; *
praise your God, O Zion;

14 For he has strengthened the bars of your gates; *
he has blessed your children within you.

15 He has established peace on your borders; *
he satisfies you with the finest wheat.

16 He sends out his command to the earth, *
and his word runs very swiftly.

17 He gives snow like wool; *
he scatters hoarfrost like ashes.

18 He scatters his hail like bread crumbs; *
who can stand against his cold?

19 He sends forth his word and melts them; *
he blows with his wind, and the waters flow.

20 He declares his word to Jacob, *
his statutes and his judgments to Israel.

21 He has not done so to any other nation; *
to them he has not revealed his judgments.
Hallelujah!

Galatians 3:23-25; 4:4-7

Now before faith came, we were imprisoned and guarded under the law until faith would be revealed. Therefore the law was our disciplinarian until Christ came, so that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian.

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children. And because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God.

John 1:1-18

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.

He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.

And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. (John testified to him and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.'”) From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.