"The Manner of Jesus’ Birth" - 12.21.25

Описание: Scripture: Matthew 1:18-25
Sermon: "The Manner of Jesus’ Birth" (Rev. Dr. Chris Ganski)
Worship Folder: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KzN5...

Reflections:
No priest, no theologian stood at the cradle in Bethlehem. And yet all Christian theology has its origin in the wonders, that God became man. Alongside the brilliance of the holy night there burns the fire of the unfathomable mystery of theology. The ancient church meditated on the question of Christ for several centuries. It imprisoned reason in obedience to Jesus Christ, and in harsh, conflicting sentences gave living witness to the mystery of the person of Jesus Christ. The Christology of the ancient church really arose at the cradle of Bethlehem, and the brightness of Christmas lies on its weather-beaten face. Even today it wins the hearts of all who come to know it. So at Christmas time we should again go to school with the ancient church and seek to understand in worship what it thought and taught, to glorify and to defend belief in Christ. The hard concepts of that time are like stones from which one strikes fire.
~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letter to Finkenwalde Brethren, Christmas 1939

Official Christianity, of late years, has been having what is known as “a bad press.” We are constantly assured that the churches are empty because preachers insist too much upon doctrine—“dull dogma,” as people call it. The fact is the precise opposite. It is the neglect of dogma that makes for dullness. The Christian faith is the most exciting drama that ever staggered the imagination of man—and the dogma is the drama.
~ Dorothy Sayers, The Greatest Drama Ever Staged