Epistle: Titus 3:4-7
Gospel: Luke 2:15-20.
Hymn of the Day: All Praise to Thee, Eternal God
Hymn before the sermon: From Heaven Above to Earth I Come
Hymn after the sermon: Lo How A Rose E’er Blooming

Dear Members of the Congregation!
Today for once my sermon is supposed to be short. We all know what Christmas is: God became incarnate in the person of Jesus Christ. We sang about that in the Hymn of the Day. In the hymn before the sermon we sang: From heaven above to earth I come, to bear good news to every home. And what is this good news? God has made us his children again. Of course, we are his creatures and his children since the beginning of creation. But we have gone astray from him and now God comes to us in the person of Jesus Christ, who became our brother and through this has made us his children again. Today we hear about this in the sermon text. (Read 1 John 3:1-6) The most important verse is this one: Beloved, we are God’s children now: what we will be has not been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will be like him, for we will see him as he is.

Yes, and what are? What will we be? We are a small church in a huge country. We are a church with many problems. We all have a difficult life. Our courage often deserts us and we get tired. But as a church we have no reason to lose our courage and hang our heads. We saw and see and see his majesty among us as those who have among us the one, a brother, who sympathizes with us but is still the veiled Lord. I wrote to you about his in our Christmas Newsletter. And here is still another clearly stated reason to not lose courage: We are the children of God. But…it is still not observable who we will be.

But there is something observable among us. What? We are church. We gather together for worship. We have a special outlook on the world. We have a peculiar lifestyle. We have our faith now and one can see that. Where? Well, of course in the life of a person. And also in the life of each congregation. Every congregation has something so special, that is noticeable, and that is so noticeable that they make it known to the world, simply because it is different from the world.

Here is the example of that for us here in Vladivostok: we have celebrated the Divine Liturgy for 19 years and conduct our entire church life in a church that was formerly a construction site. This shows the world that the church never has a completed building. It is always a work in progress. The congregation of St. John’s located in Chabarowsk has, for example, a bright, benevolent parsonage. This shows the world that here is an island of humaneness in the middle of a lake of unfriendliness, harness and coldness of our society. And it sends out rays throughout the city through their yearly cultural days. The congregation of St. Mary’s in Ussurijsk also an example that shows a similar climate of warmness and homelike atmosphere. This shows the world that in the church one can feel secure and at home. The congregation of St. Luke’s in Arsenjeff has its own fellowship house. They work on it together. They meet there and this building is decorated and adorned with care. This shows the world that this is a community that has a joint task which they work on with love. And this congregation now has a rightful Pastor. In the congregation of St. Catherine’s in Komsomolsk people gather together, who like us, have a very difficult daily life. But when they meet, there is something going on, and not simple, superficial, loud cheerfulness, but on the contrary, they are asking questions about the meaning of life, what one can know for certain, about the bible and about their restless hearts and about their feelings that the answers the world and its companions give about these things just aren’t enough. Or there is the small congregation in Blagoweschtschensk. . There are very few people there, but what a devotion to the church in this remote place. And there is the congregation of St. Matthew in Tschita. Things have been especially difficult, because since their founding in the year 2000 they have not had pastor and not even someone to preach for them. What difficulties they have experienced with the people who want to work there. But this congregation is alive, has not given up and is a model for its faithfulness. And finally, the congregation of St. Mark’s in Magadan. It is so far away. The winter there is always so cold and dark for so long. The people there are especially susceptible to resignation and fatigue, because life there is so difficult. Many times people were about ready to say: We give up and we are going to let everything go. Oh but what a breakthrough recently. People have regained courage again, making plans and promising to carry them out. And they will probably get a permanent Pastor soon. Then there is the small house church in Sokol near to Magadan, faithful and known in that small place. Yes, when a congregation is seized by the Spirit of Jesus Christ, they simply can not give up. And this is what they are showing the world.

Behold, dear congregation, this all show us who we are: We saw and see his majesty among us as those who have among us the one, a brother, who sympathizes with us but is still the veiled Lord. We are the children of God and the world can see this. But we also know something else: There is a lot more to come. We will see him as He is. That is our outlook and our hope. This is what makes us so special in this world. When this world want to take away our courage, and when this world loses its courage, we don’t. We don’t give up, because we always have a future. It is always becoming clearer in our story and our story will consummate in glory. “Beloved, we are God’s children now: what we will be has not been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will be like him, for we will see him as he is. “ And my sermon turned out long after all. Amen.