Reflecting Back on 2025

‘We will confess you, O God; we will confess and call upon your name!’ (Psalm 75:1).

Because confessing is twofold, it is mentioned twice. The first signifies the confession of sins, the second signifies thanksgiving for favors received. (Origen, SPIRIT AND FIRE, p 212)

While Origen was the first to mention the idea, several Church Fathers after him repeated the idea that there are two ways to do confession: 1] enumerate your sins and 2] list all the things for which you are grateful. Both cause you to humble yourself before God – one, seeking God’s mercy, and the other, giving thanks to God for all His blessings. Either way, you humble yourself and seek out God. [See my post Two Different Ways to Make a Sincere Confession.]

As we are at the last day of 2025, we might do both forms of confession today – 1] confess our sins from the past year and humbly seek God’s forgiveness and mercy while acknowledging our need to amend our lives, and 2] list all the things from the past year for which you are grateful. In doing so, we end the year humbling ourselves before God, recognizing the Lord as the Giver of every good and perfect gift (James 1:17), as well as seeking His forgiveness for our sins, so that we might begin the New Year in a new Spirit (or Spirit of renewal).

God’s New Covenant with Us

And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. (Hebrews 9:15)

In sending His Son into the world, God established a New Covenant with all of humanity, creating the means for every human being to be united to Him. Christmas is a Feast of the New Covenant as it celebrates the end to all that separated humans from their Creator. St Cyril of Alexandria comments:

Paul plainly says that the matters contained in the law were to be annulled, and pronouncing the ordinance that came first to be unable to make anything perfect, he writes to the Hebrews, ‘For if the first covenant had been without fault, no occasion would have been sought for a second one. For he finds fault with it, and says, ‘Behold the days are coming, says the Lord, and I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, for they did not keep to my covenant, so I rejected them, says the Lord. 

For this will be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws in their minds, and I will write them upon their hearts; I will be their God, and they will be my people. And each man will no more teach his fellow, and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, for I will be merciful towards their sins, and I will not remember their lawlessness any more’ (Hebrews 8:7-12; Jeremiah 31: 31-34). He then immediately adds, ‘When he says “new” covenant, he has made the first obsolete; and what is obsolete and growing old will soon disappear’ (Hebrews 8:13). (GLAPHYRA ON THE PENTEUCH Vol 1, p 106)

In the Vigil of Christmas, we sing this hymn which celebrates God’s restoring His relationship with humankind:

The wall which divided God from man has been destroyed. The flaming sword withdraws from Eden’s gate; the cherubim withdraw from the Tree of Life, and I, who have been cast out through my disobedience, now feast on the delights of paradise…  

The Slaughter of the Holy Innocents

Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, was in a furious rage, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time which he had ascertained from the wise men. (Matthew 2:16)

St Nikolai Velimirovic comments:

Herod, the slave of all the God-hating passions on earth, was wroth, and in his fury sent his executioners to slay all the children in Bethlehem and all the surroundings region, of two years old and under. This, that Pharaoh had done to the children in Egypt, Herod now did to the children in Bethlehem. It often happens with us that we commit the sin that we condemn in others. It is not said that the executioners slew the children but that Herod did. The evangelist means in this way to place the whole blame for the bloody act on him who ordered it – on Herod, not on those who carried it out. Herod was responsible before God for it, not the executioners. Such a satanic plan was not likely to have occurred to the executioners – to slaughter so many innocent children in order to kill the One who was in their way. Herod alone was guilty.

The Evangelist seeks by this to teach us to beware of doing evil through others. If we incite anyone to kill, we have killed, and not he; if we incite any one to lie, we have lied, and not he; if we incite any one to steal, we have stolen, and not he; if we incite anyone to commit adultery, we have done this, not he; if we incite anyone to commit any sort of sin, we are the sinners, not he. Were the Evangelist to record the sin of a man we had incited to sin, he would put our name, not his, as in this case he speaks of Herod alone as the murderer and not the executioners, not even naming them. Herod sent and killed. He does not say whom Herod sent, but only that he sent. It is immaterial whom he sent because, at God’s judgment, it will be Herod alone who is summoned to answer for this crime. (HOMILIES Vol 1, p 56)

Today we nostalgically like to think about the “magic” of Christmas, but we can only do that if we ignore the complete narrative of the Gospel.  Herod was not happy to hear about Christmas Day (Matthew 2: 3), nor, according to Matthew, was all of Jerusalem which too was troubled to learn of the birth of a new king (which for many was probably not good news but a harbinger of a civil war and power struggle). Herod’s unhappiness turns into rage leading him to try to kill the Christ child. The Nativity of Christ did not occur in some kind of magical bubble. Rather, it occurred in this sinful, fallen world. Christ is born, but the world went on its way seeing Christmas not as a magical season but a threatening one. The world was not ready to welcome the change the coming of Christ meant, for it preferred to hold to the status quo of its fallenness and distance from God the Savior.

Thinking Christ at Christmas

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. (Philippians 2:5-6)

The hymns for the Nativity of Christ note that in becoming incarnate in Christ, God made Himself a servant to His creatures and their needs. God became human to re-create humans so they could share in the divine life. One Nativity hymn from an ancient Byzantine text reads:

O Christ God, who were well pleased to take up our servile form, in order that you might refashion the beauty given in the beginning and glorify it together with your divine glory. O lover of humankind, glory to you! (Gregory Tucker, THE HYMNOGRAPHY OF THE MIDDLE BYZANTINE ECCESIASTIC RITE, p 172) 

Christmas is meant to be a feast in which we celebrate God’s eternal gift to us more than the many store-bought presents we give each other. Another ancient Byzantine hymn says that Christ came to recreate or refashion fallen humanity to make us divine. As God in the beginning used the virgin soil to make the original human (Genesis 2:7), so God uses virgin flesh to recreate His humans. Christmas is a feast of our salvation – God reuniting Himself to us to give us eternal life.

As water that burns up the coals of sins, as spirit that dries up the streams of transgressions, Christ Jesus, who is twofold in nature, both God and human, is given to those on earth. For having taken virgin flesh, like untrodden and untrampled earth, he has refashioned in it the whole Adam and made him divine. Having learned through this that Father and Spirit are in the same Son, and being in awe, we cry out: O most holy Trinity, through the Theotokos, have mercy on us. (THE HYMNOGRAPHY OF THE MIDDLE BYZANTINE ECCESIASTIC RITE, p 173)

Who is this Child?

He is our God, there is no other to compare with Him. (Baruch 3: 35)

The above words are one of the Old Testament prophecies read during the vigil on Christmas Eve. They are also found in one of the hymns sung during the vigil: “He is our God, there is no other to compare with Him. Born of a virgin, He comes to live with men. The only-begotten Son appears as a mortal man. He rests in a lowly Manger. The Lord of Glory is wrapped in swaddling clothes.”

Christ’s identity has been central to Christian thinking from the time Christ began His active ministry (see for example, Matthew 21:10; Luke 7:49 and 9:9; John 12:34; One can read Mark’s entire Gospel keeping in mind the question, “Who is Jesus?”, to best understand what Mark is trying to convey to us.). Christ claimed to be the truth (John 14:6), so His identity remains the essential theological question.

In 1865 William Chatterton Dix penned the Christmas Carol, “What Child Is This?” He is still asking that same question which the Gospel writers were attempting to answer for us.

What child is this, who, laid to rest, 
On Mary’s lap is sleeping, 
Whom angels greet with anthems sweet 
While shepherds watch are keeping? 
This, this is Christ the King, 
Whom shepherds guard and angels sing; 
Haste, haste to bring Him laud, 
The babe, the son of Mary! 

Below are listed some of the titles given to Jesus in the Scriptures and in the hymnology of the Church.

The Christ/Messiah

The Savior, saving us from sin

God with us, Immanuel

King of the Jews

Good Shepherd

Son of the Most High God

Eternal King

The Holy One of God

Lord

The Word of God

Creator

The lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world

The Radiance of God’s glory

Author of our salvation

The High Priest of the Living God

Head of the Church

Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, Prince of Peace

The Theotokos Reveals Christ our Savior to Us

Light dawns for the righteous, and joy for the upright in heart. (Psalm 97:11)

The light of the eyes rejoices the heart, and good news refreshes the bones. (Proverbs 15:30)

A luminous heart is thus the fertile soil upon which the seed of the Word must fall if it is to sprout up and bear fruit. As John the Elder said, ‘One thing really pleases God: that the heart should be utterly luminous’. A ‘luminous heart’ is also needed in order to be able to see things with a ‘luminous eye’. This is a term to be met with a number of times in Ephrem‘s writings; for example, he describes Eve and Mary as the two spiritual eyes of the world, and the second person of the Trinity as the light by which these eyes can function.

Eve’s eye has become darkened and no longer receives into itself the light, thus losing its power of vision; as a result, when the world relies on her eye, it gropes around after error. Mary’s eye, on the other hand, has been preserved luminous, and so ‘she is the land which receives the source of light: through her it has illumined the whole world with its inhabitants, which had grown dark through Eve. (Sebastian Brock, THE SYRIAC FATHERS ON PRAYER AND THE SPIRITUAL LIFE, p xxix)

In Patristic imagery, Christ dawns from the womb of the Theotokos, thus the Theotokos reveals Christ our Savior to us. She thus has a role in the salvation of each of us which is why she is honored on the day after the Nativity of Christ. A 6th Century Orthodox hymn says of Christ’s Mother, Mary:

You were revealed to all as the Mother of the Eternal Light, when the Sun of Righteousness (Malachi 4:2) shone forth from you; He illuminated us all and drove out the darkness by His incorruptibility, on account of which we all magnify you constantly.  (Stephen Shoemaker, THE FIRST CHRISTIAN HYMNAL, p 245)

Here are two other hymns of the Theotokos which we sing on her Feasts:

Your nativity O Virgin, has proclaimed joy to the whole universe. The Sun of Righteousness, Christ our God, has shone from you, O Theotokos. (Nativity of the Theotokos Troparion)

Rejoice, Virgin Theotokos, full of grace: From you shone the Sun of Righteousness, Christ our God, enlightening those who sat in darkness. (Meeting of the Lord Troparion)

The Best Christmas Gift Ever

Christ is born!

Glorify Him!

Adam, once imprisoned, is now deified and all the faithful redeemed, O our Savior who came wrapped in swaddling clothes, to dwell in a cave. [Christmas Vigil Matins]

Think back over all the Christmases you have celebrated in your lifetime. Do you remember any of the gifts you received? Is there one gift you received that still sticks out in your mind?

Many people when asked that question say they really don’t remember any one Christmas gift as the best present they ever received. We may have loved many of the presents at the time we received them, but most weren’t life changing. There is one Christmas gift which should stand out in the minds of every Christian. It was not boxed, wrapped and put under a tree but instead was “wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger” (Luke 2:12).

The greatest gift ever given at Christmas was Jesus Christ our Lord – God the Father’s gift to all of us. Christ comes not just into the world, but more specifically into each of our hearts. God’s gift is to and for the entire world but also personally given to each of us. The best Christmas gift ever wasn’t placed under a tree or into a stocking hung with care by the chimney but into a cave in Bethlehem. Today, God’s gift to the world is available to each of us in Holy Communion – which appropriately we call the Holy Gifts! And when we do any act of kindness, charity or love to others, we are offering our gifts to God. When we come to the Liturgy, we offer ourselves as gifts to God. May all of us always remember the best Christmas gift of all time.

God puts on our humanity in order to introduce us to the mystery of man, the deified man that we are now intended to become. In other words, the God-man reveals our first and final destiny of becoming man-God. ‘Heaven and earth are united today, for Christ is born. Today has God come upon earth and man gone up to heaven’ [Vespers]. Christ’s entrance into the world allows for our birth in Him. Far from being born in any palace, He chooses a cave that served as a stable for animals, and in whose trough He is humbly laid. Because the Creator of all things became man, it is man himself who brings fallen creation back to the Creator. . . .

Unlike the first Adam who was created from the earth and not from a mother, the new Adam comes from the ‘All Pure’ Virgin Mary who is elevated to the honor of first creature. Born from the earth, Adam lost his integrity; born from heaven and a sanctified earth, that is from the Father and the purest woman of the human race, Christ is the incarnation of humanity in its most perfect expression. (Michael Quenot, THE RESURRECTION AND THE ICON, pp 131-132)

Christmas Eve: Glad Tidings of Great Joy

All the angels in heaven make merry and dance today. All creation leaps for joy. (Hymn from the Nativity Vigil)

And there were shepherds in the countryside there, dwelling out in the fields and keeping guard in the night over their flock. And an angel of the Lord stood before them and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were afraid, greatly afraid. And the angel said to them, “Do not fear; for see: I bring to you good tidings of a great joy, which will be for all the people, because today, in David’s city, a savior was born to you who is Christ the Lord. (Luke 2:8-11)

The Christmas annunciation by the angelic heralds proclaims a joy for ALL people. Christ’s nativity is a blessing and gift from God for everyone in the world – for Jews as well as for Christians, Muslims, agnostics and atheists, pagans, Buddhists and non-believers. Christ’s coming brings joy rather than fear or judgment to the people of the world. As the Prophet Isaiah proclaims the benefits God the Father is bestowing on humanity through His Christ:

In that day, the deaf shall hear the words of the book, and the eyes of those in darkness and in a fog shall see. The poor also shall rejoice exceedingly in gladness because of the Lord, and the hopeless among men shall be filled with gladness. (Isaiah 29:18-19)

So, we sing at the Christmas vigil about an event, the incarnation, which has changed everything in this world, ending all that separated God and humanity, and uniting humans to divinity for all eternity.

Today heaven and earth are united, for Christ is born. Today God has come to earth, and man ascends to heaven. Today God, who by nature cannot be seen, is seen in the flesh for our sake. Let us glorify Him, crying glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace! Your coming has brought peace to us: Glory to you, our Savior. (Nativity Hymn from Compline)

A Prophecy of the Good News that is Christmas

… they [Israel] refused to obey, and were not mindful of the wonders that you performed among them; but they stiffened their necks and determined to return to their slavery in Egypt. But you are a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and you did not forsake them. Even when they had cast an image of a calf for themselves and said, ‘This is your God who brought you up out of Egypt,’ and had committed great blasphemies, you in your great mercies did not forsake them in the wilderness; the pillar of cloud that led them in the way did not leave them by day, nor the pillar of fire by night that gave them light on the way by which they should go. You gave your good spirit to instruct them, and did not withhold your manna from their mouths, and gave them water for their thirst. (Nehemiah 9:17-20) 

Nehemiah contrasts the steadfast love of the Lord with the unfaithful people of God. Despite Israel’s spiritual failings, God continued to love them and act on their behalf. God’s behavior gives hope to all the people of the world because God’s love is not contingent on our behavior or goodness but is God’s nature and default activity toward humanity. It gives us the context in which the Christmas story occurs – despite God’s own people being unfaithful and sinners, God continues to work for our salvation through the incarnation and the deification of humanity. We have opportunity to behave in a godlike way:

But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the selfish. (Luke 6:35)

St Mark the Ascetic comments to the effect that Israel’s spiritual sojourn is really an example of the spiritual life of each of us. We read about it in the Jewish scriptures not to learn history but to understand our own personal spiritual sojourn:

Thus the soul recalls the blessings of God’s love which it has received from the moment it came into existence: how it has often been delivered from dangers; how in spite of having often fallen by its own free choice into great evils and sins, it was not justly given up to destruction and death at the hands of the spirits of deception; and how God with long-suffering overlooked its offences and protected it, awaiting its return. It also recalls that although through the passions it has become the willing servant of hostile and malicious spirits, He sustained it, guarding it and in all ways providing for it; and finally that He guided it with a clear sign to the path of salvation, and inspired it with the love of the ascetic life. So he gave it the strength gladly to abandon the world and all the deceitfulness of worldly pleasure …  (THE PHILOKALIA Volume 1, Page 148)

Nehemiah’s words are thus a Nativity message and a New Year’s message as well – reason for us to hope in this world despite the daily news. We might think of Nehemiah’s book as being a bit obscure or just about ancient Israeli history. We read it though to see Christ and in doing so realize it has a Christmas message in it. [If you want to gain an insight into the significance of the Genealogy of Matthew 1:1-17 (or Luke 3:21-38), read Nehemiah 9 and then read the genealogy of Christ again. All of the people listed in the genealogy are part of the people of God who continually failed to be faithful to God, even when individual members at times made godly choices. No matter how the people behaved throughout history God remained faithful to His goal of saving humanity. The Gospel genealogies are Good News – God steadfastly loves humanity, even when humans (and specifically His chosen people) were not faithful to Him. God’s love is steadfast enduring throughout time into eternity.]

God’s Love and Mercy Never End

But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness. “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul that seeks him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD. It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth. Let him sit alone in silence when he has laid it on him; let him put his mouth in the dust—there may yet be hope; let him give his cheek to the smiter, and be filled with insults. For the Lord will not cast off forever, but, though he cause grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love; for he does not willingly afflict or grieve the sons of men.  (Lamentations 3:21-34) 

The words above are words of hope for the world and a good prophetic reminder in this Christmas Advent season to wait patiently for the Lord to come.  God’s steadfast love and His mercies never end. They are worth waiting for, especially through difficult times. The Coptic Orthodox monk Matthew the Poor says: 

“When the love of God warms the heart, it holds sway not merely over the mind or senses, but the whole person. We are ushered into a repose and quietude, which are nothing other than paradise. This is due to the degree of security and infinite tranquility that a person feels when living in the presence of the almighty, omnipotent God. Neither the past, with its tragedies and depressing images, nor the present, with its demands, will any longer be seen on the horizons of the prayerful mind. Neither will there be anxiety over what surprises the future may hold, for the soul of man will be lying in the bosom of God. In him it confides without limits, like a child lying on the breast of his mother.” (ORTHODOX PRAYER LIFE, p 191) 

God’s love and mercy never end, but according to the Scripture, God’s anger is not eternal. At Christmas, God’s love becomes incarnate in our world and we can invite this love to abide in our hearts. 

The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor requite us according to our iniquities. For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. (Psalm 103:8-12)