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St. Stephen's Episcopal Church

215 N. 7th, Terre Haute, Indiana

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A Word: Christmas Stories

Sermons · January 3, 2021

We expect our Christmas stories to be full of joy. But they often only end that way. How we get there is how we find grace.


Grace, change, and the escape to Egypt
Christmas 2B | Matthew 2:13-15,19-23

Photo by Thais Cordeiro from Pexels

Every Friday night my family gets pizza, some treats, and we do Movie Night. And this time of year, Movie Night is for Christmas movies. New ones and old ones. We like Noelle and the new Grinch alongside Charlie Brown, Elf, and of course, A Christmas Story.

And like many others, we debate about what counts as a Christmas movie. Our kids aren’t old enough to see let alone judge whether or not Die Hard counts as a Christmas movie, but they’ve decided Shazam and Rise of the Guardians both count.

And when we watch these Christmas movies, both the true ones and the borderline ones, we can see how much the Christmas story that we tell each other every year really is about a light shining in the darkness; about the need to change and be good to one another, and how the spirit of generosity is central to making this a season of magic and grace.

So much of what we know about Christmas comes from these movies.

But the thing about all these stories is that they all turn out all right in the end. That’s the payoff. But before that ending, when everything is up in the air, what do we have?

The full text may be found here.

For a limited time, you may find the audio here.

Filed Under: Sermons Tagged With: Christmas 2B, flight into Egypt, grace, Matthew 2:13-23, storytelling

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CONTACT

St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church
215 N. 7th St
Terre Haute, IN 47807

812-232-5165

officeadmin@ststephensth.org

ABOUT

St. Stephen’s is a sacramental community following Jesus’s Way of Love.

We worship on Sundays at 8 & 10.

AFFILIATIONS

St. Stephen’s is a member of The Episcopal Church and congregation of the Episcopal Diocese of Indianapolis.

St. Stephen’s is a member of the Homeless Council of the Wabash Valley

PARKING

St. Stephen’s is across from Indiana State University. Nearby parking lots are run by ISU and are free after 5pm weekdays and are free all weekend long. 

Five marked spots in the lot directly behind the church are available during the week.

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