Sermon Central
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He Is Not A Puppy Series
Contributed by Fr Mund Cargill Thompson on Dec 28, 2025 (message contributor)
Summary: A sermon portraying the controversial Christmas Christ. The God who acts (do we want him to act?). The God who instructs (how uncomfortable are his instructions). The God who rescues (Because, yes, we need the weight of our messes to be lifted from us).
This sermon was first preached (with slightly less visuals in 2007 at Holy Trinity Barkingside, then again in 2025 at St Christopher's Hanwell.
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[holding a cardboard box]
– So I’ve got here a controversial statement. Now what I am going to do is I am going to wrap it up in nice wrapping paper. {do} and then maybe I will wrap some Christmas lights around it {do so} – that should make it better…
So would someone like to unwrap this for me?
{they tear the wrapping paper off – and then inside there are a set of sheets – each sheet will also be projected up on the screen{
God is a baby {picture of a baby crying its eyes out}
Not a puppy. GOD was born in a stable
God came out of a womb – a tiny crying baby desperate for milk – wrapped in cloths and sheltering amid the smell of dung and manure. Now you can try wrapping that fact up in tinsell and fancy paper – but [pull a piece out] holly would be a more appropriate decoration – but the facts I have just told you – they prickle! It is as uncomfortable as the hard floor that Mary slept on that night, It is as disconcerting as the steaming pile [hold nose] that comes just behind where the donkey was standing….
God with a dirty nappy.
God hungry and crying for milk.
God a human baby in our world making demands on our time.
Any of you had children – and you remember before the first baby was born and like you were waiting for the pregnancy to end and that was going to be the grand climax - only to discover (as all first time parents do) that that is just the beginning. We have been opening our advent calendars, waiting for the baby Jesus. He is born. And we don’t get to put our feet up.
Don’t think Mary got to put her sleep that night or any night for many months afterwards. Babies are demanding. Babies impact your life.
This idea that the baby Jesus might have cried – of that the stable he was born in might have been so poor that there might have been actual real animals in it and their manure – was controversial -that both Chat GPT and CoPilot refused to create me a picture of it – because it might offend people.
More than half of people in this country believe in God. But most of them I guess believe in a comfortable CahtGPT God with a fluffy white beard sitting on a white cloud - who leaves us alone to enjoy Christmas and probably won’t make a difference in our lives until we die and he’s unable to resist letting us into heaven.
Christians however don’t believe in that fluffy myth. We believe something actually happened 2000 years ago. And because we are dealing with something that’s actually true we don’t get to pick and choose “I want God to be like this…..” – Truth is the way things actually are, so we don’t get to pick and choose – instead we have to go back to an event that actually – God born in a stable.
“and they shall name him Emmanu- El” – El – like the All in Allah. Hebrew and Arabic are very similar languages – El – Eloh Elohim – All – Allah – just means God.
Immanu-El – God with us.
Which brings me back to this [pick up a piece of holly]
The God of Holly – the uncomfortable deity who doesn’t stay up there on a cloud leaving us alone but who meddles in our lives – meddles enough to be born as a baby.
So three things about Emmanu-El – God with us
1) He is a God who acts
2) He is a God who instructs
3) He is a God who rescues
HE IS THE GOD WHO ACTS
Joseph discovers that Mary is up the duff. How would you feel if your fiancé had got pregnant and you were not the dad? Women here you can imagine how you would feel if your partner was having a child and you were not the mum – Though the circumstances are a little bit different in Joseph’s case.
A God who performs miracles sounds very exciting. Perhaps he can make me win the lottery – without even buying a ticket?
Perhaps he can heal my autoimmune condition and make me have a comfy normal life? God can heal that or any other ailment.
But be careful before you ask him to heal you. Look what happens at the first Christmas when God performs miracles.
Mary – miraclulously pregnant – WHOOPEE! Her relationship with Joseph – on the line. Her reputation in the community - dashed. This girl’s future …. Quite possibly ruined?
