Christmas Day Sermon from Llandaff Cathedral

By Father Richard Peers, Dean of Llandaff

One of the great things about moving to a new place, meeting new people, is to be able to listen to the stories.

I have loved the stories of this building for as long as I have known it; the stories of David, Samson, Teilo, Dyfrig, Euddogwy. I have loved the stories of the faithful priests I have known and know in this diocese. I am loving getting to know the stories of the people who worship here day by day, week by week, who live on the green, the stories of this city, this nation.

I have a book of stories in my hand. A bible. I’ve been reading the Bible all my life. It is a collection of the most powerful, disturbing, amazing stories I know. It contains, war and bloody battles, sex and romance, friendship and enemies. It is a book of the best and worst of what it is to be human.

I love Lord of the Rings and its fabulous account of the battle of good against evil, of the mysterious complexity of tragedy and triumph. But its not a patch on the bible.

I pray the psalms every day of my life and have done since I was fourteen. There are subtle, gentle, nuanced psalms, and there are bloody, violent, angry psalms. They contain all that it is to be human. As Whitman put it “I contain multitudes” and they are all found in the psalms.

It is easy to think of the Bible as a collection of stories, that’s how we learn it in Sunday School and at school. And it is a collection of books written over very many centuries.

But it’s good to remind ourselves that the Bible is also a single story. The story of God and his relationship with humanity.

As it’s Christmas Day I thought it would be good to have a picture and two of the choristers have agreed to unroll a picture for us.

The picture is by artist Emma Yarlett and it is designed to accompany a brilliant RE course, Understanding Christianity designed a few years ago for schools.

It’s a wonderful picture I think, not necessarily for its quality as a painting but for reminding us that the Bible is a single story. It shows us the great sweep from the creation of the world to the final book of the bible, the book of Revelation. It reminds us that humanity starts in a garden and ends in a garden city.

And right at the centre is the crucial moment of history, the death and resurrection of Jesus.

Whether you are Christian or not, whether you come to church regularly or not it is good to be together today.

Whether you are Christian or not, whether you come to church regularly or not it is good to be together today.

As you tell the stories of your families, the jokes about each other, as you introduce new partners and new children into your families. Remember that your story, the story of your life, of your family is part of a bigger story. The story that God loves you, that God loves each one of us.

The story that life is full of wonder, of awe of delight, the story that God wants us to enjoy this life he has given.

Isaiah spoke of the zeal of God; our God is zealous, full of enjoyment, full of determination that we enjoy him and enjoy life.

And in the second reading we are called to be full of zeal ourselves, zealous for good deeds.

In that zeal we will find peace.

Glory to God in the highest,

the angels sang,

and peace to those he favours.

This Christmas may you know God’s peace in your homes and in your hearts.