Press Releases25 Dec 05

Extracts from Archbishop Robin Eames' Christmas Sermon

St Patrick's Cathedral, Armagh
Christmas Day 2005

"The real significance of the Christian Christmas lies behind the scene at Bethlehem. Though we are familiar with the scene in the Stable we have to go behind it to fully understand what had happened. God had intervened in this world. The simplicity of the Stable provokes, questions and challenges us. It points us to the real meaning of life and experience - and it compels us all to see the dilemmas of life in a new light.

"The answers to the big questions of life are just as hard to take at times as the questions themselves. Questions about justice, love, sin and the meaning of life itself provide us with no easy answers. Those questions are just as difficult for Christians as for anyone. But the difference lies in the fact that the Birth of Christ gives us a sense of real purpose as we confront life's dilemmas. The real meaning of Christmas lies in the interpretation of 'Immanuel - God with us.'

"God with us in personal experience. God with us in personal relationships. God with us in joy as well as sorrow, in pain as well as happiness. God in the search for a purpose to it all. God in the turmoil of community life.

“The Christian is faced today with the secularism of Christmas. The headlong rush to find self-centred enjoyment, to spend and spend for our own benefit and to find happiness in the passing moment or at someone else's expense - all challenge the simplicity of the scene at the Stable.

"Northern Ireland faces immense questions about what sort of society it wants to be. Is there a pattern to what we really want this society to be? How much do we honestly want to put the darkness of the past behind us? Are we content to lurch from one crises or revelation of past events to another? Where is the real sense of purpose to build a decent and equal society?

"Where is the vision that will make sense of our future?

"Northern Ireland needs a new vision of what is possible. The real meaning of this Christmas Day holds the key - and can provide the vision we desperately need."