The Great Exchange: Life for Death (Christmas Eve)

The Great Exchange (Part 3)

Philippians 2:5-11

Christmas Eve, December 24, 2025

We have turned our lives into carefully structured and controlled environments with little room for surprise and wonder. The coming of God in the flesh in Jesus Christ is, at its simplest, a profound interruption—but we have inoculated our lives against being interrupted, and made it harder than ever to experience real, meaningful, abundant life.

Bryant Anderson preaching.

Referenced in this sermon:

• "Advent Calendars Are Totally Out of Control" (Ellen Cushing, The Atlantic)
• "Why adults are scrambling for food-focused advent calendars — and paying $945" (Stephanie Breijo, The Los Angeles Times)
• "Christmas on the Border, 1929" by Alberto Ríos

Current Series: The Great Exchange

The theologian Laurence Hull Stookey once referred to Christmas as "the Great Exchange": the moment when God exchanges divinity, power, and life for humanness, weakness, and death—all for our benefit. In the words of C.S. Lewis, "The Son of God became a man to enable men to become sons of God.” We call this the Incarnation: God taking on flesh in Christ. Christmas is more than a birthday celebration for Jesus; it is a moment to remember what God has done, to recall the power of the incarnation, and to rediscover the great exchange that has taken place for us.

Palms Presbyterian Church is a church of the Presbyterian Church (USA) located in Jacksonville Beach, Florida. To learn more about us, visit us at palmschurch.org.