Christmas Eve carol service sermon by Rev Harry Newton on the meaning of peace
Rev Harry Newton delivers a Christmas Eve sermon at Sumner Redcliffs Anglican Church, arguing that the peace announced at Christ's birth is fundamentally different from any peace that political or military power can provide.
Summary
Rev Harry Newton preaches at the Christmas Eve carol service at Sumner Redcliffs Anglican Church on 24th December 2025, following readings from Isaiah and Luke's Gospel. His central argument is that the peace proclaimed by the angels at Jesus' birth — "peace on earth" — is categorically different from the peace offered by empires and political systems, ancient or modern. He traces the historical context of Isaiah's prophecy through 700 years of successive occupations of Israel, uses the Roman concept of Pax Romana as a foil, and draws a direct parallel to contemporary geopolitics. He concludes that true peace is not a concept or a political project but a person — Jesus Christ — and that the invitation extended to the shepherds that first Christmas night remains open today.
Key Takeaways
FULL TRANSCRIPT
Scripture Readings: Isaiah and Luke Chapter 2
"The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. Those who lived in a land of deep darkness, on them light has shined. You have multiplied the nation, you have increased its joy. They rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as people exult when dividing plunder. For the yoke of their burden and the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian. For all the boots of the tramping warriors and all the garments rolled in blood shall be burned as fuel for the fire. For a child has been born for us, a son given to us. Authority rests upon his shoulders, and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. His authority shall grow continually, and there shall be endless peace for the throne of David and his kingdom. He will establish and uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time onward and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this."
Hear what the Spirit is saying to the church. Thanks be to God.
Please stand. I'd like to invite Bailey forward for our Gospel reading.
Bailey: The Holy Gospel according to Luke, Chapter 2, beginning at verse 1.
"In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. All went to their own towns to be registered. Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child, and she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid, for see, I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people. To you is born this day in the city of David the Saviour, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.' And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, 'Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favours.'"
This is the gospel of Christ. Praise to Christ the Word.
Please sit. Thank you, Bailey.
Sermon: The Peace That Empires Cannot Give
Rev Harry Newton: I did have bean bags for the kids, but they got nicked. So you'll be right. Hey, whether you've never heard the Christmas story or whether you've heard it a thousand times, it's a pretty good story, isn't it? It's pretty cool. It's got all the elements in there you'd ever want.
What a lot of people don't realise is that the Christmas story actually started 740 years before the birth of Jesus. At the time, Israel — the people — were in complete turmoil. What had happened was the people had essentially been split into two. They had the northern kingdom of Israel, and then the other kingdom of Judah. Both kingdoms were wracked with instability and corruption and all these issues, and they were also under threat from outside, from a whole bunch of neighbouring kingdoms and empires. Things were looking pretty hairy.
Eventually, around the year 722 BC, they were conquered by Assyria. As the Assyrians marched and took over, what began then went on for generations. Apart from one small blip in the scheme of things where the Israelites managed to gain back their independence more or less, for the next 792 years they lived under the thumb of successive empires — first the Assyrians, then the Babylonians, then the Persians, then the Greeks, and then finally the Romans.
Isaiah's Prophecy and the Promise of a Saviour
Right back when the Assyrians first conquered them and began their siege, and each of the tribal groups started to fall to their military might, a man called Isaiah appeared on the scene. Isaiah was an ancient prophet, and he turned up and started to give a series of prophecies looking towards the future about a saviour who was going to come and bring freedom and bring peace and all this good stuff. In fact, we just heard Leah read to us one of his prophecies, where he speaks about a child who is going to come, and that child will have authority upon his shoulders, and he'll be named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace — which sounds wonderful. But imagine you are at war, and someone comes saying there is a Saviour coming, and he is going to be the Prince of Peace. That would sound pretty good.
The problem is that the next 700-plus years brought no freedom, no peace, and no baby boy.
The Pax Romana and Its Limits
Now, some of you have heard of something called the Pax Romana. If you haven't, it was a period of extended peace and stability across the Roman Empire, unlike anything that part of the world had ever known previously. The man who established it was Caesar Augustus — Emperor Augustus — whom we just heard about in the reading Bailey read for us. He essentially brought in this period of peace, and he was so proud of himself that he had coins minted with the words Pax Augustus on them, meaning "the peace of Augustus." He even had an image put on the coin of the Roman goddess of peace holding an olive leaf above his name. He was just so pleased with himself. And as a result of what he managed to achieve, his fame spread. Throughout the Roman Empire, people believed that this time of Pax Romana — this peace and prosperity — had been ordained by the gods and brought about by him, and he was revered in almost godlike terms.
The problem is that it wasn't really proper peace. It was simply the rule of law enforced and maintained by military might. Because the peace of Rome was simply the absence of rebellion, secured by military conquest, colonial occupation, heavy taxation, and cultural suppression. And even those who benefited directly from it, those who saw all the positives of the Pax Romana, even they could see that it had issues, that it had flaws.
Has anyone heard of a man called Epictetus? What a great name. My parents chose badly — sorry, Mum. I should have been called Epictetus. That would be amazing. He was a Greek philosopher from around that same time, living around the time of Augustus, and he said this about Augustus:
Epictetus: "While the emperor may give peace from war on land and sea, he is unable to give peace from passion, grief, and envy. He cannot give peace of heart, for which man yearns."
Rev Harry Newton: His point was that while the Pax Romana was a relatively good thing — and he personally was benefiting from it in a myriad of ways — even so, he could see that the Pax Romana was flawed and limited, because it didn't speak to the fears and the anxieties of the heart.
And that is an issue. Because without true peace in the world — and by that I mean a peace that goes beyond simply the rule of law — without true peace in the world, fear comes to govern everything: politics, our identity, even our belief structures. And that is as true today as it was back then.
Peace in the Modern World
Because we live in a form of Pax Romana today, don't we? We live in an awesome country. You hear all this news about people wanting to leave — why would you want to leave? It's amazing. You can go fishing off here and catch a whole bunch of kāwhai like Johnny. It's awesome. What a great, peaceful, stable, wonderful place we live in. We're so lucky. And yet our politics, our civil discourse, and our online interactions are full of strife and anger, fear and suspicion.
And we globally live in a form of Pax Americana, because love them or hate them, the Americans are in charge to a large degree still — even as they wane in might and things are a little bit rocky for them at the moment. They make sure that a certain world order is maintained. Sure, they benefit fully from it, but so do we — let's be honest. It's pretty good living in Pax Americana. The problem is that, just like Augustus's peace, the peace of America is predicated upon military dominance. It's based on fear, which works only to a point. And we wonder why the peace we seem to crave at an international level always seems so elusive.
The world continuously promises us peace through strength, money, nationalism, technology — you name it — but none of it lasts. Because all those things can ever do is enforce a status quo. They can't create true, lasting peace. Because like Caesar Augustus, they might give us peace from war on land and sea for a season, but they're unable to give us peace from passion, envy, and grief. In other words, they can't give us true inner peace.
The Child Born Into Poverty and Occupation
And that's where the Christmas story comes in. Because in the midst of this world — characterised by fear and conflict and broken promises of peace — it's into this world that a child was born. Not into a palace. Not into strength or power or wealth, but in a stable, to a young unwed teenage girl, surviving in an occupied land of no wealth, no education, and no prestige. And it was into this humble, fragile, poverty-stricken environment — where they lived in constant fear of suppression from the Roman authorities, where the religious structures that were set up to help care for and support the poor were actually used to suppress and exploit and abuse them, where the promises of the Pax Romana felt tenuous at best — it was into this space that the child the prophet Isaiah spoke about 700 years before was born.
And we heard tonight how when this long-awaited child was born, his mother wrapped him in bands of cloth and laid him in a manger. And as he lay there, suddenly there was this multitude of angels praising God and saying, "Glory to God in highest heaven, and on earth, peace."
Peace. Not Pax Romana, not Pax Americana, not Pax Kiwiana — as good as that might be — but true, lasting peace on earth. A different kind of peace to what we usually settle for. We're not talking about a ceasefire, or a fragile calm, or the temporary quiet when we manage to suppress that inner disquiet within ourselves. But true peace. Because the angels were singing about true peace — the type of peace we all long for but struggle to fully articulate.
Peace Is a Person
And at the heart of their declaration that evening was this understanding that peace is not a concept. Peace is not a political project. Peace is not a vague, self-actualised ideal. Peace is a person.
Because Jesus was known by all sorts of names, but one of the names we call him is Emmanuel. We sang it in a carol tonight. It means "God with us." And the name Emmanuel reminds us that in the baby Jesus, we see that God has come near — that God is with us in the ups and the downs of life, and he brings a peace that no empire can give or power take away.
Because the peace that Jesus brings is threefold. First, he brings us peace with God — not through religious performance or moral perfection, but through relationship, grace, and forgiveness. He brings peace within ourselves — he is the calm in the centre of our storm, not by removing the troubles we face in life, but by being tangibly present with us in them. And he brings peace between people — he tears down those barriers that divide: pride, hurt, fear, and division. He creates a new community, and he heals those things that are broken.
And if all this is true — if this kind of peace really does exist — then the real question becomes whether we're willing to stop trusting lesser versions of peace and go after the real thing.
Because the angels that night weren't wrong. Peace really did come to earth that evening in the form of a helpless little boy. And the invitation they gave to the shepherds that night is still open to you and me today — to stop looking to the powers of this world to satisfy that desire for peace, and to receive the kind of peace that can't be taxed, can't be broken, can't be stolen, can't be conquered.
That's the good news of Christmas: that the Prince of Peace has come, that God is with us, and that through him we can know true, everlasting peace. So that's my hope for you this Christmas.
Prayers of Intercession
We're going to pray now. I invite you to follow along if you like in your booklet.
At this Christmas time, we pray for those lands of old that surrounded Jesus' birthplace — the homelands of his forebears, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob — lands that today are torn by strife and bloodshed. We hear the cries of families uprooted from their homes, of survivors of war and civil strife, the wounded, the bereaved, and the fearful. And we ask that the Prince of Peace this Christmas will bring peace with justice to those lands and peoples.
Praying: O Holy Child of Bethlehem, descend to us, we pray.
And we pray for those in our own land in need this Christmas. We ask for your encouragement, O God, for all engaged in caring for the needy in our communities. We ask that the comforting presence of God allay the fears of all suffering loss and uncertainty this Christmas.
Praying: O Holy Child of Bethlehem, descend to us, we pray.
We bring to you our Prime Minister and all political leaders of our nation as they assume new responsibilities for this coming year. We ask that they will be humble in office, careful for the needs of all citizens, and selfless in the exercise of their ministerial powers.
Praying: O Holy Child of Bethlehem, descend to us, we pray.
We thank you for the difference the coming of Jesus has made to our own lives and to our homes and to our families. We praise you for your grace in reaching out to us in the simplicity of the birth of Jesus. But we also remember before you, O God, those known to us who have yet to discover the life-changing blessing you hold out to all, in the one whose birth we celebrate today.
Praying: O Holy Child of Bethlehem, descend to us, we pray.