Fr. Patrick Funston’s sermon for Christmas Eve (Midnight Mass) 2012 is now online.
For as long as I’ve been paying attention to Christmas sermons, my dad has chosen some kind of focus object. He’ll keep his eyes and heart open as he wanders grocery and big box store aisles waiting for something to “speak” to him. He’ll take that object as an inspiration for his sermon. He’ll use it as an object lesson or as a metaphor and weave together an interesting and often very topical homily. Last year, some of you might remember Frosty the Snowman, a sermon I didn’t hear, but read later. Father Funston suggested that Frosty, a secular holiday hero if ever there was one, was actually a Christ-like figure with a holiday message of self-sacrifice. Other years he’s talked about frogs with Santa hats and misspelled holiday banners, including the year when a JOY banner included as the “J,” a backwards candy-cane.