direct access to God - The letter as a whole is a homily predicated on the idea that through Christ, faithful Christians have direct access to God. In this sermon, Jesus is portrayed as the unique mediator between God and humankind; the reader is urged to follow Christ’s example-loving, hopeful, and patient in the face of persecution.

•God’s timetable of human history - This writer shares the pauline hope that Christ’s death, burial and resurrection started a new clock ticking-the eschatological clock that marks God’s timetable of human history.

• nib - Traditionally, the liturgy of Christmas Day was dominated by the desire of the early church to affirm the uniqueness of Jesus Christ, the incarnation of the eternally preexistent Word. At the time of the author of the letter to the Hebrews there were some who suggested that angels were the unique mediators of God’s graciousness to humankind. As the celebration of Christmas developed, the church found that it needed to affirm its full belief in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God, the incarnation of the preexistent Word against a powerful heresy that argued that this was not the case.

. . . Reading the letter to the Hebrews on Christmas days summons us to assess our personal and community understanding of the person of Jesus Christ: Who is he, and what has he done for0us? Why do we celebrate the day on which we recall his birth?

• Quote-

The old sentimental image of the early church as a huddle of the poor and unlettered at the margins of society is shattered by the artistry and sophistication of Hebrews 1:1-4. Here is a creedal formula, perhaps framed for the liturgy of the congregation to be sung long before it became official dogma, in which is distilled the heart of the Christian faith. Within it is a christological hymn not unlike others in the New Testament (verse 3).