‘A Christmas Sermon’ is an emotional and powerful piece. Written by Stevenson as he recuperated from another lung issue outside New York, he ponders the questions of life, death, morality and man’s place in it all. His prose is beautiful, his pondering interrupted by philosophy and a healthy dose of poetry. It is an emotional read, seeing such a great literary mind facing down the long journey, but *spoiler alert* it ends happily.
Stevenson concludes that man’s purpose is “to be honest, to be kind, to earn a little and spend less, to make upon the whole a family happier for his presence”. They are questions we all ask ourselves, questions that can make us feel hopelessly lost, but we aren’t, we’re just figuring things out.
This little sermon packs a punch, it is incredibly cathartic pondering the questions of life with one of the greatest literary minds of all time, and as such is perfect reading for anyone.
Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894), was an author with a formidable legacy. You will be hard pressed to find anyone alive today who has not come across his work in one form or another. The brilliant mind behind ‘Treasure Island’ and the ‘Strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’, has had a profound impact on every aspect of entertainment to this day with his brilliant creations. Despite dealing with ill health all his life he was a prolific traveller, spending his later years in Samoa where he fought vigorously for the rights of the natives, earning their love and respect. R.L Stevenson was a character in his own right, passionate and adventurous, his spirit shines through in his work, from his novels to his travel guides. You simply owe it to yourself to experience his creations, he was a true titan of literature on whose shoulders we all stand.
