Bishop’s Christmas Message
God’s Divine Love for a Broken World
“They shall name Him Emmanuel” which means, “God is with us”.
(St. Matthew 1: 23)
Christmas gathers the faithful together in celebration of the birth of our Savior, Jesus, the world’s Messiah and Anointed One. The center of attraction is the manger, the child Jesus, who by coming among us offers God’s healing and love to our broken and hostile world. Believing and receiving Jesus means putting him first, far ahead of the fading glory and shifting hopes offered by this world. Also, Jesus offers humanity a personal way of knowing, loving and relating to God our Father in heaven, and our fellow neighbors. What a stunningly beautiful and awesome Christmas message for us in this season.
Christ’s birth is the bridging of two realities that shows that God is not just the God of heaven but Lord and Creator of the universe. Christmas is God’s incarnation, that is, God taking human flesh and becoming one like us. God became human, not just to save the world, but to bless the world, to bless being human, to endorse being human, to join us in our humanness. In this holy and joyful season Jesus invites us to come to him as a child – with innocence and the openness to embrace people of different cultures, politics, ethnicities, nationalities, skin color, and social or economic status.
When we look around, and see the children in their many Christmas presentations, that excitement and thrill go a long way in helping to lay aside, even for a moment, the realities of daily struggle. For children, all the experiences of life are new and thrilling adventures. They take them in and take them on willingly and eagerly. Adults will do well to adopt this attitude of childlike innocence at Christmas, and once again give the gift of this sacred birth we celebrate a chance fill us with PEACE! JOY! LOVE!
The timeless incarnational truth in this message is God’s invitation for us to participate in the holy work of salvation. We are co-responsible for our salvation by embracing and incarnating Jesus’ call to ‘come unto me’ and ‘live in me as I live in you’.
My beloved, the birthday of Jesus marks our own birthday. Our baptism into Christ fundamentally draws us into a shared intimate relationship with him. This accounts for the reason why over the centuries the practice of gift sharing had become so popular. In truth, we are all celebrating this birthday with Jesus which gives us every reason to exchange gifts during this happy season.
Let us be reminded, even in the hustle and bustle associated with this generous season, to spare some time in our celebration to invite the Christ child of Bethlehem stable, Jesus the Lord and Savior, into our lives and giving him the freedom to lead us where he wishes – recommitting our life to the guiding principles of love for all, peace, joy and Christian harmony.
Finally, our beloved family, Lynn and I remain ever conscious of the gift we have received from God in leading us here to share ministry and companionship with all of you. You have made our life in the diocese a truly remarkable and holy experience. We love you with our heart, mind and soul. As the angels remind us, “God is with us”!
Every blessing, joy, happiness, peace and goodwill to you and your beloved family members on this Christmas season!
+San & Lynn