Presiding Bishop's Christmas Message 2008
Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori has issued the following message for Christmas 2008
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it (John 1:5).
The world settles into winter, at least in the northern hemisphere, and life to many seems increasingly bleak. Foreclosures, layoffs, government bailouts and financial failures, continuing war on two fronts, terrorist attacks, murders of some identified only by their faith - this world is in abundant need of light. We know light that is not overcome by darkness, for God has come among us in human flesh. Born in poverty to a homeless couple, to a people long under occupation, Jesus is human and divine evidence that God is with us in the midst of the world's darkness. Emmanuel, Prince of Peace, Divine Counsellor is come among us to re-mind, re-member, and re-create. A new mind and heart is birthed in us as we turn to follow Jesus on the way. The body of God's creation is re-membered and put back together in ways intended from the beginning. And a new creation becomes reality through Jesus' healing work. Christians tell the story again each Christmastide, and the telling and remembering invites us once again into being made whole. Our task in every year is to hear the story with new ears, and seeing light in the darkness of this season's woes, then to tell it abroad with gladsome hearts to those who wait in darkness. Where will you share the joyous tale of light in the darkness?
The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori
Presiding Bishop - The Episcopal Church
A Christmas message from Archbishop Thabo Makgoba
To the People of God – To the Laos
Dear People of God
How do you like to spend Christmas? For many of us, Christmas among other things means time on the beach, with a plastic bucket and spade. So imagine that you are with me, on your favourite beach, on a perfect sunny summer’s day. Pick up your bucket, and come with me to the water’s edge. Dip your bucket into the sea, and fill it to the brim. Then bring your bucket, and sit beside me.
Tell me about the sea you have in your bucket. There’s so much we can learn about the sea, just from one bucketful. We can smell the ozone, taste its tang, and see how it dries leaving a salty crust on our skin. We can tell how it stings in a cut, and smarts in our eyes. If we take the bucketful to a laboratory, we can discover all the chemicals that are in the water. We can test its density and specific gravity. We can investigate its molecular structure, its pH value, and even how polluted it is. But there is an awful lot about the sea that we cannot tell from just one bucketful. We cannot understand its depths, or its variations in temperature, or how its currents flow. We cannot calculate its tides. We cannot see how its waves rise during storms. We cannot feel its immense power, though even a bucketful thrown straight at us can sometimes knock us off our feet.
Jesus is like a ‘bucketful of God’. We can learn an awful lot about God from looking at Jesus. Of course, one person, in one place and one time, is not identical to the fullness of God, eternal, beyond all time and space. But in Jesus we see what God is really about, in ways we can comprehend. We see the love of God in his care for every individual he met, especially those who were in need, or hurting, or struggling with the burdens of life. We see him spending time with those whom society thought were worth very little – as well as debating with the leading thinkers of his community. We see someone who stands up for the truth, for what is right; who tells it as it is, and has no time for hypocrisy or corruption or exploitation, or for those who live at the expense of others.
We also see in Jesus real opportunities for new beginnings, for dealing with old wounds to our souls, our anger and resentments, and being set free from the way they often hurt us more than they hurt anyone else. We see someone who’ll stand with us, and help us be the best that we can be. We see someone to whom we can safely bring our worst fears, as well as our greatest hopes. We see someone we can really talk to about everything in our lives and know that he’ll understand what we’re going through, because he’s been there – he’s lived the human life, and he knows what it can throw at us.
We find in Jesus the certain promise of peacemaker wherever there is conflict – between nations, within communities, in families, even inside ourselves. Remember this, especially when you hear the news on the radio, when you watch the news, when you open a newspaper. Remember this, as you continue to pray for difficult situations in our continent, especially Congo and Zimbabwe. (And we offer our congratulations to Bishop Sebastian Bakare, who returned from retirement to care for the diocese of Harare, who has been awarded a major Swedish human rights prize, for ‘having given voice to the fight against oppression,’ and for promoting ‘freedom of speech and of opinion in a difficult political situation.’)
In Jesus, this bucketful of God, we see as much of God as we can grasp. We also see as much of what it means to be fully human as we can grasp. Jesus wants us to be brimful of him – he wants to help us become a ‘bucketful of Jesus’, so that our lives overflow with that same love and caring, with that same passion for truth, with that same encouragement for others that we find in him.
This is why one of the names of Jesus is ‘Emmanuel’, which means ‘God with us’. As Christmas approaches, many of us will sing the hymn ‘O come, o come, Emmanuel’ because we know that the world and its inhabitants, with all our struggles and conflicts, needs God to step in and bring his peace (for Jesus also comes as the Prince of Peace), his joy, his love, his reconciliation, his new beginnings of harmony and cooperation.
But we also know that Jesus has come, and his sure promise is to be with us always, if we are ready to welcome him. This is why the refrain of that hymn tells us ‘Rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel has come to you …’
May you rejoice at the coming of Jesus, Emmanuel, the bucketful of God, in your life this Christmas. And may you always know him with you, and with all those you love, in the year ahead.
I am going to take a break from letter-writing in January, so I look forward to sharing my thoughts with you again in February. But if you want to know what I am up to in the interim, or read some of my sermons or lectures (including last month’s Harold Wolpe Memorial Lecture on ‘Constitution and Covenant’), please visit my blog, http://archbishop.anglicanchurchsa.org/, or keep an eye on the Provincial website, at http://www.anglicanchurchsa.org/.
May I end with a big thank you to the many of you who have sent in Diocesan and Parish vision and mission statements to the Provincial Executive Office. If you have not yet done so, it is still not too late. We will be happy to continue receiving them, passing them on to the committee working on the Provincial vision statement.
Yours in the service of Christ,
+Thabo Cape Town
Archbishop Phillip Aspinall’s Christmas Message
2008 included moments of profound inspiration as well as deeply troubling times. The apology to the Stolen Generations drew Australians together and lifted hopes for the future. Our Olympic Games effort in Beijing once again inspired the nation as did the efforts of our Paralympians. Athletes pushing themselves to new levels of achievement as they proudly represented their country.
Unfortunately though, 2008 may be best remembered for the global economic meltdown. Families are cutting back on spending. People are concerned about the future, worried about their jobs, anxious that they could lose their homes and not be able to afford to put food on the table. The fears are real. Spare a thought too for retirees who have not only seen their retirement investments plummet in value but have received another blow with interest rates falling impacting on their returns from savings. Those interest rate cuts, designed to stimulate the economy and ward-off recession, do however provide a silver lining for home buyers who are now saving hundreds of dollars in repayments. Add to that the fact that ours is one economy not yet in recession.
In November nature literally ‘dropped its bundle’, engulfing southern Queensland in vicious storms that destroyed homes and traumatised families. Brisbane felt the fury, but the damage was wide-spread, causing havoc in neighbouring Ipswich, the mining township of Blackwater in central Queensland, across the Darling Downs and through urban regions across the south east.
The storms were savage and the carnage was incredible. Some lives were lost leaving families shattered. Others lost their rooves from their homes leaving them standing in wreckage beyond repair. Cars were crushed by falling trees, floods swept people and cars away, possessions were destroyed leaving many to start again.
Vision of the carnage wreaked in The Gap was deeply moving. Family after family was shown standing in what had been their family homes but were now mere shells, roofless and littered with debris. Decades of dreams had been destroyed by angry hail, lightning and wind.
The costs of damage have been estimated at half a billion dollars and are rising but the real cost was in lives lost and family heritage ripped apart.
Yet among the most enduring images for me of these natural disasters were the faces of people who were reduced to tears by the generosity of strangers. We saw the professionals and volunteers of the SES out working night after night to clear rubble, replace roofs with tarpaulins and make roads safe. They were assisted by a surprising coalition of defence-force personnel, police, and sporting teams. Neighbours helped neighbours, strangers helped strangers. Some people travelled from the bush with chain saws and simply got to work, helping anyone they could. In some streets one home was destroyed while the home next door escaped unscathed. Those who escaped were the first to help the victims. People who were left with nowhere to stay were offered shelter and comfort. Those with nothing to eat or drink were offered food and water. Time and time again we witnessed light shining through the darkness.
The eyes of faith help us to see beauty in the responses to disasters of this sort. In the self-sacrificing way that people responded to the loss and pain of those around them, true care and love shine through. Human hearts genuinely reach out to each other. People responded not because they thought they should, or as some kind of future insurance policy but because, nudged by the spirit of God, when we see fellow human beings in pain our inclination is to hold out a helping hand.
I give thanks that we are made as we are –that our inclination is to stand together, to be community, to share the pain of others. In the ordinary daily round these qualities can be forgotten.
Christmas celebrates the God who is with us, even through the darkness. St John’s Gospel best captures this: ‘What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.’
God doesn’t take darkness away but is with us through it and brings us to new life on the other side of darkness.
So as we prepare for Christmas and reflect on the year, the ups and downs, and our capacity to deal with all manner of material and spiritual challenges let us not lose sight of the light shining through the darkness.
I hope that this Christmas provides many opportunities for you to see the light of Christ and for others to see the light of Christ in you.
Christmas message 2008 from the Archbishop of Armagh, The Most Revd Alan Harper, OBE
I am a grandfather. I acquired an additional three new granddaughters in the past six months. As a result, children have never been far from my mind this year. Thankfully all four of my granddaughters together with their respective mothers are thriving. But I saw a different side to infancy earlier this year when I visited the Holy Family Hospital in Bethlehem. Along with the smiling faces of happy parents with healthy infants I saw a nursery for ‘foundling’ children abandoned at birth. One child I saw was desperately ill; the others were lively and well. What moved me particularly was that in that hospital there was and is 'room at the inn'.
The abandoned children of the city of Christ’s birth remind me of another reality. Whenever we cradle a new born baby we are holding a child who may, in the fullness of time, change the world. Nothing, then, is more important, more worthwhile, more socially and economically necessary than to cherish little children for all children of whatever ability are rich in unexplored promise. Strong, secure, loving families,
wherein each member is loved and respected are the God-given ideal within which children may grow and fulfil their potential. It is therefore vital to create structures and conditions that support and encourage wholesome family life. Let’s get our priorities right: our first concern should be to nourish healthy family life.
But, of course, families of all kinds – including traditional families – may fall apart. Sometimes children are exploited, abused, neglected or unloved. When that happens society must step in. The news is full of tragic stories of how we fail our children. The massive recent publicity over the death of ‘Baby P’ aroused instincts of righteous indignation and the cry to apportion blame. The appalling statistics of child abuse and neglect revealed in a recent report in 'The Lancet', tell of the size of the problem confronting social workers and childcare professionals. It is important to recognize that it was primarily the child’s parents and not simply social workers who failed ‘Baby P’. Ultimately, it was society’s failure – we all failed.
We shall never know what ‘Baby P’ might have given to the world for, unlike the Christ child of Bethlehem and the foundling children of that city two thousand years later, he did not have the Holy Family to rely upon. This Christmas, as we think of Christ’s Incarnation, let us celebrate and support family life where it seeks to build children up and encourage each other to cherish and respect the gift of new life.
Archbishop of Melbourne The Most Revd Philip Freier's video message
http://www.melbourne.anglican.com.au/main.php?pg=news&news_id=19043&s=1472
Christmas message from Archbishop of Sydney, The Most Revd Dr Peter Jensen
When Jesus Christ chose to save the world he came as a baby into a human family. Even the maker of this whole universe became the most dependant of all human beings.
He shared a home with a mother and father and brothers and sisters. He showed us that human nurturing depends on trusting each other and taking responsibility for each other.
Part of the miracle of Christmas is that the salvation of the world involved Jesus learning to be human within a family.
Without profound commitment to each other we live less than a human life.
Commitment is God’s fundamental pattern for all of us. The shame is that we seem to have lost the plot. We have so favoured casual and transient relationships, personal independence, frantic work practises that we’re now ill equipped to deal with some of the tough times that lie ahead.
You see, tough times require powerful life skills learned from God, often through families. But what if we’ve chosen not to learn them? We’re going to have to change our ways.
What do we need?
We need to connect with God in ’09, through Jesus. That’s called faith. Out of faith comes hope. The confidence that there is a future now matter how black the present appears – God’s in charge of our present and our future.
And from faith and hope come love. The sort of love which Jesus had when he entered the world to save it.
Our community is going to need love – compassionate and generous care for each other. Looking out for each other when things are hard. Families are pretty good with that. That’s God’s normal method for us to help each other.
But in today’s world not everyone has access to the help which comes from family. We’re seeing the tragic effects of that isolation already.
That is why the challenge is to our whole community to turn back to God and then act like a family, living out the faith, hope and love which will help us to be compassionate and generous Australians.
Dr Peter Jensen
Anglican Archbishop of Sydney
A Christmas Message from the Most Rev Dr Idris Jones, Bishop of Glasgow & Galloway and Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church.
‘This is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us’
Christmas - The Christ Mass in its very name reminds us of a time when Christians belonged to one Church whose central act of worship was the Mass in which at Christmas and at Easter the great events at the heart of Christian belief were celebrated. Jesus was born, Jesus died, Jesus was raised by God from death.
As The Season approaches there is a sense of unity as thousands of pilgrims flock to the newest and brightest shopping mall where in defiance of any sense of credit crunch and urged by HM Government to go out and spend, healing is sought in ‘retail therapy’.
Surely Christians can urge that the message of Christmas reminds us of a deeper and more urgently needed sense of being together than that?
As Christians gather in worship we celebrate the way in which the birth of Jesus makes access to God open to all. ‘This is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us.’ That love of God is for all humankind and we are bound into an equality of need and the chance to respond. The Christmas story makes this real in a number of ways.
The physical reality that there was ‘no room for them in the inn’ means that the coming of Jesus is not in some exclusive place but in a very public and open situation that is accessible to all. The first response to this act of God comes from a section of the community that was by the nature of its employment at the margins of society. The shepherds were ‘out in the fields’ but prompted by the message of the angels they come to ‘see this thing which has come to pass’. Whilst most folk were in Bethlehem in order to comply with orders of an occupying power, the shepherds responded to an initiative from God and the marginalised are the first to come to the manger . There is room for all here, whilst in the inn there was no room. The ministry of Jesus was to constantly remind those who heard His teaching that this was how God chose to reveal himself and to call everyone without distinction to know God as ‘Father’. Jesus’ mother had spoken in prophecy about the God who had ‘put down the mighty from their seat and exalted the humble and meek’. This was to happen in the birth of Jesus.
Here indeed is a bringing of all into one for it makes us equal. Even the distinction between the religious and the secular - the earthly and the heavenly - becomes obsolete as expressed in the Christmas devotion ‘O blessed night in which the earthly and the heavenly are made one’. If that distinction is shattered then so are all the other divisions and distinctions that humankind creates - ‘now there is neither Jew nor Greek, bond nor free, male nor female’.
That being the case, the Church is called to live it and proclaim it, and here is good news indeed that offers a sense of unity that can change the way we see the world and the possibility and the longing that ‘all may be one’.