The best Christmas I ever had wasn’t about the presents. It was the first time I sat in St. James Cathedral singing the great carols and hearing the account of Jesus’ birth in the Gospel of Luke, Chapter 2. I realized that Luke gave no description of anything remotely glorious going on in that stable. Humbly, Jesus was born in a barn, swaddled in a very rough blanket, not a birth that seemed to trumpet God’s glory.Yet, in that manger lies the glory of the Lord; an event that today is so easily ignored; a story that has become too familiar for most to take seriously. Images of that birth in the stable are sometimes still around us; here in church, in our homes, maybe on the lawns of our public buildings. If we are not careful however, we may begin to ask, "What does this have to do with me?" We might be tempted to say, "This all happened so long ago, what difference can it make?"
But the birth of that infant in the manger has everything to do with us, at least everything that is good. That infant made us. That infant redeemed us. That infant is the fullest revelation of God that we will ever have. And because that infant is God Incarnate, God born as a man of the Virgin Mary, this is not just a story or event from long ago. Jesus Christ is still with us and he will always be with us, if we remain faithful to him.
So this Christmas look again at the babe that God has given us. And stop for a moment to celebrate the greatest birthday of all, and give glory to God for his mercy and love. Sing the carols, listen to the account in Luke, and maybe, like me, this might become the greatest Christmas present you’ll ever receive… Jesus Christ, born in Bethlehem.
The story of Christ’s birth is very much a part of our ordinary lives, and in those baby’s hands, God placed the fate of the world.
Robin and I wish all of you a very Merry Christmas.
In Love and Peace…
Bishop Ian
