The Bishop's Christmas Message

Christmas 2003

I shall have two Christmasses this year. One I will keep on December 25th in Lisbon with our Chaplaincy there, the other will be in Moscow at the invitation of Patriarch Alexii for Orthodox Christmas kept on January 6th, when in the West we celebrate the Feast of the Epiphany.

December 25th was originally a pagan festival, kept in honour of the Unconquered Sun - a feast of light in the midst of winter darkness. Christians took it over and 'baptised' it, celebrating the birth of Christ the Light of the World. So we sing in praise,

Hail, the Heaven-born Prince of peace!
Hail, the Sun of Righteousness!
Life and Light to all he brings,
Risen with healing in his wings.
Mild he lays his glory by,
Born that man no more may die,
Born to raise the sons of earth,
Born to give them second birth.

As Charles Wesley's words celebrate the birth of Christ, and the herald angels praising the glory of the new born child who is the promised Messiah, the whole of God's generous love and self-giving is celebrated. Christmas is the revelation of the glory of a love which lays aside majesty and might, and comes among us in the vulnerability and simplicity of a child. That stooping down in humility goes from Bethlehem to baptism, from Nazareth to Calvary. He comes down to the lowest part of our need. And it is from the nothingness of the grave, as he shares in our death, that resurrection comes, the life of the new creating the life that is eternal. The birth at Bethlehem is celebrated with joy because it is the beginning of God's new creation. Easter life begins at Christmas.

We live in an age suffering from a loss of memory and of meaning. It is an age, it has been said, of dismemberment, when division rather than unity is to the fore, when conflict is fuelled by war and terrorism, and suspicion of government and the manipulation of the media all lead to a death of trust without which there can be no human flourishing. But trust, which is faith, is needful if hope is to be a reality for our world, and both can only spring from the love that made all things, endures all things and hopes all things. That same love came down to us at Christmas, revealing the glory of God; that same love strengthens and sustains us through Word and Sacrament; and that same love transforms our lives that they may reflect the glory of God. As we celebrate Christmas, our prayers are for the transformation of the world and of our own lives by the joy of the Christ born at Bethlehem and born in us.

With every blessing

+ Geoffrey Gibraltar