Dear friends,

Our experience of Christmas is shaped by the many traditions which have grown up around it. There are Christmas trees with their baubles and lights. Visit any shop and you will hear Christmas music - delightful for a daily visit, although I imagine employees must wish for Christmas to be over after a month of it.

I love the gaudy yard decorations which sprout up in front gardens. Houses are outlined by strings of Christmas lights, while on the lawn glowing Santas beam at passing traffic. I recently saw a fifteen foot high inflatable reindeer, looming over passers-by like some giant mutant dog. Beat that neighbor! The more garish and over-the-top the decorations, the more I like them. 

Christmas is traditionally a family time. It could be that you are a guest and have to travel across state to be with family. You may be hosting a family dinner on Christmas Day and are thinking about food and where everyone will sit at table. Or maybe you live alone: family is far away or non-existent. Christmas can be the loneliest time of the year, (or the most peaceful).

For clergy, this is one of our busy times. There are five separate services at church on Christmas Eve and one on Christmas morning. I love it all: the church decorations, the candlelit services, the uplifting liturgy of Christmas and the heavenly voices of the choir. I love that sense of belonging to a church family who have come to celebrate the birth of Christ the Savior. Christmas is a time of joy, singing, praying and blessing.

Amongst the merry-making and celebrations it is easy to lose sight of one essential aspect of Christmas: its wondrous simplicity. What we are celebrating is the birth of a child in a humble manger at Bethlehem. The place was not where Joseph and Mary chose to be; Joseph went to Bethlehem to register his name for the first census. Mary happened to give birth while they were there. Mary and Joseph were in unfamiliar surroundings, far from home and family. 

Much has been said about Christmas. Every year it is a challenge to see Christmas with fresh eyes. Words are often of little use when considering what God has done. To see Christmas anew each year, you have to strip away all that surrounds it - all the glitter, the food, the chatter and the spectacle - and focus purely on the holy family, bound together by love in a strange place.

This year, whether you are with family or alone, may you know the love of God who was born to save us, and who calls us to share in the hope for all humankind though Jesus Christ. 

My Christmas gift to you is this song on YouTube, called “When Love Was Born.” Here is the link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKSU9Dbxvrw

Wishing you a blessed and peaceful Christmas!

Father David