Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas, beloved church!

This year was unlike any other year we have experienced. The reality of darkness was
ever-present and globally, we bore witness to the actuality of human frailty. We watched
as our worldly sources of peace and hope crumbled before us and we grieved together as
the gift of our gathering was obstructed. Nevertheless, this Advent season, we faithfully
engaged in the Psalms. Recognizing ourselves as exiles who live between two ages, our
hope was firmly fixed on Christ, our true foundation. Christ, who is himself our peace and
our life. Christ from whom flows rivers of living water, which quench the thirst and the
longings of those who cry “how long?” and who truly yearn to participate in the divine life
of God. I have treasured and cherished the gift of Advent through this time.

This Christmas season, my prayer for each one of you is that you would be renewed in your
awe of the Incarnation. Though the reality of darkness is ever-present, our Lord came into
our darkness and our suffering. Assuming humanity into God, becoming what he was not,
that we too, by his Spirit, may become what we are not.

Indeed, friends, the true light and life of the world has shone into the darkness and the
darkness cannot overcome it. Christmas is a season of illumination, a season to come out of
the shadows and the darkness of the world and bask in the eternal light of Jesus Christ, the
Word made flesh.

In the words of St. John Chrysostom, “Come, then, let us observe the Feast. Come, and we shall
commemorate the solemn festival. Truly wondrous is the whole chronicle of the Nativity. For
this day the ancient slavery is ended, the devil confounded, the demons take to flight, the
power of death is broken, paradise is unlocked, the curse is taken away, sin is removed from
us, error driven out, truth has been brought back, the speech of kindliness diffused, and
spreads on every side, a heavenly way of life has been implanted on the earth.

Why is this? Because God is now on earth, and man in heaven; on every side all things co-
mingle. Though being the impassible Word, He became flesh; that he might dwell amongst us.
He became Flesh. He did not become God. He was God. Wherefore He became flesh, so that He
Whom heaven did not contain, a manger would this day receive.”

Our journey as a church continues into the unknown. However, we are not alone, and we
are not without hope. There is good news of great joy! For unto us, a Son has been given, a
child born of a virgin, Immanuel, God with us. A merry Christmas, indeed!

With love,
Fr. Stephen