Episcopal Press and News
Presiding Bishop's Christmas Message 1990: Recovering Christmas: What Do We celebrate?
Episcopal News Service. November 8, 1990 [90299]
Edmond L. Browning, Presiding Bishop and Primate
What can it mean? Red and white striped candies in the shape of little canes have appeared in the stores. Evergreen trees from tiny to towering have sprung up in vacant lots on city street covers. White-bearded men in red suits are a motif present everywhere. A frenzied spirit prevails in department stores and shopping malls. We hear songs on the radio about roasting chestnuts, while on television Frosty the Snowman cavorts once again and Rudolph and the reindeer are getting a workout. Spicy smells of cakes and cookies fill our kitchens, while visions of sugar plums dance in our heads. What can it mean?
So much of the way we prepare for and celebrate Christmas is touched with playful fantasy and wonderful make believe. Seemingly disconnected rituals can be signs and symbols of Christ's coming, as we celebrate this joyous reality with every means at hand -- including trees and boxes with bows. However, let us not be confused by fantasy and make-believe. The Christmas story is true. Bethlehem is a real place, and so is Nazareth, and the Sea of Galilee, and Jerusalem. The Son of God was sent into the world at a particular place and time. He is part of history, a history that goes on and now includes each of us.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
The only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one Being with the Father.
Through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven:
by the power of the Holy Spirit
he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary,
and was made man.
This is what we celebrate. The source of our joy in this season is the birth of love. We celebrate again the love of God made visible in Christ Jesus our Lord. We celebrate again the knowledge that God is born in us. We celebrate again knowing "how great is the love that the Father has shown to us! We were called God's children, and such we are..." [1 John 3:1].
We are all God's children, and God's love has been made visible in the Holy Child. From this birth of love came our new commandment, that we love one another as we have been loved. And, we don't just love those we choose to love. We love "one another," and that means everyone.
God's message of love came to us in the Middle East two millennia ago. What a painful irony it is that as we celebrate the birth of the Prince of Peace his birthplace does not know peace. Surely, the wondrous Light from Light is needed now where it first shone forth. I pray this Light will guide our prayers and illuminate our understanding during these troubled, times. As an act of love, let us share the peace of Christ by holding in our prayers all those in the Middle East, the whole people of God.
As we celebrate the birth of Jesus in the world and in our hearts, let us go forward as bearers of that wondrous Light, that wondrous love, to all of God's people.
May the joys and blessings of Christmas be known in each of your hearts.