Dear Ones,
At our house, I know that Christmas is drawing near when this beloved ornament is in her rightful place on the tree. She has traveled with me for two decades or more. I don’t remember who gave her to me or when, but I know it was before 2004, because she made the long journey from Berkeley to Syracuse when I was called to Grace Church and campus ministry there.
This treasured angel is a bit battered, a little more so each year, and her wings are mottled from the year she got packaged with the red apple ornaments. But it is her imperfections, the evidence that she is real, that makes her, for me, the true herald of the Baby Jesus. Born in Bethlehem, in all-too-real circumstances, he is Emmanuel, God with us.
Beloved, we also are a bit battered at times, worn by the world in which we witness to God’s love. But at Christmas, we can know with all our hearts that God came to live and die as one of us, a gift of love made flesh in the birth of Jesus the Messiah. Like my family’s angel ornament, we proclaim the good news of the birth of Jesus ever more brightly each year, no matter what we have endured on our journey.
May the knowledge that God is with us, always, bless your Christmas celebration now and always.
Faithfully,
Bishop Jennifer
