Bishop Roger Ames’ 2012 Christmas Letter

From here:

The Nativity of the Lord (Christmas)

December 2012

“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” (John 1:14)

My Dear Sisters and Brothers,

Merry Christmas! Finally, our Advent preparations draw to a close. Now we can celebrate Jesus, the Word made flesh.

There is a mystery and miracle in John’s words that we will never fully comprehend. Our holy and unapproachable God—our majestic and all-wise Creator—has defied human logic. Rather than wait for us to come to our senses and return to him, he has humbled himself and come to us!

We don’t need to go to the ends of the earth to find God. We don’t need to fast from food or sleep. We don’t need to thread our way through theological textbooks. We don’t need to spend all our wak­ing hours in formal prayer. God is with us! images-1

Because God has become a human being and shared in our ordinary life, we can find him right here and now, wherever we are. He jokes at our table. He welcomes our relatives with a hug. He listens as we express our simplest thanks as well as our deepest desires. We can find him in the innocence of a sleeping baby, the complexity a snowflake, the surprise of an unplanned encounter, and a line from a familiar carol. If we just slow down long enough, we can savor his presence today.

This is the key to the whole Christian life. We can be renewed by the sacraments because in them we touch Jesus. We can follow the moral code because he not only walked this road before us but walks it with us. We come to love other people, even the most repulsive, because Jesus has died for all of us out of love. We can persevere to the end because Jesus went the whole distance, through death to life, in a human body like ours.

The Lord of the universe has chosen to make our familiar spaces his permanent dwelling. Don’t miss him! Be a counter-cultural family. For many around us, Christmas abruptly comes to an end on December 26th, but we as Anglicans know that we have 12 days to celebrate the reality of Christmas with our family and friends. Celebrate and rejoice in the reality that God loves us so much that he became one of us. Share the good news that God is with us. Reach out to the broken, the lost, the forgotten and  the needy. Find tangible ways to make God’s love real for those most in need this Christmas season!

Be assured of my thoughts and prayers, especially as I celebrate the Holy Eucharist throughout this holiday season.

Let us pray:

“Father, you created the dignity of human nature and then restored it through your Son. Help us all to share in the divinity of Christ, who humbled himself to share in our humanity. Bless us richly thoughout this Christmas season and fill us with your love. We ask this all in your son Jesus’ name and by the power of the Spirit and let the Church say…Amen.”

Peace and all good.

I remain yours in the Incarnate Lord,
+Roger
Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of the Great Lakes