Christmas Message from Mother Brenda
Dear Ones,
As we have been preparing for this annual commemoration of the birth of Jesus, a memory of two men I had the privilege of sitting with on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 2013 floods my mind. They were people who weren’t supposed to know each other. One was Israeli and one was Palestinian. But because they each had decided to choose light and love, instead of isolation and anger, they joined an organization called “Circle of Friends”.
Circle of Friends pairs up Palestinian and Israeli parents who have lost children in the conflicts with the purpose of first building community across enemy lines, and then sending the pairs out to share their stories of loss and surprising friendships with others.
The two men admitted that working toward peace is difficult and, often, risky. The one man confirmed that sometimes the efforts can feel like banging your head against a wall. “But,” the other man continued for him, “hitting the wall might eventually create a crack. And the crack is where the light gets in.”
Through another, more recent, Holy Land conversation, I was reminded that the first Christmas wasn’t all that rosy. The Archbishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem stated in an online interview that Mary and Joseph were on a trip forced by the empire. They were refused lodging. The Christ-child was born in the filth of a barn. And yet, there it was! God breaking into the world with undeniable and unconditional love.
Thankfully, most of us in these pews will never have to deal with the kind of trauma currently being experienced in the Holy Land. And, yet, we will all encounter opportunities to choose love over hate. We all have had, or will have, deeply painful confrontations. Our response can take the form of retaliation, or we can metaphorically open our fist into a palm, reaching out to better understand the other person’s struggle. Those are the cracks of our lives where, together, we can find a way forward, with the light of Christ shining the way.
Whether you’re here every Sunday, just once a month, only for special holidays, or have just joined us for the first time, you are a beloved child of God and, therefore, a cherished member of this St. Andrew’s community. We’re here for each other. We pray and love together. So, on this very holy day, I pray we all become more aware of God’s continual in-breaking through the cracks of our lives.
Merry Christmas!