Christmas Message
The Rt Revd Harold Miller,
Bishop of Down and Dromore
Christmas in this part of the world comes at the darkest time of the year.
The week in which it falls also contains the shortest day, and the celebration of the birth of Christ emerged of course from a midwinter festival.
For some people, that creates a problem: that there is no real reason to believe that Jesus was actually born on 25 December, or even ‘in the bleak midwinter’!
But celebrating Christmas at this time of the year in fact symbolizes and teaches something really important for all of us.
It is summed up in the words of the Christmas Gospel, read as the climax of almost every carol service ‘The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it’.
This particular Christmas comes at a point where the nation is in a very gloomy mood, and for good reasons. The financial crisis which we had hoped would be over by now may well deepen even further, with all the personal costs in unemployment, rising prices and insecure pensions.
We are uncertain about the future, concerned about the basics of life, experiencing a totally unacceptable level of child poverty, and unsure about basic services in health and education.
We also still find ourselves being thrown back, from time to time, to the old sectarianism of the past, and wish we could glimpse more fully the promised land of a shared future. And, as in every year, Christmas reminds many of us of the personal pain and loss of the past months, with the empty seat, the broken marriage or the prodigal child.
In times of deep darkness, we can so easily lose our bearings, give up hope, and feel ‘overcome’. But the truth of Christmas is this: there is One who is able to pierce the deep darkness, just at the very point where it appears strongest.
The One over whom the star shines is able to bring a perspective which changes how we see things. And the name of the One is Jesus Christ, Emmanuel, God–with–us.
Over these next days there will be endless opportunities for all of us, whether we are regular churchgoers or not, to take time to put the ‘Light of the world’ at the heart of the celebrations.
Don’t miss those opportunities! And when you grasp them, listen for the words of life which bring hope all the more strongly when Christmas comes at the darkest of times.
Have a very happy Christ–mas.
+Harold Down and Dromore