December 2007 A Section of Anglican Journal
The Shepherds said to one another, “Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us”. So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the child lying in a manger. -Luke 2:15-16(nrsv) Christmas Messages from the Bishops of the Dioceses of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon and Qu’Appelle from the Right Reverend Anthony Burton, Bishop of Saskatchewan
Your Life is a Manger The Christmas story is a Jewish story. When the writers of the Bible Put pen to paper, they were writing the most recent chapter in the story of their people, the Jewish people, a people who knew better than ever to try to put God in a box. The Jews were both funny and rude about the religions of their neighbors who did just that by worshipping idols. These writers know that God is too big to be put in a box. They know that he is too big, too mysterious, too holy adequately to be described. How surprised they must have been to find themselves recording the strange story of Jesus' birth, how amazed to find themselves lovingly describing how God came to be in a box - a box full of straw, a feeding trough for cattle, a manger. Their own joy and wonder shines through their descriptions of the event. They knew it was good news. It was good news because the box he put himself into was not his own box but ours. We are boxed in, trapped even, by pride and selfishness. We are boxed in by the weight of some of the things we have done in the past and cannot undo, boxed in by the broken relationships that are their consequence. We are boxed in by some of the things we have left undone, and for which it is too late to make amends. We are boxed in by illness and loneliness anxiety and fear of the future. While this is true for us as individuals, is true for us also as part of the human family. We are at war across the world, in wars the burden of which is most sharply borne by children. Almost every major city hangs a pall of filthy air; every ocean is overfished and hangs in the balance; in many parts of the world forests are burned and cut without thought for the consequences. In our personal relationships, in politics, at sea and land and air, we Are no closer to universal peace that we were a thousand years ago, and probably less at peace with one another than we were even ten years ago. As St. Paul put it, "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." And yet it was for sinners, for me and for you, that Christ was born at Bethlehem. From the creation of the world God planned this great work of rescue and restoration. At Christmas we celebrate the fact that God loved us so much that he took human nature from a Jewish peasant girl. He took all that it means to be human into himself, nailed it to a Cross, and raised it up to heaven to prepare a place for us. This is much more than a promise for the
future. We do not stand outside of this story like spectators in a theatre watching an inspirational movie or listening to a motivational speaker. The Right Reverend T h e C h r i s t m a s Anthony Burton, story is not just Bishop of the truth being Saskatchewan told about God. It is the truth being told about ourselves, about what God is doing in our lives and how he is recreating the world around us as a sign on earth of the world to come. To state the obvious, Christ has been back many times since he ascended back into heaven nearly two thousand years ago. He came to earth again the day you were baptized and since then has been active in your life and mine whether we recognize it or not. God's cosmic rescue mission isn't something that started two thousand years ago, stopped, and will be suddenly reactivated at some time in the future. It is going on all around us in our generation, here and now. It is taking place in us - in you and in me. Christ redeems us every day, bit by bit, and fits our souls for the life of heaven. He does it in inspiring us to acts of kindness and generosity of patience and prayer. For he does not so much call us out of the box in which we live as to help us see the box of our lives for what it can be - a manger into which Christ can again be received. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me. For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Anna, Caroline & Peter join me in wishing you a merry Christmas, +Anthony Bishop of Saskatchewan from the Right Reverend Rodney Andrews, Bishop of Saskatoon The sound of a railroad locomotive horn penetrates the cold Saskatoon winter air. The sound of the train recalls life in Saskatoon more than forty years ago. I was a student minister (we called ourselves 'theologs') at Emmanuel College. Along with about sixty other 'theologs', I lived in the old Emmanuel building on the university campus. Most evenings I would walk to the university library to
study. When the library closed I would walk to the residence and would hear the train sounds in the winter air. My life was filled with joy in those days; joy at The Right being able to study Reverend Rodney attend theology, Andrews, Bishop services at Rugby of Saskatoon Chapel twice a day and joy that I could look forward to ordination and having my own parish. The night sounds of Saskatoon still bring me joy. The clear winter air brings sounds of a busy city, much busier than forty years ago. This month the sounds of Christmas are added. I like those sounds also. They help me remember that the central message of the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem is peace and joy. Joy! What a powerful and meaningful word! “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing . . .” (Romans 15:13). Joy is the principal emotion associated with Christmas, but how do we find it? In his little book “Unwrapping the Gifts The Twelve Days of Christmas” Curtis Almquist says “Joy takes time. Joy is not fast food. It comes as a by-product of living a savored life, of taking time to 'smell the flowers.' Joy needs time . . . Take time, take at least some time each day, to do one thing at a time. Take time, take at least some time each day, if you are walking, to just walk. Take time, take at least some time, if you looking, to just look; if you are listening, to just listen. If you are sipping tea or watering the plants or petting the dog, take time to do just that. Do one thing at a time, and do that as often as you can. Take the time to let the fragrances and aromas of life penetrate to the deepest part of your being, where they can be savored . . . don't just visit life; life needs time in order to be lived abundantly.” Almquist goes on to say that joy requires desire. “I was talking with someone not long ago on this topic of joy. There was absolutely no joy in her life. I asked her whether she wanted to know joy. She had never thought of it quite that way, about wanting to know joy. My question applies to you, too: do you want to be joyful? Joy is a gift; it is a spiritual gift. Generally speaking, if you want to receive a gift, don't keep your hands in your pockets. Open your heart and open your hands to receive the gift of joy. Cooperate with God.” I wish you great joy this Christmas. May we open our hearts and lives to the Christ. May his spirit fill us with joy. + Rodney Bishop of Saskatoon
from the Right Reverend Gregory KerrWilson, Bishop of Qu’Appelle I was listening to a radio interview The Right Reverend recently in which Gregory Kerra journalist who Wilson, Bishop of had once lived in Qu’Appelle China during the C u l t u r a l Revolution was reflecting on the experience of having returned for a visit after many years away. The journalist noted the massive rise of free enterprise and consumerism in the culture almost always seen so positively in the West and commented on the spiritual poverty left in its wake. I was caught off guard, however, when, in describing this consumerism and spiritual void, she mentioned coming across shops with manger scenes and stuff about Jesus, including Christian prayers translated into Chinese, as an illustration. My initial reaction was an internal “rolling of the eyes.” I heard the comment as one of those attitudes which would see Christian faith as simply an expression of Western culture and not bearing truth and meaning for people in China.The reality is that there are tens of millions of Christians in China who have come to know and love our Lord and who have had a significant and positive impact on Chinese society over the last couple of centuries. Once that initial reaction began to fade though, I was suddenly struck by the import of the journalist's comment and it reminded me of a recent newscast which had announced the beginning of the Christmas shopping season (right after Halloween) as the start of the most intensive and important time of year for the retail industry. I couldn't help pondering the astounding irony. Jesus was born in poverty to a “lowly” Jewish peasant girl, was raised in a backwater town of very little importance or wealth (Nazareth), lived a life as an itinerant preacher and taught that people should not only share but, expecting nothing in return, should give away what they had to the poor and not store up “treasures on earth.” He taught that we cannot serve both wealth and God and, forsaking the pursuit of wealth and power himself, went to the cross in an act of self-giving love for the salvation of the world. Jesus, whose birth announces the presence of the Incarnate Son of God, showing us by his life and example what God's intention for human life really is, has his birth celebrated by a massive spending spree and an accumulation of goods which, for the most part, nobody really needs. “Irony” seems a rather weak word to describe it. (continued on page 2)