Dear Friends,
I hope that you are all well and weathering the storm without too much difficulty. Along with many neighbours, I have been without power for about the last 36 hours with no prospect of electricity again for another 24. The authorities continue to urge people to stay off the roads unless absolutely necessary. In the circumstances, it seems prudent that we cancel services for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. This is very disappointing after two years of the pandemic keeping us from coming together for Christmas. For what it’s worth, I have attached my homily for this evening.
As challenging as the weather is for us just now, we can be thankful that our collective wealth and good infrastructure will help us through it all fairly quickly. It is not so for the people of Ukraine who are not only living with freezing conditions in the dark, but also with the threat of drones and missiles. There are, of course, many other places where the announcement of the birth of a Prince of Peace must seem like a fairy tale. The story of Christ’s nativity might as well be about reindeer and snowmen, if it has nothing to say about the small victims. In St. Matthew’s gospel, Rachel’s lament for murdered innocents is found at the heart of the Christmas story. St. Matthew shows us how to hold on to faith and hope until the day of Christ’s return. Only as we share in the prayers and laments of bereaved families, not looking away, can we continue to believe that the Saviour reigns even now. Only a faith forged out of suffering can say with conviction that angels and monsters will not coexist forever, and that one day Christians and Jews, Muslims and agnostics, and all the rest will be drawn together in ways that we cannot yet imagine, that the unconditional love of God in Jesus Christ will be the last word.
I close now — before my battery dies or my cell plan is exhausted — with warm wishes for you and yours this Christmas. May you know the peace of the Christ child and the joy of his mother.
Yours faithfully,
Kevin+
http://smmchelsea.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Christmas-2022.pdf
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