ANGLICAN CHURCH IN AMERICA
Diocese of the Northeast
Rt. Rev. Brian Marsh, Bishop

Presiding Bishop's Christmas Message

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

This message comes to you with every good wish for a Blessed Christmastide. I pray that you may all be warmed this year and always by the presence of the Christ child; Emmanuel, God among us.

At this time of year, we are most fervently aware that God, in His infinite goodness and mercy, comes to us in the most intimate and loving way. The Incarnation of our Lord and Savior is that remarkable mystery of our faith: God joins with us in our human lives; He chooses to live with us; He chooses to experience our human lives fully and completely. Jesus meets us, not as we might imagine a great conqueror would come among us, wielding awesome power and forcefully turning the wills of His people. God might easily have done just that. But God, our God, chooses something that reflects His love in a far deeper and more profound way. How truly remarkable that God, in His infinite power and might,.chooses to enter human time - our time - as a tiny child, a child who reaches out to us in love, a child who invites us to return the enormous love He offers without condition. God meets us where we are. In the daily activity of our lives, God chooses US.

Jesus reaches out his tiny hands, hands that have, in a very real way, created all that has come to be. It is those hands that would reach into our hearts and turn the wills of all who live.

It is those hands, the hands of a tiny child, that hold within their grasp the salvation of the entire world. That is one of the mysteries of this often incomprehensibly wonderful time of year. And if we cannot fully understand the enormity of the gift given to us, we can all open our hearts to the love of God that is born to us once again on Christmas Day.

I wish you all a Blessed and Joyous Christmastide!

Your Brother in Christ,
+Brian