Dean's Letter

December 2007
From The Very Reverend David Bird, Ph.D., Dean and Rector

Christmas Meditation

Christmas is a wonderful opportunity to witness to our belief. Yes, people are in a hurry. They have no time to chat. But wherever they go, especially when shopping, they seem to encounter Christmas music. Much of this music, of course, has little to do with the kind of carols that many of us grew up with or have come to know through the life of the Church. Yet Christmas, carefully explained, points to a discussion of Christian essentials, especially after a performance of Messiah.

Christmas is a time for giving, and not just shopping. It’s a time to contact people we have neglected or missed over the last year. It’s a time when many of the great stories we hear stress the fact that it is better to give than to receive; that people matter more than things.

During World War I, the Great War, Christmas Day was a day when troops on both sides put down their arms and ceased fighting. They realized there was a deeper message than war at the heart of world.

The celebration of Christmas for believers is a celebration that points way beyond Jesus’ birth to his character. If we would be fully human, we need only look at him and model ourselves on him.

All of us, as a necessary consequence of surviving our birth and early infancy, have imbibed a spirit of selfishness. Becoming more fully human involves moving beyond a preoccupation with self to focusing upon other people.

No life better exemplifies that crucial transition than that of Jesus of Nazareth. Let us take the opportunity, during the Christmas season to make people aware by our words and actions of the centrality of the Christian message in our lives. (Remember that at one point in history Christmas included the four weeks before Christmas, the two weeks of Christmas and all the weeks leading to Ash Wednesday.)

 
If you have friends who love Christmas carols or Christmas music but who do not have a church to go to, bring them to Trinity. You will be doing them a favor—one which invariably brings added joy to one’s life.

Have a blessed and wonderful Christmas.

— David

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