My Sisters and Brothers,
 
Martin Luther King, Jr began his last Christmas sermon before being assassinated with this line,
 
"This Christmas season finds us a rather bewildered human race. We have neither peace within nor peace without. Everywhere paralyzing fears harrow people by day and haunt them by night. Our world is sick with war; everywhere we turn we see its ominous possibilities. Paralyzing fears harrow people by day and haunt them by night."
 
Those words ring as true now as they did in 1967. From Ukraine to Gaza to Sudan to places that get less attention, our world is sick with war. The future seems beset with ominous possibilities. Our contemporary world has many of us feeling rather bewildered. We are in an anxious and angry age of suspicion, division, and disarray. It is hard to hold onto peace within, when there is so little peace without.
 
And yet.
 In spite of all, we dare to sing with the angels,
 
Glory to God in the highest heaven,
            and on earth peace among those whom he favors!
            (Luke 2:14)
 
We hold to the bold claim that in the coming of Jesus, a new possibility for peace and joy and love was born into the world. And thus, a new possibility of hope that transcends the circumstances of this world and of our own lives.
 
To be sure, it is all too evident that the peace of the kingdom of God and the New Jerusalem is not yet. But Jesus’ coming has secured the promise that it will. And, in the meantime, a foretaste of that peace can be born within us. Even “in this world of sin, where meek souls will receive Him still, the dear Christ enters in.” Inviting Christ into more and more of our hearts allows for more and more of his love, joy, and peace to enlighten our lives.
 
The peace within that we know in Christ can lead us to be beacons and agents of peace in the world around us. We can agree with MLK, Jr that the “Christmas hope for peace and goodwill toward all [people] can no longer be dismissed as a kind of pious dream of some utopian hoper.” But that calls for a disciplined commitment to following Jesus on the path of peace. Because of the tender mercy of our God the Light of Christ shines on those who sit in darkness and death’s shadow, to guide our feet into the path of peace (cf. Luke 1:78-79). Friends, may we be filled with that Light and be beacons of the love, joy and hope of Jesus, setting our feet on the path of peace that we might be peace makers in these anxious, angry and too often violent times.
 
In this holy season, may you each know and feel in the deep places of your spirit the abiding peace of Jesus Christ.
 
Merry Christmas,
Bishop Matt

​Dear Friends,

From time immemorial people have gathered around campfires, fireplaces, and stoves for warmth and light. And the fire has been the center of community, whether of family, friends, or strangers crossing paths on the way. Before central heating, the hearth was the heart of any home.

One of my favorite paintings of the Nativity is ‘The Adoration of the Shepherds’ long attributed to Rembrandt, but now thought to be by one of his students. In the painting, Jesus, lying in the manger, glows with warmth and light. Mary and Joseph are illuminated as they kneel near the holy Baby. Shepherds and others are gathered around Jesus as if drawing near to a fire to escape the gloomy cold of night.

Whether or not Jesus actually glowed with light and warmth, the painting points to the understanding that Jesus is the light of the Truth and the warmth of the Love at the heart of everything. He is the fire in the equation of reality enfleshed to reveal the truth of who we are and who we are meant to be as beings created in the image of God. He embodied the love that is lived within the Holy Trinity from eternity. 

On Christmas, the manger became the hearth of the world bearing the light and love of God into this cold and gloomy world. There is goodness and beauty in the world for sure. And in each of us. But there is also the gloom of ignorance, dishonesty, prejudice, and greed. There is the coldness of selfishness, division, meanness, and violence. Increasingly, we are disconnected, isolated, anxious, fearful, and lonely. At Christmas we are reminded that One has come to invite us to gather together out of the gloomy cold and draw near the Fire that he is to be enlightened and warmed by his truth and love.

In the coming year, may our congregations glow with the light and love of Jesus. May each member bear that light and love into the anxious, lonely, divided world around us. May we better see others in the light of God’s love. May we especially bear that love to those who the world pushes into the shadows. Maybe part of our vocation as disciples of Jesus in these times is to be connectors – to remind ourselves and others of the truth that we belong to one another and to engage with others regardless of affinity or agreement. By doing so, we can take the light and warmth we have experienced from the Hearth to the hearts of those we encounter.

Merry Christmas,

Bishop Matt