Archives for December 2022

Warm greetings to you all. As we approach our first Christmas together, I continue to give thanks that we are with one another at Ascension. 

Christmas is a season when we feel more deeply. Both joy and sorrow are sharper at this time of year. In my sermon last Sunday, I mentioned the way that Sam Wells, Vicar at St. Martin’s-in-the-Field” contrasts “for” and “with”. He says: 

“What our world needs most of all are communities of trust and support and love that show the kind of life that is possible when we believe that God is with us and rest in the hope that God’s ways will finally prevail.” (https://www.stmartin-in-the-fields.org/the-second-sunday-of-advent/)

“Emmanuel” literally means “God-is-with-us”, and the seasons of Advent, Christmas and Epiphany offer us an opportunity to reflect on God with us. 

The prologue in John’s Gospel is one of the readings we hear at Christmas. The first verse: 

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1)

And a few verses later: 

“And the Word became flesh and lived among us…” (John 1:14)

The Word (Jesus) was with God, and the Word was, and is, with us. 

If we look to God, and to Jesus as problem solvers we will wonder why there is so much turmoil, suffering, messiness, and confusion in our world. Why hasn’t God sorted it all out for us yet? We will wonder this more than ever, as we face a third Christmas with pandemic restrictions. God didn’t choose the word “for” though, God chose “with”. 

God said, together, with compassion, and grace and peace and justice we are with each other. We are with each other in joy and in sorrow. In suffering and in health and happiness. All of creation is a with and it’s in living out that with that we will find – see, kindle – a light and a love that darkness cannot extinguish.

I pray that this Christmas, we will all feel the radiance and warmth of God’s light and love. The Word among us, with us. God, with us, is the hope in Christmas. It infuses all the pain and suffering and injustice of our world with hope.  God came to us in Jesus as love – endless, limitless love – embodied.  To dwell among us to show us that it is possible to live with God – to live fully: body, mind and spirit. 

May God’s light and love infuse this Christmas with hope. May Ascension continue to be a community of trust and support and love that shows the kind of life that is possible when we believe that God is with us and rest in the hope that God’s ways will finally prevail. May the Word – God’s light and love – take flesh in us, this Christmas, and all our days. In Jesus name. 

Blessings to you all, 
Victoria+