My Dear Brothers and Sisters,
May the grace and peace of our infant Savior — born into time some 2,000 years ago — be with you all.
This week marks the end of Advent and with it our second celebration of the Nativity of Our Lord — our patronal feast day — in this historic and infamous COVID-19 pandemic.
And while we are heartened by the fact that we are more able to come together in worship safely than we were a year ago, we also know that the virus hasn’t gone away, and may not for some time.
With that in mind it’s worth reflecting, then, on the historical significance of a different world-altering event: the birth of the Christ child himself. Our Lord did not enter a perfect world, free from death and disease, and remain untouched by agony and suffering. In fact, if we lived in a perfect world, he wouldn’t have had to enter it.
No, the Son of God came to us as a vulnerable baby boy to dwell among us in our fallen world — and ultimately to suffer and die for us — to give us life beyond this mortal coil, indeed to give us hope of eternal life.
And his coming is not merely a spiritual or theological nicety. No, the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, the God-Man himself is a historical event, two millennia ago, and is far more significant than any disease before or since. Indeed, Jesus by living and dying conquered sin and death.
This parish of Nativity of Our Lord, celebrating 100 years in 2022, has proclaimed both that historical event and theological reality for a century, thanks be to God. Let us this Christmas invite Our Newborn Lord and Savior to renew our hope in eternal life, and let that hope transform us here and now.
And may God bless you and your family.
Fr. Patrick Hipwell, Pastor