Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, ²but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds. ³He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word. – Hebrews 1:1-3

December 2020

Dear Friends,

We will look back on the Year of our Lord 2020 with a combination of amazement and loathing. Amazement, that we made it through to 2021. Loathing, knowing that as of today, over 1,500,000 of our neighbors, friends, and family around the world did not, and 2021 will likely see much more suffering and death before things begin to change for the better. When that better day comes, we will most surely look back and ask ourselves, “How was it we made it through those difficult and challenging days?”

There are many ways one could answer that question, but for followers of Christ, we must first recognize that it is God who sustains us, in Christ, through this and ever trial. If not for God’s abiding presence, we would most surely find ourselves wandering lost and bewildered. Yet, because, as the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews puts it, “He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being, (and) he sustains all things…”

This, my friends, is what the mystery of the Incarnation is all about, the awareness of God’s sustaining love, in the Son, given to the world to save us from sin, sickness, and death. There is not anything in this world, not COVID-19, not hell itself, that can separate us from the love that abides and sustains, the love that, as the lovely Christmas hymn, by Christina Rossetti goes, “came down at Christmas.”

Love came down at Christmas
Love all lovely, love divine
Love was born at Christmas
Star and angels gave the sign

May we all know the love born at Christmas. May it fill our hearts and sustain us all our days.

Peace,
The Rev. C. Earl Mahan, Rector