Dear Friends in Christ,

On behalf of all the members and staff of St. Paul’s Church, it is my pleasure to wish you God’s blessings, peace and joy during this Advent and Christmas season.

I am resisting the urge to say, “Merry Christmas!” It’s not that I don’t hope that your Christmas festivities will be merry. I do. It’s that everyone says, “Merry Christmas!” It has become just another way of saying, “Hello” or “Have a nice day” during the holiday season. The greeting has sort of lost its meaning. Besides, your experience of the holidays will be merry even if I don’t say it or won’t be even if I do.

From Thanksgiving through New Year’s, and especially Christmas, can be the most joyous of times or the most agonizing. People who have warm memories of Christmases past, happy childhood experiences, families intact and harmonious, loved ones present, good health and prosperity tend to enjoy greater prospects for merriment during these holidays. People whose childhood memories of family life were less happy, whose Christmases were occasions for disappointment, who miss loved-ones, who are unwell or have fallen on hard times tend to have less happy prospects during the holidays. In fact, their pain is often made even worse at this time of year.

And whether you feel your own pain or that of others at this time of year, I heartily suggest two things: that you focus on the needs of others and offer them help – by prayer and assistance, and that you join in the service Healing for the Holidays – on Sunday, December 4, at 6 pm. Focusing on God and others takes our minds off our own pains and has the power to heal.

My Christmas wish for you, then, is that you “Discover Christ Again” this Christmas season. Discover Christ as that young Jewish couple, Mary and Joseph, did when they embraced their newborn child. As they did, may you be moved to love by embracing God’s love. Discover Christ again as the innkeeper did who made room in his stable. As he did, may you make room for Him in your busy lives. Discover Christ with the angels who appeared in the nativity story, and sing for joy that God has come among us. Discover Christ as the shepherds did. May you be able, as they did, to put aside your other occupations to spend time with Him to celebrate His birth. Discover Christ again, as the Magi did in the Epiphany story when they offered Him their gifts. As they did, may you be moved to offer Him your most precious gift – your self.

Discover Christ again this Christmas – in old ways and new. Discover Him again in the lives of those close to you, in the faces of those whose paths you cross, by helping those in need, as you open gifts or cards, as you gather around the tree or the dinner table, and as you worship or sing Christmas carols. Picture Christ present in your mind’s eye. Quietly repeat some simple prayer, like this: “Jesus, be alive to us this Christmas.”

Whatever you do, I hope that you’ll discover Christ again, this Christmas and throughout 2006.