In her much-loved children’s carol, “Once in Royal David’s City”, Cecil
Frances Alexander wrote:
Not in that poor lowly
stable, with the oxen standing by,
We shall see him, but
in heaven, set at God’s right hand on high;
When like stars his
children crowned, all in white shall wait around.
Like most of her children’s hymns, the carol presents a future hope of
being in the presence of Christ. The
message: If you are good little boys and
girls, following Jesus’ example, you will have a place in heaven. There’s nothing wrong with her message, it’s
just incomplete.
The complete good news of the child in the manger, the Word made flesh,
is that God is present among us here and now, sharing our humanity, including
our frailties and mortality.
It makes a huge difference. If we
believe that we will experience the presence of God only when this mortal life
is over, then all we need do is live upright lives, avoiding doing wrong to
others, and we have our ticket to heaven.
But, if we believe that God is incarnate in the world, then we must live
our lives seeking to encounter Christ in one another and in strangers, and
seeking to be the presence of Christ to others.
More and more at St. Philip’s, we
are moving towards living out the Incarnation in this way. We come together for fellowship, not just
around the altar, but around the tables of our Harvest Pot-luck and other
community meals. We are making a
difference in addressing poverty and hunger in our community; over 40 members
of SPC participated in the NDG Food Depot’s annual food drive, and we gave the
Depot over $1000 from our Coffeehouse and Community Yard Sale. Members and non-members came together this
fall to discuss the environmental crisis in the context of Scripture, faith and
hope, and started some small actions by which we can start to make a
difference. This Advent, a group is
gathering on Tuesday nights to explore how to deepen our personal encounters
with God in prayer and meditation.
All these actions help us to live out the spirit of Christmas, not just
once a year, but continually. By being a
vibrant community which lives out its faith, we can share the gift of the
presence of Christ with others.
As we welcome Christ into our hearts and homes once again this
Christmas, may we continue to live and to share the Incarnation throughout the
year.
May you have a blessed Christmas.
The
Rev. James B. Pratt
Rector
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