Merry Christmas"Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!" I want to take a moment to wish you all a blessed and merry Christmas season. And I invite you to look back over the past year and call to mind the many ways in which God has poured out his blessings upon you and your families. I pray that in the recollection, your hearts will indeed be merry. I also want to recognize that for some of you, the qualifiers of "blessed" and "merry" may sound dissonant or out of place as you reflect on this past year and your circumstances. Grief, loneliness, fear, frustration, and weariness weighs heavy on the hearts of so many. Yet regardless of the conditions and circumstances, all of us long for the miracle of Christ's Incarnation...that inbreaking into history when God’s only begotten Son takes our nature upon himself and is born into the very world he called into being. And he does this so that we, who have been born again by water and the Spirit are made God’s children by adoption and grace. This Sunday with our service of Lessons and Carols we will recall in word and song the birth of our Savior even as we await his coming again! Blessings,
Matthew+ Almighty God, you have given your only-begotten Son to take our nature upon him, and to be born of a pure virgin: Grant that we, who have been born again and made your children by adoption and grace, may daily be renewed by your Holy Spirit; through our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom with you and the same Spirit be honor and glory, now and for ever. Amen. BCP p. 213 | 
