The mornings are dark, pitch black until after most of us have begun our days.  The hints of dawn in the eastern sky, those streaks of rose and pink that promise more and brighter light, bring hope even in the dark mid-winter.  Where do you look for that kind of hope borne on slim rays of light?

Jesus is already abroad, even in the darkness.  The hungry one fed, the street people who have their feet cared for, the humble and honored guest at your dinner table - each one offers a glimpse of that dawn, if you look closely enough.

What we have waited long for, ages and eons for, has been born among us.  He comes among us quietly, almost stealthily, in an obscure barn, long ago.  This child holds all our hope for light.  This tiny frame seems too frail to bear our yearning.  Yet the nations come streaming to this light even before he is weaned.  The divine has come to dwell in our midst, and God's eternal promise of peace, restoration, and home is made flesh. 

Where and how will you seek out this light of the world?  In what other frail frames will light expunge darkness?  The light grows with our own eager searching, light reaching out to light, divine reflection yearning for its source.  May the light of Christ light your way in the darkness, may his light spread through nations besieged by war and hunger, may we continue to search out his light in the dark places of our own hearts.

The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori

Presiding Bishop

The Episcopal Church

Dear People of Central New York,

Faithfulness requires a community.  This is true even if it is a community of two.

One reads in Scripture the complimentary accounts of the events leading to Jesus' birth in Matthew and Luke.  An angel calls forth Joseph's obedience in Matthew's Gospel.  In Luke's Gospel the angel Gabriel announces to Mary that she will bear a son, Jesus.  It was the community of faithfulness found in the two betrothed that prepared them to participate with God as the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.

As you come together to celebrate the Babe of Bethlehem in the coming days of Christmas, may you find Christ in one another, in the community of faith gathering at the Lord's table.  It is in the community that faithfulness is best expressed and formed in order that we might be a living presence for transforming the world. 

May the joy of Christ be with you and those whom you love.

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