Bishop Piper’s Christmas Message 2006

Recently I read of a new mother and her friend celebrating the birth of her first child.  An acquaintance saw them and asked what they were doing celebrating in such fine style.  They explained the occasion.  When the acquaintance asked where the baby was the new mother answered, “We left the baby at home with the father.  We didn’t want our celebration to be interrupted”.

Sometimes Christmas can be like this.

Christmas is a great time for festivities isn’t it?  It is a time for getting the family together, eating and drinking well, giving gifts to each other, getting ready for holidays, writing Christmas cards to many friends and generally having happy times.  Sometimes however we are so busy preparing for or so enjoying the occasion that we “leave the baby out of our celebrations”.

I don’t wish to be a killjoy and let me say we are delighted to have our family together for Christmas dinner but it really is easy to overlook the reason for the celebration.

It really is good news of a great joy that Gods King has come.  How wonderfully grand it is that God has been born among us.  The agent and heir of creation, the sustainer of all things, the eternal one, the first up from the dead, the second person of the Trinity, God himself has come and dwelt among us.  How immeasurably great it is that the Saviour has been born.  Through him we have forgiveness of sins, we receive the Holy Spirit of promise and we will enjoy the eternal glory.

When we ponder these things all the festivities of Christmas fade a bit don’t they?

I hope that you have a very happy and holy Christmas.

Reg Piper
Anglican Bishop of Wollongong

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