The Most Rev Mark Strange, Bishop of Moray, Ross and Caithness and Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church offers a Christmas message and reflection, saying “At the time of writing this, I am heading home for Christmas – the meetings in Edinburgh are now over, and I will join my family as they too travel home. It is exciting, the whole sense of preparation and celebration is one I enjoy so much. It is a time to rejoice, it is the birthday of our Saviour, it is a time of celebration.
“Sadly it is also a time of isolation and anxiety for some. There are parents who feel unable to keep up with the expectations produced by our consumer driven world, people who have fallen out with family, those with nowhere to call home. Across the world there are people living in war zones and in places of food and water shortage.
We live in a divided world, a world that needs healing and love.
“We have a message which is about healing and love, the message of salvation brought about by God in the shape of a baby born in a shelter, destined to teach us of love and care before being rejected and killed and who through the resurrection offers us all the promise of eternal life. That is a message of hope and one that we need to share.
“That sharing can be by word but often the most powerful message is the one we share by giving something of ourselves, offering a meal to the hungry, working for peace in our communities and inviting the outsider into the inside of our lives and festivities.
“Enjoy Christmas, and share Christmas, it isn’t only a family time, it is a sharing time, a caring time and a loving time, a time for the world to hear us say Come and Join the Celebration.”
