Christmas Message from chairman of the Barbados Christian Council Rev. Dr Cicely Athill-Horsford.
As a whole, people look forward to Christmas with more anticipation than any other season of the year. It is truly a time of rejoicing, bright eyes, giving and receiving of gifts, much delicious food, and visiting of relatives and friends.
However, Christmas would have very little real depth of meaning apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. It is his birth that we celebrate this season of the year, and it is the Christ of Christmas that is the subject for our message.
Celebrating the birth of Jesus the Christ, is symbolised in the Gospel of John Chapter 1:14 with the declaration that “the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us”.
Beyond the familiar symbolic images of the angels, shepherds and wise men, Christians are called upon to reflect on the relationship between God the Father and the Son and then how God’s relationship extends towards us through the Holy Spirit. We are reminded that God Almighty dwells in every one of us and that His presence resides in all of creation.
Therefore, beyond any merrymaking or historical rendering is the word, sacrament and salvation that subsists in the symbolic representation of Jesus the Christ. This realisation carries a deep and year-long spirituality that offers us certain duties and obligations. That:
We recognise the presence of God in our lives day by day, that God will never forsake us regardless of circumstance.
We are to express Spiritual love to our neighbour; including those who differ from us in their theological, spiritual, or moral outlook.
We embody the call to worship, to regularly rendering praise and thanks to the Almighty God in Word and in our traditions and in Sacrament.
We engage in ecumenical discourse and discussion; to prayer- that we may all be one; to come together in discussion to recognize the commonality of praising God for the ever-unfolding of mysteries, that is Jesus’ death, resurrection, ascension and the coming of the Holy Spirit.
Let this Christmas find us bundled together in the light, that our home and family life, that as a people, church, and nation we continue in His grace as we usher in the new year.
On behalf of the executive of the Barbados Christian Council, I wish you a blessed and enjoyable Christmas.