For an increasing number of persons in our\ncontemporary world, the Christmas story of the birth of the Christ Child has\nbecome so commonplace that they have opted to focus, instead, on the tangential\naspects of the celebration. These include, for example, Christmas music, rather\nthan the traditional hymns and carols; the festivities and social gatherings;\nthe politically correct form of greeting during the Season, namely, \u201cHappy\nHolidays\u201d; and the enjoyment of the vacation days. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
For others, there is a spirit of cynicism which sees\nmuch of the Christian observance of the Season, with its charitable expressions,\nas a hypocritical once per year focus, and so, they move toward a position of\ndisengagement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And yet, like so much of the Judeo-Christian Scripture,\nthe narrative which is at the heart of the Christian celebration of Christmas\nstill has the power to engage, challenge, and confront those who would seek to\ngive attention to the divine initiative and revelation of love, compassion, and\nhope which constitute the core of the Christmas story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This Season calls us to perceive and to experience God in human form, as both his divinity and\nhis humanity come together in the birth and life of Jesus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The birth narrative in St. Luke 2:1-14 occurs in the\nmidst of the rawness of human experience of marginalization, exclusion and\nvulnerability. For those in our world\nwho have great regard for status, power and wealth, the birth of Jesus,\naffirmed by Christians as the manifestation of the initiative of God, in a\nPalestinian setting among a colonized people, has no appeal. By their standard,\nGod should have chosen a more appealing channel to reveal Himself to be really\ncredible. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But, the story in St. Luke is about an ordinary couple\nwhich is anticipating the birth of a baby and who find themselves displaced by\nthe orders of the ruling authority, King Herod. We live in a world today in\nwhich millions of persons are refugees, fleeing decrees or actions by governing\nauthorities in their own land or by external rulers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Like the displaced people in our world today, Mary and\nJoseph desperately searched for the hospitality that would allow a decent birth\nfor their child. Instead, they were relegated\nto a place with the animals. Not only was\nit an unhealthy environment; it was also a symbolic statement of the worth and\nvalue attributed to them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The marginalized, the\nexcluded and the vulnerable still exist in Jamaica today. They are present in\nour rural communities; the inner-city, with poor social infrastructure and\nservices; and they are the victims of gang violence and control fostered by\npartisan politics. The elderly who are abandoned\nby relatives because perhaps, they have become a burden; and the countless\nchildren in our country who are subjected to abuse, violence, and murder\nreflect a society that is comfortable providing hospitality for some in the\nInn, while relegating others to the stable among the animals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We\nwho acknowledge our affinity with the Christ child who we claim as Lord of our\nlives, are called to be the agents and instruments of the good news of\nChristmas; and in so doing, to transform the life of the marginalized, excluded\nand the vulnerable in our society. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
May\nthis experience of good news, joy, and peace, attend you and your loved ones\nthis Christmas and throughout the coming year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Most Rev. Howard Gregory<\/strong> For an increasing number of persons in our contemporary world, the Christmas story of the birth of the Christ Child has become so commonplace that they have opted to focus, instead, on the tangential aspects of the celebration. These include, for example, Christmas music, rather than the traditional hymns and carols; the festivities and social…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":610,"featured_media":18652,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-message","category-news","ctfw-has-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/610"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18651"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18651\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18653,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18651\/revisions\/18653"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Bishop of Jamaica & The Cayman Islands <\/strong>\u00a0
Archbishop of the West Indies, Primate & Metropolitan<\/strong>
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"