First Sunday of Advent
Please click on the image to view the newsletter:
Pastoral Letter: First Sunday of Advent
Bishop David has written us a Pastoral Letter at this very important time in the liturgical year:
Dear friends in Christ,
‘Christmas is cancelled!’ This abrupt headline appeared during September, causing consternation throughout the land. It became clearer, journalists were referring to the cultural trappings of a festive season. But there was also the lingering prospect that we may not be able to meet up with all our loved ones because of the virus. In truth, of course, Christmas cannot be cancelled. It is a historical event, one which has a wonderful implication for ourselves as we journey through these difficult days with hope. In the words of St Paul, ‘when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children.’ [1] Three centuries after the apostle wrote those words, St Athanasius reflected upon what it means that God sent his Son, born of a woman. This great theologian of Christmas lived in a time when some denied the truth of the Incarnation, that Jesus is consubstantial with the Father. And so he tells us why Jesus, ‘the incorporeal and incorruptible Word of God entered our world.’ [2] Our human minds ‘had fallen finally to the level of sensible things’. [3]
