Dear Cathedral Family,
I am writing to you on December 21, the winter solstice, the shortest day and longest night of this year. This is the turning point of light in this season, for us a sacred turning toward the light that comes into our lives at Christmas. This year’s Christmas also promises to be the coldest in recent memory!
We live in a world of LED lights and central heating, both of which make our lives safe and comfortable. But these comforts can also limit our experience of the whole range and complexity of the created world that is our home, the place Jesus came to live with us and show us the way to fullness of life. Only in the darkness can we see the stars and expand our awareness beyond our present place and time into something vaster in space and eternity. Only in the cold can we become aware of the need for periods of dormancy, of withdrawal and summoning strength for the future. This is a liminal space for rest and reflection, for making room for what is going to grow.
In our Christmas worship, we will welcome the true Light that comes to us this Christmas, and we will pray for that Light to shine in our hearts so that Christ may be born in us, bringing us into new life. The angels’ glad tidings of great joy will once again come to YOU.
I look forward with eager anticipation to our worship together this Christmas and to the new life we will enjoy together in the year to come.
Faithfully,
Beverly+