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Christmas message from Most Rev Mark Strange, Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church and Bishop of Moray, Ross and Caithness





Look up, see the stars and follow your dreams, says Most Rev Mark Strange.
Look up, see the stars and follow your dreams, says Most Rev Mark Strange.

One of the joys of living in the north is the view we have of the night skies.

No matter what is happening all around us, we can, if we choose, look up and on clear nights we can see the never-ending extent of the stars.

This year, we have witnessed wonderful displays of the Northern Lights and meteor storms sending stars shooting across the heavens.

Last thing at night, I always take one last look but I have never yet seen a new star moving across the sky and even if I did, I doubt I would follow it.

Even me whose ministry is based upon the outcome of the story which includes the star of Bethlehem, even I would probably shrug and go back indoors.

Yet it was the mystery of that star which caused the Wise Men to leave their home, the shepherds to leave their flocks and the whole of creation to rejoice in the coming saviour.

I hear people saying that it is just a story, you can’t prove it, and they are right. But what a sad life, if we only ever believed the things we could understand.

We need mystery and hope and dreams if we are to cope with this difficult world.

War in so many places, threats to our own peace, people so desperate to reach safety they risk their lives in small boats. Bethlehem is under curfew, the places of the Bible are divided, the people of Ukraine, Syria, Sudan suffer … These things are true and horrendous.

We witness them daily on our televisions, in letters and messages from those places.

I receive regular messages from Bethlehem that are asking prayers for us! While here at home, I am often challenged by those who try to tell me that there is no heavenly hope.

This Christmas, people across the world with gather to hear a story of hope. Amidst danger and indifference, they will feel uplifted by the Christ Child in the manger.

The cathedral and churches of the Highlands and Moray will be filled with people who for just that moment long to hear the choir of angels, to see the star and to hold the infant. They want it to be real even if they cannot understand how.

Faith is about hanging onto those feelings when everything is ordinary and often difficult, hanging onto the dream that there can be peace on earth and goodwill amongst people, accepting that whatever else is happening in our lives, we are loved by God.

If I only believed in God when things were good, then what does that mean? Our Christmas story it is to believe in love even when we feel loveless, to help even if it seems hopeless and persevere even when we are ignored.

This year, look up and see the stars, follow your dreams and never give up believing in the things that talk of love and hope, for if we do then life becomes just a bit colder.

For those who believe in the mystery of Christmas, rejoice and give thanks, for those who simply enjoy the day without believing, then you too have a wonderful time.

And if you have a moment look out at the night sky and if you see a bright new star, have courage and follow.


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