For the grace of God has appeared,
bringing salvation to all….
Titus 2:11
On a wall in a concentration camp barrack, a prisoner had scratched an inscription: “We believe in the sun even when it does not shine. And we believe in God even when we do not see God!”
The inscription is an irrepressible and strong expression of the hope in God that sprouts even in the most hopeless places. The message is scratched into the wall – perhaps to hold it firmly and to share it with the other prisoners for encouragement and hope.
Like the prisoner, the apostle Paul also wrote words of hope to sustain faith. But he did not scratch these words on a wall. Paul wrote them in a letter to his friend, fellow believer and co-worker, Titus. Together, they were building a new congregation on the Greek island of Crete. When Paul had to continue his missionary journey, he left Titus there with the task of choosing elders for the new congregation. Soon after, he sent these encouraging words back:
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all….
The words express the core of the Christmas message: That God came very close to us in Jesus Christ to proclaim God’s grace and forgiveness. They remind us of God’s intervention in the world over 2000 years ago, of something that has already happened.
At the same time they remind us of something that will happen again this Christmas. God’s salvation is brought to us anew as God’s healing action through Jesus Christ – for the joy of people and for peace in the world.
In Viborg, where I live, we have a nice little lake with an outlet to a stream. There is a bridge over the stream. Here, when hiking, you often stop and look down at the water running under the bridge. And then there are two options: you can look in the direction where the water flows away from you, or you can look in the direction where the water comes to you.
It can be this way in human life. We can often feel drawn to look back – to miss what was, to sigh over what was not, to be weighed down by neglect, failure and defeat, or simply to dwell on how time slipped away from us.
But we can also turn in the other direction. See how time comes to us, how there are always new opportunities. We can lift up our heads, hope and look forward.
We can read Paul’s encouraging words to Titus as written also for us, who today have the task of spreading God’s Word and building the church as Paul once did. These words maintain a duality: they point back to the birth of Jesus as an event in salvation history, where God came very close to humanity. Yet they also point forward, reminding us that God’s salvation comes to us anew each Christmas, bringing hope for the present and future.
During a recent visit to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land, I had a chance to visit the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. It was moving to visit this place, which is in itself a message of peace and hope in the midst of cruel realities, in the midst of uncertainty, oppression, and isolation. In this very place God’s light came to earth!
Yet here, the darkness is most profound. The contrast could not be starker.
But if we cannot see the light –
then we must be the light ourselves.
After our stay at the Church of the Nativity, we visited Dar El Kalima School, which is run by the Lutheran Church. Here we met several
students. A young female student told us what it was like to be young in Bethlehem today. And she concluded: “It is difficult to see the light in circumstances that surround us. But if we cannot see the light – then we must be the light ourselves.”
What a strong, courageous and reconciling message this young Palestinian girl gave to us.
In a world that seems increasingly divided, where words can be harsh, and where conflicts – both those out in the world and those lived out
in small ways – are pulling us further apart, we need the message of Christmas. Because Christmas speaks about what unites us. It reminds
us that hope does not come from ourselves – but to us.
In the midst of all that divides, the angel’s words still ring: “Fear not – for I bring you good news of great joy.” So let the Christmas light this year radiate justice and reconciliation. Let us, in the words of that young woman, be lights for each other, wherever we stand.
I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year.
Bishop Henrik Stubkjær
President of The Lutheran World Federation
