Date: December 20, 2024
We only have a limited number of Christmas days in a given life. So, we all reach another landmark. Christmas 2024. It descends upon us and passes quickly into the new year of 2025. For parents, it is another moment when children are excited, looking forward to their gifts from Santa. For families, it is another chance to gather and enjoy the delights of the season.
For Christians, it is a moment when we pause and marvel afresh at the claim that God became human and became a babe born of a teenager (as Mary probably was, given the conventions of the time) in Bethlehem. It is the miracle of divine love – a passion for humanity such that God seeks to connect, reveal, and redeem us all.
This is my last commentary of 2024; it all restarts in 2025. So, my final words of 2024 are simply this: enter into the spirit of the season, enjoy every moment. And may God bless you all this Christmas season.
The Very Rev. Ian S. Markham, Ph.D.
Dean and President of the Virginia Theological Seminary and the President of The General Theological Seminary