A Christmas Message 

Prepare ye the way of The Lord....remember Godspell ? Actually I dont think I ever saw it but I think everyone is familiar with the tune. This is being played in Churches throughout the world at the time of writing. Because the time of writing these messages always takes place at Advent...the time of preparation. What are we preparing for ? We are preparing for the coming of The Savior. We are reminded in the Christmas Story of the young Jewish couple preparing to leave everything behind to follow God's will, (not their own), we are reminded of the shepherds who come to worship The Good Shepherd and the Three Kings who come in adoration of The Infant King. We are reminded of the way in which this incredible story unfolds, a story which produces great faith because it does not make much sense in many ways. The Creator of the world chooses to be born into the world, and having chosen to be born has no where but a manger in which to be born. Surrounded by only a few devout and faithful followers. 

For the Christian man or woman who is faithful today, this is the single most influential moment in our history, it is the incarnational starting point from which all our human motivation for good flows, it is also the end to which all we do and say and think is ultimately directed. But how many faithful men and women to we know ? Really, count them, are you one, am I ? Or are we like the many who lived in the time of Jesus and either didn't know or didn't care. Worse still are we like Herod who would not bow to the Infant King and was so incensed with fear that his kingdom might be usurped decided to slaughter the innocent first born throughout the region. Who are we today?

I propose for the Christian and non Christian reader alike, that we all vie on the side of caution and double our efforts to prepare our hearts, minds and souls for change. That we might be transformed from the selfish alcoholic and addict that we once were into a new creation. That by His grace we might never tire of becoming selfless and of loving Him, our neighbor and ourselves more as we were created to do before selfishness took over and manifest itself into our community in such a devastating and destructive fashion. Such a proposal takes much in the way of energy, of discipline of practice and perseverance. It takes a daily effort towards a lifestyle change and if we understand this years Christmas message we finally have something tangible to do so as to prepare the way. 

May John the Baptist, who truly calls us to such a preparation,  be our model. He who on recognizing The Lord declared He must increase, I must decrease. He is the epitome of the 12 steps, he is the epitome of the Christian Life and it is a life that is filled with abundant blessings, may you all recognize such blessings at this holy time and throughout the rest of your lives,

 pax et bonum, gez+

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