A Message for Christmas

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given…and he will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
(Isaiah 9:6)

Dear Friends,

Jesus, whose birth we celebrate at Christmas, is known as the Prince of Peace, and yet today that region of the world into which he was born feels anything but peaceful. So for the peoples of the world today, the title Prince of Peace carries a promise that both stirs hope and challenges us.

The Christmas story invites us into the towns and villages of the Holy Land: Bethlehem, the humble setting for Jesus’ birth; Jerusalem, the heart of Jewish worship and longing for a Messiah; and Egypt, the refuge for a young family fleeing King Herod’s wrath. These places, so central to the story of God’s intervention in history, remain to this day at the centre of humanity’s struggle and yearning for peace.

Bethlehem, where Mary and Joseph found no room at the inn, is now a town surrounded by walls and checkpoints, literally concrete evidence of ongoing division and tension. The shepherds who once heard angels announcing peace would today be faced with a complex and fraught reality, where hopes for peace often feel distant.

Jerusalem, where the Magi arrived in search of a King, continues to be a city where tensions between different faiths and peoples challenge the vision of the Prince of Peace.

And Egypt, the land that offered safety to Jesus as a child, today is a place where more than 750,000 people are seeking refuge—fleeing war, poverty, or persecution across the region.

The plight of those currently living in these lands, makes it clear that the promise of peace is as urgent and necessary now as it was on that first Christmas night. But New Testament makes it plain that the peace Jesus brings is not a fleeting truce or a political arrangement. Instead it speaks of the peace that Jesus came to bring as profound reconciliation, between God and humanity, and between each of us - with all our perceived differences and divisions - as children of the one Creator.

This Christmas is a time for us to recommit ourselves to the work of peace. In our daily prayers, may we remember those who live amidst conflict and fear. In our daily actions, may we seek to be ambassadors of the Prince of Peace within our own communities — seeking to extend kindness wherever we encounter division, and love wherever we encounter hate.

May the light of Christ shine in our hearts and homes this Christmas, and may the peace of Christ, which surpasses all understanding, guard us and guide us in the year ahead.

With every blessing,
Rev Mark Hammond