In this special e-news, diocesan administrator, Ansley Tucker offers Christmas greeting and we share some upcoming events (beginning this Friday) that you can take part in virtually as Advent comes to an end and the Christmas season begins.

We may not be with one another physically to worship, but we can still celebrate the birth of Christ in meaningful ways together. Here are a few of those ways. 

Please note that, in addition to services being offered online by our cathedral, several parishes around the diocese will be coming together via Zoom, pre-recorded or live streamed worship, adhering to public health guidelines. Please visit the Find-a-Church section of the diocesan website for a listing of all our parishes and how they will be celebrating this Christmas. Each church page has a link to the parish website for more information.

A few decades ago, there was a button making the rounds at Christmas that read, “Jesus is the Reason for the Season.” It was part of a somewhat clumsy salvo by Christians who felt that Christmas had been taken hostage by the Great Cathedral Mammon, and was suffering under the implacable expectations of a culture pining after the perfect family, the best parties, the milk of human kindness, and the lost innocence of childhood. Of course, none of these things is bad in and of itself, but neither are they the essence of the Christmas message.   

As people of faith, we have the capacity to disentangle our celebrations of Christmas from what they celebrate. We can take away the turkey dinner, the tinsel and glitter, charades after dinner, and the VISA bill, and still there will be the song of the angels, and God willing to enter our pain—even the pain of pandemic—as an infant, vulnerable as we are. I wonder what more the Church could hope to say just now? God is here, among us, “Emmanuel.”    

So how shall we celebrate Christmas this year? From coast-to-coast, Anglicans have devised creative ways of celebrating together—but apart: the primate has invited all parishes and people to ring bells together at noon on Christmas day; there will be a national Lessons and Carols service live-streamed on December 18; churches across our diocese are preparing to live-stream celebrations; and our cathedral will be featured on CHEK-TV for three broadcasted services over the holidays. We encourage you to check-in with your parish, and to visit the diocesan website where you can find more information on the events mentioned above and more.

We can celebrate quietly, too, in ways that are meaningful to us as individuals. Think about what elements of our usual celebrations have felt most significant to you. If it’s prayer, pray aloud or write your own prayers. If it’s song, sing joyfully with those in your household. Light candles in your home or get outdoors to marvel at the miracle of Creation, which is a reflection of the miracle of our Lord Jesus Christ.

These are days to be creative about how we know God and to remember that while we cannot gather, God still gathers with us. Also, rest. On Sunday, December 27 we have encouraged parishes across the diocese to suspend online worship services as a gift to parish leaders who have been working so hard this year to adapt to our ever-changing circumstances. This diocesan day of rest is also time for lay people to rest—you’ve been working hard, too! We hope that you gift yourself a quiet day to take care of yourself and renew your energy.  In the meantime, may God give you grace to seek the divine presence, as the shepherds did, in the least likely of places (COVID would count!); to find God in the cooing (and wailing) of something as tiny and fragile as the infant Jesus; and to recognize that only by your tenderness and care can this promise of salvation grow to its full stature and potential.    

Yours faithfully,   

(The Very Reverend) M. Ansley Tucker
diocesan administrator and dean of Columbia     

Join Anglicans across the country for this first-ever national Advent Lessons and Carols service, to be broadcast live online. View the event at anglican.ca, on Facebook or YouTube. 

The service of Lessons and Carols is one of the most widely-anticipated and well-known events during Advent. A number of our physical worship spaces have been temporarily closed due to public health protocols related to the pandemic. Anticipating this reality, General Synod has worked with Anglican cathedrals across Canada to offer a special, national service of Lessons and Carols this Advent season, which will help us all prepare for the coming of the Kingdom of God.

“I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
and wild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!” —Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

When we want the world to know that something important has happened, we make a noise!

Whether it is a siren, clanging pots or the bells in the steeple of a church, the whole community hears about it. An ambulance or fire engine siren tells us of something catastrophic. The banging of pots may announce that a New Year has begun, or it may acknowledge the sacrifices of first line health care providers in a pandemic. For centuries, church bells have signalled worship, marked a funeral or pealed in joy at anything from a wedding to the end of a war.

In 2013, I stood in St. Peter’s Square, Vatican City, at the announcement of the new Pope. Immediately, the bells of every church in Rome began to peal out the good news.

During this pandemic and especially as we contemplate a Christmas isolated from many family and friends, it is still the time of celebrating the birth of Christ—a birth that changed the world. For that, we need to ring the bells!

I invite every parish with a bell, and every parishioner with a bell at home, to ring out our joy at 12 noon (in your applicable time zone) on Christmas Day. Let’s share with the world that despite all the restrictions and losses we are facing, Christ is born and hope is renewed.

And let’s extend the celebration online with our loved ones and communities—on Christmas Day, post your videos or photos on social media using the hashtag #HopeRingsOut as we celebrate the birth of Christ. Our digital team will compile the public posts available onto this page, as a reflection of our unity in faith. The page will be updated through the following Sunday, December 27.

Yours in Christ,

The Most Rev. Linda Nicholls
Primate, Anglican Church of Canada

General Synod social sites: 

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Parishes across our diocese are encouraged to suspend online worship services on this day to allow all parish leaders a much-needed break to rest and renew as we close out a very difficult year. Please pray for each other and our world on this day. May God's peace live in and around all of creation as we look ahead to 2021.

The diocesan synod office is closed for the holidays December 23-January 4. We hope that you and those you love have a blessed Christmas filled with joy, laughter, kindness and gratitude. Don't forget there are twelve days to the season! 

We look forward to serving you when we return on January 4, 2021. Happy New Year!