Dear Students, Tutors and Associates,
I greet you with joy as we bring the season of Christmas to a close on the Feast of the Epiphany, Monday January 6. In doing so, I also wish for you and all with whom you are associated, within your own and wider church families, God's continued blessings. It is my prayer that you will experience the presence and power of Immanuel, as you wend your way through the many and varied pathways of life, here in Jamaica, the Cayman Islands and beyond.
This year, the celebration of Christmas took on a very different tone for me; one highlighting interior joy, more so than external celebration. I was drawn with the shepherds to the stable: to the mess of that smelly, unsanitary place and there, I saw God...in all his pristine glory.
As I looked on, it dawned on me that the country I call home, indeed the entire world is also in a mess! The stench of moral decay and the unsanitary conditions resulting from the shedding of innocent blood, particularly that of infants and children, would rival that stable in Bethlehem and yet...here too, God still chooses to manifest his glory...Hallelujah!
A new year, indeed a new decade has begun and with it immense possibilities for new life...the life of Jesus, to become incarnate in each one of us. It is all too easy, given the personal, social and global challenges and uncertainties we face, to throw up our hands in hopeless despair and yet...Immanuel dictates otherwise.
The light of God' presence, remains a brilliant reminder that no matter how dark our circumstances, no matter how dingy our surroundings, no matter how seemingly hopeless...when like the shepherds and Magi, we are prepared to defy convention and follow where God leads, we will behold...we will experience, his glorious presence, powerful compassion, and circumstances notwithstanding, we will experience true joy and...we will worship!
Let me encourage you all therefore, to join me in making this new year one that is free of empty resolutions but one rather, that will have us granting to our Lord and Savior Jesus, unfettered access to all that we are and all in which we will be involved. By so doing, we will actualize the spirit and essence of that famous hymn by Lawrence Tuttiett (1825-1897) Father Let Me Dedicate, the first verse of which declares...
Father let me dedicate all this year to Thee
In whatever earthly state
Thou wilt have me be.
Not from sorrow, pain or care
Freedom dare I claim;
This alone shall be my prayer:
Glorify Thy name.
May we look beyond the mess of our circumstances and situations to behold Immanuel and find strength and courage, for every day of the year ahead.
Blessed love,
Grace+