Bishop Steven shares a Christmas Eve reflection, inspired by the beautiful new window in Christ Church Cathedral. You can also watch the message on YouTube.
No one has ever seen God
A very happy Christmas to you and yours.
All through Advent this is the image which has been in my mind. It’s a detail from the beautiful new window in Christ Church Cathedral, which tells the story of the prodigal son in stained glass.
This detail shows the father in the story embracing the son when he comes home. The father’s face is full of compassion and joy and love. The son is leaning into his father’s embrace.
Every year on Christmas Eve we read these words from John 1:
No-one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.
Those words are so profound. The key question in our lives is not so much whether we believe in God as what kind of God we believe in. How do we know what God is like? Might God be angry or moody or cruel or indifferent or unforgiving or simply not interested in the details of our lives?
As John 1 tells us clearly, no-one has ever seen God.
How then do we know what God is like?
This is what God is like. It is God, the only Son who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.
We see what God is like in Jesus. In his humility, in his compassion, in his kindness, in his mercy. In his miracles of healing. In his stories – especially this story about the Father. Jesus knows the Father’s heart and he has made him known.
This is the reason for the season, lest we forget. Christmas is the celebration of God’s kindness and mercy and patience and love.
Remember today that God loves you. That God longs for us all to come home, to lean into this powerful embrace, to draw strength for each day.
There will be many challenges in the coming year. This year will be a year of change for me as I lay down this ministry as Bishop of this Diocese. I don’t know what this year will bring for you.
But I do know that from time to time, I may forget what God is like. And I will come back to this window, to this picture, to this verse from the gospel of John:
No-one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known
May God open your heart to receive his love, and may God bless you and your families this Christmas time.
Each week of Advent, one of our bishops is sharing a personal reflection for the season. Catch up now: