Rev. Malcolm L. Eve

Presiding Elder, AME churches

“They shall call His name Emmanuel!”

Because of Christmas, most of us knew the story of Jesus' birth before we learned a whole lot of other things, and every year, especially at Christmas we review and revisit the first advent of our Lord. Yet because we are so familiar with this truth, many have lost sight of the spiritual implication and are caught up with the temporal.

But to the Christian world who have documented undisputed evidence of the incarnation which is the theological concept explaining God becoming a human being in Christ Jesus, as we think of the awesome significance of Jesus' birth and its implications for today's confused world, it should cause us to pause and regain some of the wonder of that joyous event. Emmanuel....God on earth, God in Bethlehem, God in a manger, God on a cross, God with us, in us and all around us! Especially those of us who are privileged to live in this favoured island, we can today truly count out blessings, as the impact of the tragic devastation of recent months has thrown the entire world into turmoil and has claimed the lives of thousands of innocent people and broken the spirit, and taken the joy out of countless others this Christmas, and through it all, Emmanuel has been good to us!

So we are challenged this season that our celebrating of His birth is not of a superficial nature, but that we seek a deeper dimension to the Word being made flesh, love becoming incarnate, and that it would penetrate the hearts and minds of our religious and political leaders, and every individual in this land who are endeavouring to make a difference in the lives of those who are seeking a panacea in a generation that is crying out for a harmonious relationship between government and people, management and labour, between teachers and students, between all classes and races of people in this multicultured society, that all of us will experience the transforming love that Emmanuel brought on that first silent and holy night!

Christmas reassures us that in the midst of a seemingly hopeless crisis, the war that is presently raging between nations, the economic uncertainty and social upheaval cannot destroy our hope because EMMANUEL....GOD WAS WITH US IN THE BEGINNING, HAS BEEN WITH US IN THE PAST, IS WITH US TODAY, AND WILL BE WITH US FOR EVERMORE!!

Bishop Donald G.K. Ming and the Bermuda Annual Conference of the African Methodist Episcopal Church wish for all a blessed and joyous Christmas and the fullness of Emmanuel throughout the New Year!