Bishop Mark Strange says the first Christmas story is being played out around the world today.
As I attended my first Carol Service of the season, it was a traditional nine lessons and carols at St Peter and the Holy Rood, Thurso.
The church was busy and the singing and fellowship was wonderful, people beginning to feel a bit like Christmas.
I spoke about the singing of the angels and the difficulties faced by the present day people of Bethlehem.
Then came home to further news reports of violence, division and intolerance.
The exact opposite of the angel’s song, “Glory to God in the Highest and Peace to God’s people on Earth”
So, I considered what I might want to say to our communities this Christmastide.
I think I want to begin by reflecting on the tensions that have been seen in Inverness following announcements about accommodating asylum seekers at Cameron Barracks, but on reflection I decided to begin with the dreadful comments I have seen and at times received on social media.
The voices of hatred and misinformation are stirring up anger and hatred seen on our streets by people who have probably never set foot in the Highlands.
Yet their message is believed by so many, we can’t believe in the messengers of God proclaiming peace yet be prepared to believe a computer-generated voice on our computers calling on us to hate.
And in this heightened sense of tension and aggression, we hear people talking of keeping friends and family safe while creating an atmosphere of fear and suspicion around them.
Should I be surprised? Probably not.
I have listened this year to political leaders across the world claiming the authority to behave badly on the back of a distorted view of Christianity, Islam and Judaism.
I will leave my good friends among those communities to speak of their concerns while I tell you the Christmas story.
A long time ago, a leader of Empire told all his subjects to go and be registered in the place they were born.
People began making journeys to places they hardly knew with their spouses and children who had no link to those communities.
One couple on arrival in a town that didn’t seem to know them and didn’t want them found themselves in a byre as the young woman gave birth amidst the dung and muck.
They are then told that the local chief wants to kill all those he sees as a threat, including their child and the family must move again, fleeing across the countryside to a place that had once enslaved their people and from which their ancestors had escaped.
A family fearful for what is in front of them but more scared of those they are fleeing from.
Today, that same story is being played out across the world, people escaping from war, famine, poverty and fear.
They take huge risks and then discover they arrive in places that don’t want them, move them on, send them back.
Places being told frightening stories about people who have come seeking help.
That is the story of the Holy family, a story you will see depicted on the Christmas Cards, the Crib scenes and in the stories told at Carol Services.
I am therefore very clear that to celebrate Christmas is to celebrate the people in Bethlehem who did provide at least shelter for Mary and Joseph. To celebrate the community in Egypt that welcomed that family.
And to try in every way we can to live out the call of the angels to bring peace and goodwill to all people whatever their background.
I pray you all, and I do mean all of you, have a joyful, peaceful and prayerful Christmas.
Bishop Mark Strange, Presiding Bishop of the Scottish Episcopal Church and Bishop of the Diocese of Moray, Ross and Caithness
Do you want to respond to this article? If so, click here to submit your thoughts and they may be published in print.