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  Christmas letter to ANiC parishes
... pdf version
    

16 December, 2008

My dear Friends:

Last year I sent two different Christmas letters – one to the two parishes that already had joined our new entity at the November 2007 launch, and the other to seven or eight other parishes that were “in waiting” for the opportune time to make their move. What a great joy it is then this year, to be writing this one letter to the 24 parishes that make up our ANiC family. God indeed has blessed us abundantly!

As I reflect on the various places where this is being read, I am only too aware that a number of you are celebrating Christmas in surroundings that are rather different than you were in last year; while others are wondering just how long you will be able to continue in the buildings where you have worshipped for so many years.

This beautiful Season, when we again recall “How great the Father’s love for us” that He came in the Person of the helpless Baby in a stable, we rejoice that absolutely nothing we may be called upon to endure can in any way diminish the joy that realization brings. So, for the next couple of weeks at least, I encourage you to put aside those cares, concerns, and even the fears we sometimes experience, and realize that the great gift we are bringing to the Infant Jesus is our love for Him and one another, our faith in His Word, and our determination to endure to the end.

May the Joy of this Holy Season so fill our lives with an overwhelming awareness of the real meaning of Emmanuel – God With Us that we will move forward, grateful for our past decision and more determined than ever to bring others to Him in the year ahead.
Bishop Malcolm and Marylou join Trudy and me in extending warmest greetings from our homes to yours. May it be a time of deep and abiding happiness.

With every blessing,


The Right Reverend Donald Harvey
Moderator, Anglican Network in Canada


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