Dear Friends,
“Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favour rests.”
The Christ child of Christmas brings peace. The angels sang on the first Christmas night, “glory to God and peace among people.” Then, as now, the world needs peace. The number of global conflicts in 2025 and the escalating incidents of violence in our own territories are reasons for concern.
Peace is more than the absence of violence. Shalom, which is the Hebrew word for peace, embraces far more than the absence of violence. It speaks to wholeness, the total well-being of people – body, mind, and spirit. There can only be peace where there are right relationships based on justice. Jesus came to restore us to right relationships with God and with our neighbour. This is to love God with all our being and our neighbour as ourselves. God alone is the source of true and lasting peace.
Peace is not a passive characteristic. God came in Jesus, bringing peace to the world. Christ was born as one of us that we might become children of God, and Christ-like in our actions. Jesus, the Prince of peace, calls his disciples to be agents of peace. In the Sermon on the Mount, he taught that the peacemakers are children of God. (Matthew 5:9) Being a peacemaker is not always an easy pathway to trod, and we may, in the process, experience violence and even a cross, as Jesus did. This Shalom is a gift offered to those who believe and trust in Jesus, not in their own human effort. So, the hymn writer reminds us that while we celebrate the birth of Christ, we should keep the cross in focus.
Trace we the Babe, who hath retrieved our loss, from his poor manger to his bitter cross (CPWI #61 verse 5) John Byrom
My hope for us is that amid all that takes place around us daily, we may know the gift of inner peace that Christ brings – the Shalom – and shine the light of God’s love and peace all year round to every person.
May the peace of Christ be ours this season and always. A holy and blessed Christmas to all.
Sincerely in Christ,
+Leon, Jamaica & Cayman Islands
The Rt. Rev. Leon P. Golding
Bishop of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands