NEWS TEXTS: Clinton, religious leaders issue Christmas messages

c. 1997 Religion News Service UNDATED _ Here are the texts of the Christmas messages issued by President Clinton and a number of world and U.S. religious leaders: President Clinton’s Christmas greeting: Warm greetings to everyone celebrating Christmas. At this time of year, when the nights grow longer and often colder, our lives are brightened […]

c. 1997 Religion News Service

UNDATED _ Here are the texts of the Christmas messages issued by President Clinton and a number of world and U.S. religious leaders:


President Clinton’s Christmas greeting:

Warm greetings to everyone celebrating Christmas.

At this time of year, when the nights grow longer and often colder, our lives are brightened and our hearts warmed by the lights of Christmas. So much light surrounds our memories and celebration of Christmas: candlelight in the windows, colored lights twinkling on the tree, children’s faces lit with a joy that is reflected in their parents’ eyes. The beloved Christmas story itself is a story of light, for, as the Gospel of John tells us, Jesus came into the world as”the true Light”that illumines all humankind.

Almost 2,000 years later, that Light still shines amid the dark places of our world. It is reflected in the lives of so many quiet and generous people who strive daily to make life better for others _ feeding the hungry, caring for the ill and elderly, cherishing and nurturing children. It radiates from the hearts of those who work for peace and justice in their communities, our nation, and the world. It shines in the efforts of men and women striving to break down the walls of fear, ignorance, and prejudice that cast shadows across too many lives and prevent us from becoming the people God intended us to be.

May all who celebrate Christmas this year rejoice in the special gifts of light that it brings: the love that warms our hearts, the faith that lights our journey, and the hope that promises us a bright future. Hillary and I wish you joy and peace during this Christmas season and much happiness in the New Year.

The Rev. Konrad Raiser, general secretary, World Council of Churches:

Once again, at Christmas we hear the message of the angels who sing:”Glory to God in the highest heaven and on Earth peace to all in whom he delights”(Luke 2:14). This was and is the announcement that a new era, the reign of the Prince of Peace, has begun.

We hear the message. It responds to our deepest longings but we still wait for its fulfillment. Who can count those who were killed during this year in wars and military confrontation, those who were massacred as defenseless victims of terrorism? More than ever the world seems to be held captive to the unending cycle of fighting and killing, of victory and revenge, of merciless competition for power, and of a culture of violence in which only the winner counts.

And yet, the reign of the Prince of Peace has begun. It does not make the headlines. It escapes the focus of TV cameras. It does not conform to the law that the winner takes all and can impose the terms of peace. The new era of peace which began with the birth of Jesus continues today among the little ones, those who are forgotten, excluded and lost.

These are those whom God loves and in whom he delights. For, as Mary the mother of Jesus said,”(God) has lifted up the lowly and has filled the hungry with good things”(Luke 1:52).

Is this real, or is it wishful thinking? We may indeed need new eyes to discover the ways in which God’s reign of peace shows itself in our time. And there are examples, like parables, pointing to this different reality.


In August this year, the World Council of Churches launched a”Peace to the City”campaign as the initial focus of its Program to Overcome Violence. The campaign is designed to make visible the efforts of those often unknown groups of women and men who dare to be peacemakers in the midst of a culture of violence. They live among us in our troubled cities, like Belfast and Boston, Rio and Colombo, Suva in Fiji, Durban and Kingston. They live and work among street children and urban gangs. They seek to mediate between ethnic groups, and protect minorities. They monitor police actions and help to improve run-down neighborhoods.

Through their lives and actions, they help a culture of peace to emerge. These people of peace are signs that the reign of the Prince of Peace has begun. It is real. In this, today’s peacemakers echo the Christmas message of the angels:”Glory to God in the highest heaven and on Earth peace to all in whom he delights.” The Rev. H. George Anderson, presiding bishop, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America:”Peace on Earth”must become more than the song of angels. It must become the everyday motto of human beings who make decisions and choose leaders.

The Christmas story tells of one who came so that all of us might live in peace. Yet Jesus of Nazareth found few who dared to follow his example. He became a center of controversy and ultimately gave his life for God’s mission of peace.

It is significant that we talk about”declaring war”but we never speak of”declaring peace.”Deep down we know that peace is more than just talk; it takes work. Sometimes it takes courage _ even sacrifice.

This Christmas season can be a time to ask ourselves how we can”make peace”instead of just talking about it.

Presiding Bishop Edmond L. Browning of the Episcopal Church:

How can it be that each year, once again, we await with excitement the arrival of Christmas? How can it be that each year we count forward the days, no matter how many Christmases we remember, no matter how many trees we have covered with glitter and light and so soon carried out amid a shower of falling needles, no matter that not all memories of Christmas past bring joy and satisfaction. No matter.


Even so, each year, our sense of anticipation rises, not yet beaten down by commercialization, or exhaustion, or earlier disappointments. How can it be that the message of Christmas is heard once again over the jingle of bells and the electronic whirring of the cash register? How can it be?

Is it a miracle, beyond our human understanding? Indeed not, and that, my dear sisters and brothers is the glorious paradox of it all: The story lives on and never fails to amaze us because of, and in spite of, our humanity and the humanity of Jesus.

Because of men and women who have heard and remembered, the story of God’s love is as real, and as amazing, now as it was two centuries ago. To this day we remain amazed that God’s Word would take on human flesh, and all that goes with it: frailty, weakness, a divided mind and a heart ready for breaking. To this day we are almost incredulous that God’s son would be afflicted by all that assails our human selves and leads, in the end, to the death of our mortal flesh.

The message of Christmas has been carried forward by God’s people, in spite of our human frailties and failures. Ringing down through the centuries, the message of the birth of the Holy Child lives on. The Good News has been carried forward to this very day, by generations of faithful women and men who felt as inadequate in their time as we do in ours. Empowered by the Spirit of God, and the memory of Jesus, we human creatures have followed Jesus and struggled forward through the centuries, wondering sometimes how, for Heaven’s sake, this had all come to be.

The message has survived and we today are left to carry it forward, in spite of and because of who we are. Who would have thought that such an important work could have been left to us, but indeed it has been. We have discovered that it is we, all of us in all our frailty, to whom the message has been given. It’s up to us. We delight again in the fresh wonder of Christmas, and we pass the story forward to the next generation. We carry on, in our human way, the work of the angel heralds.

So, go and tell the story with a heart full of the love of the Holy Child. My prayers are with you, as is my thanks to each and all of you for your witness. God bless you.


Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey:

Dear friends of the Anglican Communion:

One of my all-time favorite Christmas stories is Charles Dickens”A Christmas Carol.”You will know it so well that it is hardly necessary to repeat the story. It is a real heart-tugger as the selfish old skinflint, Scrooge, is shown the truth about how so much of humanity lives with suffering and discovers the joy of sharing his wealth. It would be a mistake, however, to see it only as Scrooge learning to give. The story is also about him learning to receive. I don’t believe, you see, that Scrooge was totally bad. He believed in hard work and he had had many disappointments in earlier life. But over the years he became hardened to the struggles of others and indifferent to their needs. As he withdrew from others he failed to see that he was shrinking inside and that his capacity to love, which is the essence of humanity, was dying. He lost the ability to see the beauty of others and the joy of receiving love from others. Surely, there cannot be a more perfect ending to a story than when Scrooge is moved to mark Christmas by meeting the needs of Bob Cratchett’s family and Tiny Tim in particular. As he gives, so he receives in seeing the obvious delight of that unfortunate family.

We, too, know the pleasure of giving at Christmas. How we rejoice as we see the gratitude of our family and friends as they open the presents we give them. It doesn’t have to be much to give real pleasure to people.”It is the thought that counts”we often say and it is true.

Giving is a truly ennobling thing and speaks of the character of God himself in his total and unconditional love for Creation.

God’s gift of Christ is, of course, central to all our Christmas celebrations. How God, too, rejoices as he sees his precious gift of love changing us. The challenge of Christmas for us, as we seek to respond to God’s gift, is whether we are able to receive him afresh, to allow ourselves to be open to the promptings of the Spirit, rather than turning in on ourselves and closing off from God in a Scrooge-like defensiveness and selfishness.

The gifts which will be brought to the Lambeth Conference next year will be many and diverse. We all bring something from our own experience, our own journey of discipleship, and that of the churches in which we serve, which will enrich the conference. All of us have stories to tell. It is one of the greatest privileges of my ministry, as I travel round the (Anglican) communion each year, to see and hear those stories in action, whether in Australia, Jerusalem or Pakistan. The days are long gone when our gathering was dominated by the `richer’ provinces lecturing and giving to the `poorer.’

The richness of the ministry and mission of the Anglican Communion today can be seen in every single province. Certainly, some places may be richer in the materialistic sense of the word, but the riches of faith, joy and vitality that are winning so many new souls for Christ today are not controlled by money. Many of us can only sit back in admiration at the stories of church growth in so many places where material poverty is so rife. The Gospel, faithfully preached and lived, transcends such human divisions, and we must learn that message.


I have a dream for Lambeth 1998 that I want to share with you. My dream is that our gathering in Canterbury will be truly infused by faith and joy and vitality; that the true spirit of Christmas, of God’s giving and our receiving of the gift of Jesus Christ, will transfigure the conference, so that whatever tensions and divisions we have to face, our life of discipleship and witness will be strengthened by the experience of being, talking and worshipping together.

I hope that every bishop and his or her spouse will come prepared to give, to share their story. Some will bring gifts of mission, liturgy, faith learned through persecution and suffering, scholarship, leadership and pastoral oversight. I have no doubt that we shall all be truly blessed by the huge range of gifts which we will bring.

But part of my dream is also of each person coming to receive _ to receive from the insights and giftedness of others, to hear the stories which others have to tell, to enter into the extraordinary and unique experiences which have molded each of us on our path of discipleship. It will be shameful if people come simply with their own agendas to `force’ others to accept their point of view. That’s not true giving; that’s dictatorship. The conference will only be a success if we come in a spirit of humility, eager to embrace one another as fellow disciples and pilgrims. …

I have to confess that there is a Scrooge in me that wants to protect all that I hold dear, to defend myself from the insights and challenges of even my companions in faith. Equally, however, I hope the Christ in me is constantly challenging this instinct, prompting me to listen to what they have to teach me and to receive and surrender to their wisdom. I hope he prompts us all to offer ourselves in willing surrender to others.

MJP END RNS

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