In his first Christmas message, the new Anglican Archbishop of Sydney, Kanishka Raffel, has focussed on the truth of Christmas, as our community emerges from months of restrictions.
“This is our second pandemic Christmas. We have learned a new vocabulary – words like social distancing, self-isolating and now omicron,” the Archbishop said in his video message.
“What else have we learned?” he asks. “Lockdown certainly forced us to consider the essentials of life – some of us even took up bread-making. There's something basic about that - we humans have always broken bread to share and connect with each other.
“Jesus came into the world and told his disciples “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry...” Jesus is no mere man. He is the one whom God has sent into the world to be our life - the source of our life.”
Archbishop Raffel was elected in May as the new Archbishop of Sydney, after six years at St Andrew’s Cathedral as Dean of Sydney.
“I hope there will be food to share on your Christmas table – and people you love around it. We have missed that so much during lockdown. But don't miss the truth of Christmas. See who Jesus really is. He says to us this Christmas – come, believe, and trust in me.”
Watch Cathedral Christmas service
