Participants, not spectators.

The deaths this fall of African Americans by police action in Ferguson, Cleveland, and New York, and the resultant call for law enforcement reform by communities across the country, shine a bright light on the brokenness of our human condition, particularly as it relates to fear, violence, and racism. That light falls on each of us, exposing the reality that in some ways, doubtless in more than we might like to recognize, each of us is a participant, not just a spectator. It illuminates the pervasive fear in our society and world that seems to deepen daily, both locally and globally; the culture of violence that we support through entertainment, sports, handgun access, and government, and which increasingly defines urban and rural America alike; and the racism which, in spite of the sacrifices and enlightenment of the Civil Rights movement 50 years ago, continues to eat at our souls and divide us one from another.

The star of the Nativity shines on us, as it did on the shepherds and the Magi, not only to lighten our way to the Christ who comes to save us from ourselves, but to illuminate the world in which we live and the ways we live in it. It breaks through the darkness to expose our own participation in all that obscures and obstructs the kingdom of heaven, and it reveals to us all the beloved of God whom Jesus comes through us to rescue and save.

May the holy light of God shine on you and in you this Christmastide, and through you to the world God loves, that we might be changed more fully into the likeness of Christ, and in turn, change the world.

With every blessing of the Nativity,

The Rt. Rev. Mark Hollingsworth, Jr.
Bishop of Ohio


Love God. Love your neighbor. Change the World.