In the bleak midwinter ...

... we await the birth of a Savior. He comes when it seems we need him most.

This past year has witnessed our sanctuaries reduced to fetid and festering sewers, by an evil of the most perfidious kind. The Prince of Lies himself has possessed the princes of the Church, of that which Christ Himself established. The marriage bed of His Bride has been defiled by their nefarious conduct and their deliberate deceptions. Those of the faithful who are to be served, are often little more than handled, if not dismissed entirely. The faith of hundreds of souls, thousands perhaps, has been shaken. Many are disheartened, and have given up and left. The reaction seems to be as if the loss of so many sheep is a small price to pay, to preserve the status quo.

And in the coming year, we have reason to believe, that it is about to get worse.

Our sources within law enforcement and investigatory agencies tell us they have never experienced the degree of arrogance as displayed by churchmen and chanceries all over the country.

We are admonished from our pulpits one way or the other, either to play down the scandal in our midst, or to reform our own lives (which is sound advice in better times). Among the lot of them are included those who have been party to this calamity, whether by activity or passivity. Many have looked the other way, or have excused or otherwise explained away the malfeasance of their peers, perhaps out of self-preservation, or on account of their own faith being shaken.

And the Evil One targets them more than he would the rest of us, that he might do the most damage with the least effort.

We have seen this before.

Overtaken by a brutal empire, the children of Israel cried out: "How long, O Lord?" The answer came unbeknownst to them, but it came. And yet, John the Beloved tells us that "He came unto His own, and His own received Him not." And every year, on the darkest night of the year, we bear witness to the Light. It is with the knowledge that, in our darkest hour, He comes in triumph, as the King of Kings, the Sun of Justice. And so we wait in hope, as the hour comes upon us, that we may join in this triumph. For "He shall reign forever."

Emmanuel. God is with us.