Greetings, Diocese of Olympia.
I’m here in what will become our chapel space in Diocesan House. It’s the old library here in the mansion and something that has been under construction. When I first imagined doing a Christmas video for you, I was hoping to have a nice tree set up nearby and looking all perfect in this space and yet here we are, under construction.
Often we hear from our culture about how perfect Christmases can be. We get this in ads and in magazines and watching commercials. There’s those folks who are given Lexuses with car bows all wrapped up, and it feels as if everything has to be perfect. And yet, at least my own experience has been that Christmas sometimes is less than perfect.
Like the one from my childhood, which included the Milky, the Marvelous Milking Cow incident, or the time when I had bought a train table for my son Noah when he was little, and I hadn’t even set it up prior to Christmas Eve services and was wondering if I would get it all done. There was the Christmas that we ended up moving two days after Christmas on the 27th and thinking that we would have Chinese food for Christmas dinner, taking a page out of “A Christmas Story,” only to find that all of the Chinese restaurants near us were closed because they were Christian. And then there was one, even just two years ago, when I got COVID on the 22nd, as did two other members of my family, and I sat there on Christmas Eve in the study of the rectory watching people walk by going to services.
Christmas is often imperfect. But for me, that’s the real truth of this season because Jesus comes into the places of our lives which are unfinished. Jesus enters in not to a palace, but that stable. Coming to Bethlehem and lying there among the sheep and the cows and the donkey and being placed in a manger. Far too often, we think about the coming of Christmas as all the stuff that is perfect. And yet, Jesus meets us right where we are. And friends, that is the good news.
So as we celebrate these 12 days and as we gather with friends and loved ones, I hope that you remember that it doesn’t have to be perfect, that you don’t have to be perfect, but rather to allow Christ to enter into you again in a new way, in all of the messiness of life, so that you might truly experience hope and peace.
Wishing you and all those that you love, a very Merry Christmas. May God bless you during this time.
The Rt. Rev. Philip N. LaBelle
The Rt. Rev. Philip N. LaBelle is the Ninth Bishop in the Episcopal Diocese of Olympia. The Diocese elected Bishop LaBelle on May 18, 2024, and he was Consecrated and Ordained on September 14, 2024.
Bishop LaBelle previously served as rector of St. Mark’s Church in Southborough, Massachusetts. During his time in the Diocese of Massachusetts, Bishop LaBelle co-led the Mission Strategy Committee, served on Executive Committee and Diocesan Council, and directed the Fresh Start program. He co-founded Southborough Neighbors for Peace with Dr. Safdar Medina in their small town. The organization hosted peace vigils, began a community-wide Iftar dinner during Ramadan, established an interfaith Thanksgiving service, and sponsored other bridge-building events. Additionally, Bishop LaBelle served on the core team of Central Mass. Connections in Faith, an organization centered on fostering relationships and learning about other religious faiths through quarterly gatherings.
Read more about Bishop LaBelle.
Church of the Redeemer
Church of the Redeemer: Worshiping God, living in community, and reaching out to the world around us. We are an Episcopal Church serving north King County and south Snohomish County, Washington. As you travel your road, go with friends walking the way of Jesus at Redeemer.
Church of the Redeemer is at 6210 Northeast 181st Street in Kenmore, Washington. The campus is a short distance north of Bothell Way, near the Burke-Gilman Trail. The entrance looks like a gravel driveway. The campus is larger on the inside than it is on the outside. And we managed to hide a large building on the side of a hill that is not easily seen from the street.
The Episcopal Church welcomes you.
