Christmas 2022
Be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead!
1 Peter 1:6
Dear Friends,
My favorite season of the liturgical year is Advent. While the days get shorter and darkness arrives earlier, and
department stores crowd the aisles with Santas and reindeer, I bask in the delight of waiting and hoping. I don’t
know about you, but lots of folks we know feel more comfortable lately with the purple of Advent-longing than
the gold and tinsel of Madison-Avenue-Yuletide glitz. Christmas can be so much more than flickering lights,
sugar cookies, and Hallmark feel-good movies, or Currier and Ives snow scene imagery. It’s about God once
again crashing into our lives with transforming LOVE, and the untidy reality of Emmanuel, God-with-us.
In the three years since the onset of COVID-19 we are still staggering with this messiness: the reality of pandemic
suffering on a global scale, elevated prices at the gas pump and grocery store, social disruptions at work, and
fewer people at church. And God is once again enfleshed anew, born again not just in Bethlehem, but in all the
goodness and generosity around us.
There is a delightful song from the popular movie, La La Land, entitled, “Another Day of Sun.” Sure, it describes
the routine of Los Angeles weather and the bubbly optimism of Hollywood wannabees! But it also tells of the
HOPE of good people living with challenges:
I’m reaching for the heights
And chasing all the lights that shine
And when they let you down
You’ll get up off the ground
‘Cause morning rolls around
And it’s another day of sun
Here at Christ the King we are privileged to proclaim this God of Love, our God of new beginnings, because of
your kindness and generosity. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for sharing in this ministry! As we
celebrate Advent and Christmas once again, please prayerfully consider making a generous gift to Christ the
King. Our $40K Matching Gift Challenge Continues! and is made possible by the generosity of an
anonymous retreatant and donor, now through December 31, 2022. For every dollar given, it will be matched.
And thank you for empowering Christmas HOPE. Pope Francis has been thundering the message of Synodality
recently with conviction, and your goodness makes this message all the more real, a message of Synod, of
“walking together”! God bless you!
Sincerely, in the Passion of Christ.
With much Gratitude,
Fr. Jack Conley, CP Natalie Svistoonoff, MPH
Director of Ministry Executive Director