His light still shines - Bishop Miller's Christmas Letter 2016
“Mild, he lays his glory by born that man no more may die
Born to raise the sons of earth born to give them second birth
Risen with healing in his wings light and life to all he brings
Hall thou Sun of Righteousness, Hail the heaven-born Prince of Peace
Hark! The Herald angels sing, “Glory to the new born king.”
(Charles Wesley, 1739. The Hymnal 1940, Hymn # 27)
Dear Friends in Christ,
For me, as I imagine for many of you, it is the hymns of Christmas that speak deeply to my sacred memory. Each Christmas as I sing the hymns that I have known and sung since childhood, I am reminded of the faithful who have accompanied me on the journey of faith. I cannot sing “Joy to the World” without a part of me being the 10 year old boy singing between my father and grandfather in a little church in Rose City, Michigan. Each time I sing ”O come all ye faithful,” I see the face of a former senior warden at the first church I served in Virginia, coming in with gusto on the bass line, “0 come let us adore him.