Right Reverend Bishop,

 

With all my heart I wish you a blessed celebration of the joyful event—the Nativity of Jesus Christ and the coming New Year 2022.

 

Many have already said that the past year was very difficult. The more it was difficult, hard, challenging, and full of drastic ups and downs, the deeper we can feel peace, joy, and quietude in the merciful, forgiving, and accepting Lord Jesus Christ. We know, believe, and are firmly convinced that He fully experienced the bitterness and hardness of human life as He was born on this earth. None of those born in this world has ever experienced or will ever experience what He had to go through, but He went through it honorably, in full, and manifested the perfect glory of His Father. And therefore, we can trust Him—He knows what it’s like to be born here, He knows what it is to live in a human body, He has experienced the transience of carnal existence.

 

His Birth gave us all a new hope, filled us with firm faith, and imparted perfect peace to our souls. And therefore, I sincerely wish you, your family, and your co-workers to stay focused on the manger, to stay focused on the One who was born, the One who did not spare Himself for our sakes!

 

May the grace of the One who was born be upon you, your family, and colleagues so that you and the people around you may enter the New Year merrily, courageously, and boldly!

 

Sincerely and with love in our Lord Jesus Christ,

 

Pavel Burov, president, The Union of Christian Presbyterian Churches