Dear Sisters and Brothers of the LCMS,

Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel, which means, "God is with us".
Matthew 1:23

Voters' registration. Traffic congestion. Escalating cost of living. Unmarried mothers. Noise. Confusion. These are descriptions that we probably associate with our beloved capital city Kuala Lumpur in recent times. However, it could well be the picture of the little town of Bethlehem of 2000 years ago!

Among my family's Christmas decorations, my favorite is the nativity set which is always placed at the center of our table. If we were to look carefully at the clay figurines, we could see Mary in her "Dynamo"-cleaned clothing. Joseph in his immaculately ironed robes. The Baby Jesus is wrapped in hospital-standard white blankets. Even the animals are amazingly well behaved. This is same picture that we most likely see in all the Christmas cards we received.

But the gospel writers' portrayal of the birth of Christ is rather different. The manner in which Jesus was born is the least most people expected it to be. The Desire of Nations born in a feeding trough of animals? The Prince of Peace born in a noisy, stuffy and dirty cowshed? The Wonderful Counselor born amidst all the noise and confusion? Not quite up to our expectations, but it was real. In this God-choreographed way, the Messiah was born to be the Immanuel - God is with us.

Though not a pretty picture, yet this description of Christ's birth is far more helpful to us today. This is because our life is often not as neat and tidy and under-controlled as we wish it to be. In fact, life is often filled with lots of noise and confusion, ups and downs in the journey, and the unexpected tends to happen more frequently than the planned. But into this messiness of our lives Christ comes. Christmas is a message of the True Light breaking into darkness of our world. It is about the Prince of Peace restoring sanity into the chaos of our lives. It is a message that God is with us.

In the midst of the recent turmoil in our country, this message of hope and life is that which we need to proclaim. This is the good news that I wish to share with you on this wonderful day. Together with the Executive Council, I wish you and your families a "A Merry Christmas and a Blessed 2008!"

May the Lord bless our nation and the Lutheran Church in Malaysia & Singapore.

The Rt. Revd. Philip Lok Oi-Peng
Bishop of the Lutheran Church in Malaysia & Singapore

會督2007年聖誕節的信息

親愛的弟兄姐妹，

說：必有童女懷孕生子，人要稱他的名為以馬內利。（以馬內利翻出來就是【上帝與我們同在】。）
太1：23

投票登記、交通擁擠、節節上升的生活費、未婚媽媽、吵雜聲、混亂，這些可能是我們對現今吉隆坡市的描述，但也是2000年前在伯利恆小城鎮的景象。

在我的家庭裝飾中，本人最喜歡的是耶穌降生的裝飾，我經常把它擺放在桌子中央，如果細察這些泥像，我們不難看到馬利亞穿著乾淨的衣服、約瑟穿著平滑的袍子、嬰孩耶穌包著醫院標準白色的被子，甚至是動物也出奇地乖巧，這樣的景象在聖誕卡上也能看到。

但是，福音書的作者對主耶穌降生有相當不一樣的描述，主耶穌降生的情況並非如一般人所期望的，民族的盼望是出生在動物餵食的水槽里？和平之君是出生在一個吵雜、悶熱及骯髒的牛舍？奇妙策士是在吵雜及混亂中降生？不是我們所期望的， 但確是事實。在上帝的主導下，彌撒亞降生為以馬內利－上帝與我們同在。

雖然不是一副美麗的圖像，但主基督誕生的描述對我們現今依然大有幫助，因為我們的生活常常不像自己期望中，那麼的有次序及在掌握中，生活經常充滿著很多的吵雜聲及混亂、過程起伏不定、意料之外的事比計劃中的事發生得更頻繁，但主基督來到我們混亂的生活中，聖誕節帶來的信息是真光穿過我們黑暗的世界，和平之君修復我們混亂的生活，是上帝與我們同在的信息。

最近在本國發生的騷動中，我們須宣講這個帶有盼望及生命的信息，也是我在這美好的一天願與大家分享的好消息，本人謹代表執行議會及家人，祝福大家有個快樂的聖誕節及蒙福的2008年!

願上帝祝福我們的國家及馬新基督教信義會。

陸愛平
馬新基督教信義會會督