AOTS President's Christmas Message

Hello everyone and greetings of the season:

At this time of celebration for Christian communities across the world we are reminded of the lowliness of Jesus’ birth. He was born into nothing, the son of an unmarried woman and a father who stood by that woman as they made the journey to Bethlehem.

It is a story worth remembering, as many of us struggle with the mantra of consumption and “buy, buy, buy” during the Christmas period.

It is worth remembering the shepherds who gave up their jobs and travelled from afar to view the Christ child. It is worth remembering that those same shepherds might be people we would shun if they got onto a bus we were travelling on or entered a Tim Horton’s and sat in the next booth over. They would be poorly dressed – not fashionable at all. They might even smell. And they might have some crazy ideas about how one should live one’s life – just like Jesus did.

For me that is the essence of the story of the birth of the Christ child. From a little child born into nothing came great things; a philosophy of life and a spiritual purpose that is inclusive and full of the generosity of God’s love for each and every one of us. Christmas reminds us who we are by telling us the story of Jesus and calling on us to follow that story in our own lives. The story of Christmas helps us define what is important and what is not.

The merriest of Christmas to everyone.

Thank you
Jim McKibbin