Dear Ones in Christ, December 22, 2025
Every year on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, we hear the familiar story of Mary, Joseph, the baby Jesus, the angels, and the shepherds. And this year, as our Diocese reflects on the theme "Faith in Action: Love Without Limits;· I find my attention being drawn especially to those shepherds - the first ones to hear the angel's announcement of Christ's birth.
Shepherds were not romanticized figures in their time, despite what Christmas cards imply. They lived on society's margins and were deemed "unclean" by the Pharisees. This means they were not welcome to worship in the Jerusalem temple.
Ironically, however, the temple's worship system depended upon the work of the shepherds. Many of the lambs they cared for were used for religious sacrifices in Jerusalem. So the shepherds' labor was considered essential, even though their very presence was rejected.
Yet it was these excluded, indispensable shepherds who first heard the announcement of the world's salvation. This was not accidental; through this choice, God was revealing God's nature and love to all.
From the very beginning, the story of Jesus's birth shows us a God whose love does not stop at the boundary lines of human fear or purity codes. God, when announcing the Good News for the world, chose the margins as the place to start. God chose those whom the world's religious powers deemed unworthy to be the very first to witness new hope breaking into the world.
We know a little bit about this in South Dakota. We know people whose livelihoods and work go largely unnoticed. We know ranchers, farmers, elders, teachers, tribal leaders, and community servants who are too often ignored and whose work is taken for granted. We know what it means to be essential and relied upon - and yet unseen and overlooked.
Yet just as God saw the shepherds in those fields, God also sees everyone whose dignity and worth have been pushed aside by society. And more than that, God views them as "beloved" and invites them to share in the work of salvation. The shepherds, in response to what they heard from the angels, went and saw! And after encountering the Christ child, they returned glorifying and praising God!
Therefore, in response to the good news of Jesus' birth, may we, like the shepherds, be a Church whose faith takes visible form, just as we proclaim in our Baptismal Covenant. May we show our faith in our works of justice, mercy, welcome, and hope. And may our love, like the love of the Christ child, have absolutely no limitations. For in the coming of the baby Jesus, God has shown the world once and for all: love has no limits ... and our faith is a faith meant to be lived.
Merry Christmas to you and to all whom you love!
The Rt. Rev. Dr. Jonathan H. Folts