Christmas Message 2025 from the Secretary General of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC) Professor Michel Abs
“A Light in the Darkness of an Age of Decline”
Professor Michel Abs
Secretary General of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC)
It is the Christmas season, the day the Word became flesh and became a human being, the day the Lord came to His own to redeem them with His pure blood for the sake of the new covenant, the covenant of the Son of Man.
The whole world rejoices in the Christmas season. Societies adorn themselves, put on the garment of celebration, and spare no expense so they may live the season and celebrate the feast that illuminates humanity’s dark night.
Yet we are not certain that, at the height of the joy and delight that accompany the feast, those celebrating truly grasp the depths of the Nativity and the symbolism of the Incarnation, or even still remember them amid the rush of festivities and the frenzy of shopping, in a society that has elevated spending and extravagance above spiritual contemplation and faithful austerity.
Across the world, the sounds of Christmas celebrations rise, noise and commotion so intense that the feast loses its true meaning and becomes a set of social occasions in which the symbolism of the event is lost and its significance fades away.
When you watch Christmas celebrations in many places around the world, you are struck by the complete absence of the Great Incarnate One around whom the occasion revolves. You are also astonished by the invention of strange forms unrelated to the event, most of them consumerist in nature, offering nothing that explains the meaning of the feast or its lesson.
An event of such importance is reduced to a collection of promotional entertainment activities that serve its purpose in no way.
This is the peak of decline that leads to the depths of darkness.
How similar tonight is to that ancient age, when humanity wandered in the abyss of error, searching for a Savior it had awaited throughout the ages.
He is the One to whom the voice crying in the wilderness pointed, the One who came as a light to the nations.
He is the One about whom the witness to the Light, the shining, burning lamp, testified.
He is the One “in whom was life, and the life was the light of men.”
He is the Light that “shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome Him.”
He is the Light that if we walk with Him, darkness will not overtake us.
He is the Light who, because of the brilliance of His radiance, the world did not recognize.
He is the manifestation of Light that conquers darkness, the darkness of the universe and the darkness of consciences.
He is Light from Light, and for the sake of Light, as we shall pray in the Week of Unity.
He is the Light of the world who saves it from the darkness of sin and despair and shows it the straight path.
He is the One whose word is a light for our way.
He is the Light of the world; whoever follows Him “will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life.”
He is the Light that keeps darkness from us so we may know where we are going.
He is the Light in whom, by our faith, we become children of light.
He is the Light that dawns from the Church of the Resurrection, proclaiming the new covenant.
He is the lamp brought out from under the basket and raised to the dome of heaven, so that it shines on all who are in the world.
He is the One who makes us light to the world.
By His birth, the Light shines anew upon the people of the earth, proclaiming to them a better time.
By His birth, every newborn becomes a new hope, and every child a promise of a higher life.
Humanity is called to see the Light, so it does not have to grope its way through the darkness of life’s noise.
The Light of love shines through the Annunciation, the Birth, the Cross, and the Resurrection.
Your Nativity, O Lord, has illuminated the world.
The star of Your birth, O Incarnate One, rose to guide the Magi coming from Babylon.
The star of Your birth, O Savior, became a light to the nations.
How much the nations drowning in fault need Your star today.
The star of Your boundless love and Your indescribable redemption.
How much our lives, swept by turmoil, need the guidance of Your Light to illuminate our paths.
Our lives—drowned in selfishness, hatred, spite, and betrayal, how thirsty they are for the gleam of Your radiance, O You through whom all things were made.
Receive us, O Savior, as partners in Your message and Your love for humankind.
Enable us, O Lord, to carry Your values to humanity so that it may be guided.
Make us, O Redeemer, bearers of Your Light until the end of time, out of mercy for humanity.
Remember us, O Lord, in Your kingdom, at the throne of grace, that we may find the way.
Your Nativity is ever glorious, O You who were born before the ages.