The Episcopal Church of Sudan

ECS CrestThe Province of the Episcopal Church of the Sudan

Christmas Message

 By His Grace the Most Rev. Canon Dr. Daniel Deng Bul Yak
Archbishop, Primate and Metropolitan of the Province of the Episcopal Church of the Sudan and Bishop of the Diocese of Juba

Christmas Greetings and a Happy New Year

Text: Isaiah 52:7-10, Hebrews 1:1-12, John 1: 1-14

On my own behalf and on behalf of the ECS family, I thank God the Almighty for the gift of life he has given us.  We must not forget our brothers and sisters who have passed away during the last twelve months.  May the Almighty God keep them where we are going to meet them at the last day.

“The word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.  We have seen his glory.  The glory of the only one who came from the Father full of grace and Truth.”

All who welcome Jesus Christ as Lord of their lives are reborn spiritually, receiving new life from God.  This new birth changes us from the inside, rearranging our attitudes, desires, and motives.  Being born of God makes you spiritually alive and puts you in God’s family.  A fresh start in life is available to all who believe in Christ.
Philippians 2: 5-11 says that He did not give up his deity to become human, but he set aside the right to his glory and power in submission to the Father.  He revealed God to us.  He came from heaven, not from the dust as we are, and he is the Lord of all.  He is completely Holy.

“Those who bring good news are blessed it is wonderful to be able to share God’s good news with others, the news of redemption and salvation and peace” (Isaiah 52:7)

In the time of the Old Testament, God spoke to the people in many ways.  He spoke to Isaiah in a vision.  He spoke to Jacob in dreams.  He spoke to Abraham and Moses personally.  Finally in Christ He came to us in the form of a human being and He dwelled among us, Him who by all things were created.  Christ will never change.  He is always fair, just, and merciful to us.  We, however, are corrupted.  We need a revival of righteousness, justice, and faithfulness.  We need to turn from selfishness, and give justice a chance.

Whatever happens in this world, Christ remains forever changeless. If we trust him, we are absolutely secure because we stand on the firmest foundation in the universe.

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We will be empowered to serve God and the nation and will become part of God’s plan to build up His Church.  We are to kill the power of sin within us.  We must ignore temptation when it comes.  The world is decaying spiritually, infected with sin.  Christians, let us go to the world and heal the world.  (John 1:1-14)

There is no alternative to the CPA.  It must be fully implemented by both signatories, and it must be fully supported by those guarantor governments who promised to do so in 2005.  Those international guarantors and the stakeholders must take full heed of the crises affecting the country and be active according to their promises made to the Sudanese people.

I am appealing again, this time to my people of Sudan, especially tribes in Jonglei State, Dinka, Lou Nuer, Murle, and others.  Please put your differences away at this crucial time in the history of our nation.  God and history will not forgive those who will be destroying the future history of our nation.

Why are you working against your own rights?  Your environment is being polluted by the oil companies in Unity State and Upper Nile State.  Your own people are being displaced by the profit making of others.  Why are you selling your own country to foreign interest?  Your own brothers in Western Equatoria are being killed by the LRA.  When are you going to stand with them?

I am appealing to the faithful denominations living in these tribes mentioned above, to step up their prophetic role.  We have no time left to save the CPA from collapsing.  We are preparing our people for them to choose the right path for themselves.

As the Church, we support the right of every individual Sudanese citizen to have a free and fair say in the future of the Sudan.  Your vote will determine the future of the Sudan to be one or separate states.

I am appealing to both the Government of north and south Sudan, and the international community.  There is a threat of famine to the lives of our people due to the failure of rains in various parts of the country this year, tribal clashes in Jonglei, and displacements by the LRA in Western Equatoria.  This has created a hunger gap.  We need urgent support to these communities before it is too late.

We express our sadness at the missed opportunities for making the unity of the Sudan attractive, since the signing of the CPA.  The lack of reconciliation, the lack of transparency, the failure to repeal laws which are contrary to the spirit of the CPA in order to guarantee equality and freedom for all.  Unity has not been made attractive in the way things are moving.

The Episcopal Church of the Sudan holds those who are making unity unattractive to the people of Sudan responsible for what is going to happen to the CPA and to the people.  God is our witness.  God will find them, and they will not be allowed to go away with the rights of others.

Woe to the killers.  Where are we going?  Where are we going?

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If you want God’s blessing on your life and you want to be known as a child of God, you must learn to be a peace maker, as “God blesses those who work for peace for they will be called the children of God.”

Jesus Christ came, died and ascended to heaven and will return to earth as a King of Kings when He will rule the world and judge all people according to their activities.  Let Christ grow up in your life, trusting that God is in charge, that we are free from the sentence of death for our sins, and that we are also purified from sin’s influence as we grow in Christ.  (Titus 2:11-14)

In the time of great darkness, God promised to send a light that would shine on everyone living in the shadow of death.  Today Sudan is living in the shadow of death – we do not know where we are going?  Let us have God’s Word to generate life and to create faith and trust for each other.  The Word of God produces changes – it frightens the devil who is trying to destroy our nation.  The Word of God causes miracles. 

The Word of God transforms the situation.  In His coming into the world in the birth of Christ, which we celebrate again this Christmas, our country will be healed, reconciled in itself and reconciled to God.

The fullness of God is expressed only in Christ and in union with Christ, and the hope of God’s glory for any nation is to have Christ in union with its people.  You are the people of Sudan, and your country is under attack by the satanic forces of evil, corruption, tribalism, nepotism and the LRA. 

Our role as Christians is to shine until Jesus returns.  We must put away our old selves, which are being corrupted by our desires, and it is through our desires that Satan attacks us.  We must let God into our lives this Christmas in the person of Jesus Christ.  When God speaks through us, everything around us changes.

Let the birth of Jesus Christ change you and our nation this Christmas.

 

Keep the joy of the angels, the eagerness of the shepherds, the perseverance of the wise men, the obedience of Joseph and Mary, and the peace of the Christ child in your hearts this Christmas and for evermore.

Amen.