Negeseuon Nadolig Esgob Andy 2018
Mae Esgob Bangor - y Gwir Barchedig Andrew John - yn falch i ryddhau ei negeseuon Nadolig.
Mae ei neges ysgrifenedig (isod), gyda'r pennawd 'Haelioni', yn edrych tuag at un dealltwriaeth Gristnogol o bres yn ystod y Nadolig
Yn ei neges fideo Nadolig (sydd ar gael yn y Gymraeg a’ Saesneg), mae Esgob Andy yn gofyn a oes cysylltiad rhwng newid yn yr hinsawdd a stori’r Nadolig.
Mae'Closed Captions' (isdeitlau) ar gael wrth ddefnyddio'r botwm ‘CC’
Mae 'na groeso i chi rannu a defnyddio'r negeseuon hyn.
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Haelioni
Braidd yn anhymorol utganodd y radio eiriau cyfarwydd o gân yr oeddwn yn ei gwybod ers blynyddoedd:
‘They say the best things in life are free
But you can give them to the birds and bees
I need money, that's what I want
That's what I want, yeah that's what I want.’
A oedd y canwr yn bod yn eironig? Efallai – neu efallai ddim.
Mae materion ariannol wedi dod yn gryf i ffocws eto wrth i’r flwyddyn ddod i ben. Mae penderfyniad y Llywodraeth i ddod â chynlluniau ymlaen i newid yr arian betio mwyafsymiol mewn terfynellfeydd betio ods gosodedig yn ein hatgoffa y gall y defnydd o arian fod yn ffynhonnell poen yn ogystal â daioni.
Mae safbwynt y Cristion ar arian yn aml wedi ei gamddehongli: nid yw’r Beibl yn dweud mai arian yw gwraidd pob drwg ond yn hytrach mai cariad at arian yw gwraidd pob math o ddrygioni. Mae arian yn cynorthwyo i amdiffyn y mwyaf bregus mewn cymdeithas tra bo rhoi gwerth iddo uwchlaw popeth arall yn gallu arwain at lu o broblemau o ddyled i ecsbloetio.
Neges y Nadolig yw bod Duw yn caru’r byd gyda haelioni diderfyn. Ganwyd yr Iesu i fynegi haelioni Duw sy’n dyheu am i’r holl bobl wybod am ei ofal a’i drugaredd. Mae cariad haelionus fel hyn yn hollol heintus. Unwaith y byddwn wedi ei flasu, rydym yn dechrau newid. Mae gweithredoedd hunanol yn ymddangos allan o’u lle i ni, tra bod rhannu ein cyfoeth ein hunain yn dod ychydig yn fwy naturiol.
Y Nadolig hwn byddwn yn cael cyfleoedd i ddangos ein cariad tuag at eraill gyda’r rhoddion y byddwn yn eu rhoi iddynt. A hyd yn oed os yw ein rhoi yn gymharol gymhedrol, mae’r union weithred o wneud hynny’n adleisio ychydig bach o haelioni anghyffredin Duw. Gallwn hefyd ddangos haelioni tuag at y rhai nad ydym yn eu hadnabod, drwy roi i elusennau a phrosiectau sy’n cefnogi rhai mewn angen yn ein cymunedau lleol neu ymhellach draw.
Mae’r gân, yn rhyfeddol, yn dweud rhywbeth pwysig: y gwirionedd yw bod ar bawb angen arian i fyw. A dyna’r anogaeth i haelioni – y gair ‘pawb’ hwnnw. Ac mae hynny’n golygu rhywbeth mwy a gwell a mwy anrhydeddus o lawer. Haelioni. Mae arnom angen haelioni. Megis haelioni Duw.
+Andrew Bangor
Bishop Andy's Christmas Messages 2018
The Bishop of Bangor - the Right Reverend Andrew John - is pleased to release his Christmas messages.
His written message (below), entitled Generosity, looks towards one Christian understanding of money at Christmas.
His video Christmas message (which is available in Welsh and English) asks whether there is a connection between climate change and the Christmas story.
Closed Captions (subtitles) are available by using the button ‘CC’
Please do share and use these messages.
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Generosity
Rather unseasonally the radio blasted out familiar words from a song I’d known for years:
‘They say the best things in life are free
But you can give them to the birds and bees
I need money, that's what I want
That's what I want, yeah that's what I want.’
Was the singer being ironic? Perhaps – or perhaps not.
Money matters have come strongly into focus again at the close of the year. The Government’s decision to bring forward plans to change the maximum stake on fixed-odds betting terminals reminds us that the use of money can be a source of pain as well as good.
The Christian take on money has often been misrepresented: the Bible does not say money is the root of all evils but rather that the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Money helps protect the most vulnerable in society, while valuing it above everything else can lead to a host of problems from debt to exploitation.
The message of Christmas is that God loves the world with boundless generosity. Jesus was born to express the generosity of a God who longs for all people to know his care and compassion. Generous love like this is utterly infectious. Once we have tasted it, we begin to change. Selfish acts seem out of place to us, while sharing our own wealth becomes a little more natural.
This Christmas we will have opportunities to show our love for others by the gifts we give them. And even if our giving is relatively modest, the very act of giving echoes just a very little of the extraordinary generosity of God. We can also show generosity to those we don’t know, through giving to charities and projects supporting those in need in our local communities or further afield.
The song, strangely, says something important: the truth is that everyone needs money to live. And there’s the prompt for generosity – that word ‘everyone’. And that means something bigger and better and more worthy by far. Generosity. We need generosity. Like God’s.
+Andrew Bangor