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Pregeth Dydd Nadolig yr Esgob


Cariad fel na fu erioed o'r blaen

Yn nhymor y Nadolig, hoffwn ddechrau drwy ddymuno i chi i gyd Nadolig diogel, llawn llawenydd a hapusrwydd. Mae’n annhebyg y cawn ni lawer o flynyddoedd fel yr un rydym wedi’i bod trwyddi, felly mae gan bob un o’r geiriau hyn ystyr ychwanegol: diogel a llawn llawenydd. Rwyf yn gweddïo y bydd hynny’n wir i chi a’ch teuluoedd.

Rwy’n ymwybodol iawn o’r rhai sydd wedi talu’r pris trymaf yn ystod y pandemig. Y rhai sydd wedi colli eu bywydau, y rhai sy’n galaru, y rhai mae patrwm eu bywydau wedi cael ei aflonyddu, sydd wedi’u gadael yn teimlo’n ddryslyd, a’r rhai sydd wedi’u hynysu oherwydd prin eu bod yn cael cysylltu â phobl bellach. Ond rhaid i unrhyw beth rydym yn ei ddweud yn fwy na hyn beidio ag anwybyddu’r ffaith syml fod eleni wedi bod yn alaethus ac heriol. Allwn ni ddim dweud unrhyw beth a all guddio’r effaith mae hyn wedi’i gael ar ein cymunedau, ar ein gwlad ac yn wir, ar y byd cyfan.

Mae yna ffordd o adrodd stori’n Nadolig, wrth gwrs, a allai wneud yn union hynny. Dydyn ni’n helpu dim arnom ni’n hunain drwy ramantu am stori sy’n llawer mwy ciaidd nag y mae’r cardiau a’r addurniadau byrhoedlog yn ei awgrymu. Ond mae’n bosibl gweld hyd yn oed adroddiad cywir o’r stori fel ymdrech i leihau neu feddalu’r ergyd o effeithiau Covid-19. Mae storïau angen dehonglwyr sy’n cysylltu’r neges gyda’n un ni er mwyn i ni allu wneud synnwyr o beth sy’n digwydd neu o leiaf feddwl sut i dreiddio drwy’r drysni.

Ac felly, rwyf eisiau dewis dau beth o’r stori sydd mor adnabyddus, sy’n siarad â mi o’r newydd eleni. Y cyntaf yw sut y siaradodd Duw: wrth fugeiliaid wrth eu gwaith yn y caeau agored. A Duw sy’n gallu cyfathrebu fel hyn, sydd â rhywbeth i’w ddweud. Yn yr achos hwn newyddion da o lawenydd mawr oedd hynny, a fyddai’n gadael ei ôl ar bopeth mewn hanes o’r funud honno ymlaen. Dywedodd rhywun am y gweithwyr hyn ar y mynydd ‘Mae Duw yn mynd at y rhai sydd ag amser i’w glywed – ac felly fe aeth at fugeiliaid syml. Doed dim rheswm, os oes gennym glustiau i wrando, pam na ddylai unrhyw un allu clywed hynny.

Mae’r Nadolig felly, ynghylch Duw na fydd yn aros yn ddistaw ond sy’n siarad wrth wead y byd hwn. Mae’n rhaid bod gan Dduw o’r fath rywbeth i’w ddweud am bopeth sy’n digwydd. Dydw i ddim ym meddwl fod hynny’n golygu y dylen ni ymdrechu i weld rhyw ddiben cudd fel pe deuai yn glir un diwrnod ac y byddwn ninnau’n dweud ‘Aha, felly, dyna pam’. Ond ni all Duw sy’n dod i ganol bywyd, i mewn i fywydau cyplau ifanc neu i lwch tref fechan mewn rhan anghysbell o’r byd, fod yn ddi-deimlad neu’n groen dew ynghylch beth sydd wedi digwydd i’n byd.

A daw hynny â ni at y peth nesaf yr hoffwn ganolbwyntio ein meddyliau arno. Daeth y plentyn hwn â Duw. Hebryngodd ei ddyfodiad y Deyrnas, daw y ffordd rydym ni i gyd yn ei gredu sy’n wir am Dduw yn real ac yn amlwg ble bynnag y mae’n gafael.Felly, yn yr efengylau, rydym yn darllen sut mae’r colledig yn dod adref, y rhai sâl yn cael eu gwella a’r newynog yn cael eu bwydo. Rydyn ni’n gweld y tosturi oedd gan Iesu at bobl a, bron iawn, yn dangos beth ddylai bywyd gwbl dynol fod.

Mae’r mater o werthoedd wedi’i ei dynnu i’r amlwg o’r newydd gan Covid . Mae wedi gwneud i ni ofyn cwestiynau nid yn unig am wydnwch ond beth ddylai nodweddion bywyd mewn cymdeithas fod. Ar hyn o bryd, mae Dr Mark Carney, cyn Lywodraethwr Banc Lloegr, yn traddodi’r darlithoedd Reith ar gyfer 2020 ac yn trafod y problemau ynghylch gwerthoedd yng ngoleuni Covid . Yn graff iawn, mae’n gweld fod gwerthoedd yn cael eu dehongli’n bennaf trwy lygaid y farchnad ac arian.

Mae’n dweud y gallai ‘lledaeniad y farchnad danseilio cymunedau; un o’r pethau pwysicaf sy’n penderfynu hapusrwydd’.

Pwynt Dr Carney yw bod meddylfryd y farchnad wedi heintio’r ffordd rydym yn deall gwerthoedd. Rydyn ni’n gosod pris ar y rhan fwyaf o bethau ac yn barnu popeth yn ôl faint mae’n ei gostio. Yn ddiddorol iawn, un o’i atebion yw ffurfio gwyleidd-dra newydd drwy’r holl gymdeithas.

Ond cafodd y Crist-Frenin ei eni er mwyn i fywyd yn ei gyfanrwydd gael ei arwisgo gyda daioni gan Dduw sy’n bendithio ac yn trawsnewid, nad yw’n poeni am arian ac sy’n anhunanol o gymeriad. I Gristnogion yn enwedig, mae cael ein lapio yn y cariad hwn yn creu awydd newydd i wasanaethu. Ni allai’r bugeiliaid hynny ffrwyno’u llawenydd ar ôl clywed y newyddion gan ei rannu gydag eraill; ni ddylai newyddion da fel hyn gael ei gadw’n gudd. Felly hefyd fendithion yr holl gread: nid ar gyfer yr ychydig y bwriadwyd y rhain ond ar gyfer y lliaws. A phan mae’r eglwys yn deall sut mae’n cael ei charu gan Dduw, wedi’i rhyddhau i wasanaethu, dyna pryd y mae’n gallu dysgu beth yw cariad.

Tybed ai un o’r pethau mae’n rhaid i ni ei ddysgu o’r cyfnod hwn yw y dylen ni garu fel nad ydym erioed wedi caru o’r blaen? Y gwrthodedig, y rhai sydd ar yr ymylon, yr unig a’r ynysig? Os yw cariad at Iesu’n llosgi tu fewn i ni adeg y Nadolig hwn, oni ddylem ni ddarganfod sut y gallai hynny dywynnu ohonom mewn gweithredoedd bendigedig o garedigrwydd a thosturi?

Dechreuais drwy ddisgrifio beth oedd y flwyddyn hon yn ei olygu i lawer ac, erbyn hyn, rwy’n awgrymu, nid i egluro na chyfiawnhau hyn o gwbl, mai ein hymateb gorau fyddai dysgu un o’r gwersi mwyaf sylfaenol a ddysgodd Iesu, sef bod nerth cariad yn goresgyn. “Os bydd gennych gariad tuag at eich gilydd‘’ meddai ‘wrth hynny bydd pawb yn gwybod mai disgyblion i mi ydych’ (Ioan 13:35). Mae ble mae cariad yn dechrau’n llai pwysig na ble mae’n gorffen ac yma rydym yn troi’n ôl at y stori honno a neges yr angylion a rhyfeddod y bugeiliaid ond sy’n atseinio hefyd yng ngeiriau Sant Ioan: ‘Carodd Duw y byd gymaint nes iddo roi ei unig Fab.’

Os fel hyn yr oedd Duw yn ein caru ni, felly y dylem ni garu’r byd y daeth i’w achub.


Y Gwir Barchg Andrew John
Esgob Bangor


Tanysgrifiwch i dderbyn hysbys ar e-bost am Lythyr yr Esgob a chyhoeddiadau esgobaethol

Cymraeg

Bishop's Christmas Day sermon


To love as never before

In this season of Christmas, may I begin by wishing you all a safe, joyful and happy Christmas? There are unlikely to be many more years like the one we have experienced so these words all have added meaning: safe and joyful. I do pray it will be so for you and your families.

I’m very conscious of those who have paid the heaviest price during the pandemic. Those who have lost their lives, those who are grieving, those whose pattern of life, so disrupted, has left them feeling bewildered and those who have been isolated because human contact has been so limited. Anything we say beyond this must not ignore the simple fact that this year has been wretched and challenging. Nothing can be said which glosses over the impact this has had on our communities, country and indeed the whole world.

There is a way of telling the Christmas story of course which might do precisely this. We aren’t helped by the romanticizing of a story that is a good deal more brutal than the cards and pop up decorations suggest. But even a straight rendering of the story could be seen as an attempt to minimize or soften the blow of the effects of Covid-19. Stories need their interpreters who connect the message with our own so that we can make sense of what is happening or at least think about how to navigate some difficult terrain.

And so I want to pick out two things from this story so well known which speak to me afresh this year. The first is how God spoke: to shepherds out in the open fields minding their own business. And a God who can communicate like this, has something to say. In this case it was good news of great joy that would shape everything in history from this moment forward. Someone said of these hill workers ‘God goes to those who have time to hear him—and so he went to simple shepherds.’ There is no reason, if we have ears, to hear why anyone should be left out of the loop.

Christmas then is about the God who will not stay silent but speaks into the very fabric of this world. Such a God must have something to say about everything that is taking place. I don’t mean by this that we should attempt to see some hidden purpose as though everything will one day become clear and we will say ‘Ah, so that’s why’. But the God who comes into the thick of life, into the life of a young couple and to the dust of a small town in a remote part of the world, cannot be ignorant or impervious to what has befallen our world.

And this brings us to the next thing on which I wish to focus our thoughts. This child brought God. His coming ushered in the Kingdom, the way in which all we believe to be true about God becomes real and manifest wherever the rubber hits the ground. So in the gospels we read how the lost were brought home, the sick were healed and the hungry fed. We see how Jesus had compassion on people and, if you like, modelled what a fully human life should look like.

The issue of values has been thrown into the spotlight by Covid in a new way. It’s made us ask questions not only about resilience but what should characterize life in society. Dr Mark Carney, formerly the Governor of the Bank of England, is currently delivering the Reith lectures for 2020 and examining the issues of values in the light of Covid. Perceptively he observes that values, once related to the activity in question are now interpreted mostly through the eyes of market and money. He says the ‘spread of the market can undermine community; one of the most important determinates of happiness’.

Dr Carney’s point is that market thinking has infected the way we understand values. We attach a price tag to most things and make judgements on the basis of their subsequent costs. Interestingly one of his solutions is the crafting of a new humility across all society.

But the Child-King was born so that all of life might be invested with a goodness and Godlikeness that blesses and transforms, that is free of money-judgement, which is largely selfless in character. For Christians especially being enfolded in this love creates new desires to serve. Those shepherds could not contain their joy at the news they received and shared it with others: good news like this should not be squirrelled away. So too the blessings of all creation: these are not meant for the few but the many. And when the church understands how it is loved by God, liberated to serve, it can learn what love looks like.

I wonder if one of the things we must learn from this period, is that we are to love as we have never loved before? The outcast, the marginalized, the lonely and isolated? If love for Jesus burns within us this Christmas time, ought we not discover how this can radiate into wonderful acts of kindness and mercy?

I began by describing what this year has held for many and now suggest that our best response, not to explain or justify any of this, is to learn one of the most fundamental of lessons which Jesus taught and it is the power of love which overcomes. ‘By this’ he said, ‘shall others know you are my disciples if you have love for each other’ (John 13:35). Where love begins is less important than where it ends and here we turn back to that story and the angels message and the shepherds wonder but captured too in the words of St John: ‘God so love the world that He gave his only begotten Son.’

If this is how God loved us, so we ought to love the world he came to save.


The Rt Revd Andrew John
Bishop of Bangor


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