My CHRISTMAS MESSAGE published in Tasmania’s three newspapers:
Hope for a desperate world
How has 2011 been for you? It has brought its challenges, has it not? I guess it will be remembered for such ‘natural’ phenomena as the tsunami striking Japan, extraordinary floods in Thailand and, closer to home, floods and fires in our country.
But it will also be remembered for developments rooted in human behaviour – the Arab Spring, the Occupy movement, the European financial crisis, the Fukoshima nuclear disaster, the death of Osama bin Laden. And don’t get me started on Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan…
There was a Broadway musical in the 1960s titled Stop the World; I Want to Get Off but, hey, that’s not an option. Instead, I find myself frantically trying to get my head around what’s going on, to get a glimpse into the issues, to respond rather than react. Is the new ‘government’ better than the disgraced tyrant? Can the global financial crisis be solved? What role does greed play? And gloating? And unbelief?
Where does hope lie? For millions, the Bible continues to speak into our human condition with hope and sure guidance. A columnist in Melbourne’s The Age in early December, writes, “We do not see the Bible…as having any weight in serious matters, moral, historical...”, but offers instead only the ‘rational’ guidance of a liberal, secular society. In contrast, Greg Sheridan in The Australian observes that whilst it is possible to tell right from wrong without religion, “there is little to suggest we are making a success of it”.
Much controversy and chaos, but personally I’m glad Christmas is upon us once again. Christmas means hope; Christmas brings again a much-needed reminder of unchangeable truth.
God weeps for our world and the mess we are making of it and God has taken responsibility for our world by sending his Son.
Hope may be in desperately short supply for so many, but the Babe of Bethlehem brings just that, the sure hope that God loves us.
May you have a blessed Christmas as again we celebrate the Saviour’s birth.
John Harrower
Anglican Bishop of Tasmania
See also, Christmas video and Light of the world.
