Wednesday 13th December 2000

There has to be something a little different about Christmas this year. The fact is that we have lived to witness the second millennium of God's loving presence in Jesus Christ. Surely an added reason to rejoice.

It must be the greatest consolation in the world to realise that God loves us. Not only does he believe in us but he loves us deeply. This is why Christmas happened in the first place. The truth of this takes a long time to sink in but is well worth waiting for. In his own lifetime Jesus only gradually revealed to those around him who he was.

Christmas is about love and being loved. God believes in me and loves me as I am at this moment, with all that is wonderful and not so wonderful about me. If this is so, that God loves me and my neighbour too, then surely I should love myself and my neighbour as myself. Unfortunately there are many among us who have not yet got that message or who have forgotten it. Because they have no idea of God's esteem for them they are people without hope. Christmas reminds us that there is hope.

Christmas is also about peace, the peace of Christ. It's not easy to talk about peace when we are surrounded by violence. Hardly a week goes by these days without some outbreak of violence in our neighbourhood. We think of the elderly, often living in fear of being mugged and robbed. We think of the increasing numbers of young people, often highly gifted with the world at their feet, driven to self-inflicted and at times life-taking violence by the pressures of an unloving and selfish society. Every act of violence is a cry to us for help, for a response of love, the love of Christ.

Christmas is a time to take stock of social and political progress in our divided community. It's a time to be more committed to the task of creating and constructing a new inclusive society, Essential to this task is the healing of broken relationships. As Christians we believe that God in Jesus was prepared to abandon power and privilege as the way to reconciliation and to be vulnerable in the service of the whole human family. When we have the courage to follow Christ, Christmas will bring us hope, joy and a new sense of shared responsibility.

May God bless you and keep you in his love this Christmas.