Well, not exactly, though the broader culture does not go along with the nicety that is Advent. If ever we needed to spend time reflecting on the travails fo the human community and reaching out for the hope of new creation, it is now. But instead, we are rushing towards the ‘recovery’ of economic frenzy, shopping, and a renewal of things we had learned to live without.
Not for me. This has been a very difficult year and its ending is like the rest of it.
Last week I flew to Tasmania to be with family of a dear friend who died suddenly, at age 58. We held a funeral service and later a ‘Celebration of Life’ at the Baptist Church in Hobart where long ago I was the minister. We saw many friends from those days, and apart from the sad circumstances of our catch up, it was lovely to be with them.
Now the latest wave of the Covid-19 is upon us, and so many people are unprepared, as the vaccination roll out was so late in Australia that many people cannot yet have the ‘booster’, and it seems the government does not have the supplies. All sorts of reasons are being given to avoid responsibility for the situation, as usual. In addition, the power of the business lobby has taken over and has pushed aside the ‘health advice’, which had guided and protected us up till now. I fear for what is coming.
So this is Christmas. It is into precisely this kind of situation that God comes.
Taking stock of this year, it is easy to name the largest or most prominent things: long periods of lock-down, with the spread of the virus resulting from acts of wanton stupidity by a single person flouting the rules, and from that thousands of cases in several states, hundreds of deaths, and never once the relevant state authorities, or the media, acknowledging their responsibility.
Now another variant brings an even more scary scenario, as there is the pretence that it is ‘mild’, when in fact no-one knows conclusively.
During the year, I have taught two classes, which has been very satisfying.
I have completed the biography of Mervyn Himbury, which I’ve been researching for three years now. It is in the hands of the publishers.
Our university has progressed and new ventures have developed. The whole tertiary education sector is in real difficulty, and theological education has its challenges, though that’s not new for us!
Our family has had a good year, overall, and we have delighted in the days when we have cared for our grandson, as his language has developed wonderfully.
Though we have not travelled as we used to do, and for the present do not want to, we are grateful for keeping healthy and for the love and support of friends and our church.
What, then, does one say of all this in this time of Advent and Christmas? Where, in all of this, do we see the coming and presence of God?
I do not look to the spectacular.
I do not look to the powerful, for most surely they are deceivers, intent upon making themselves richer, and in the current order doing so at the expence of those who are weak, poor and without influence. Their wealth and power is devastating the earth, the animals and birds, rivers and forests. And those responsible for bringing us ‘the news’ are equally deceivers and sycophants.
This is not new. It is precisely how the world was when Jesus was born, and continued so.
We must look for a revolution, a transformation, not merely of political and economic things, though these must be part of it.
We look and pray for a moral and spiritual revolution, just such as Jesus proclaimed: when the poor and meek, the persecuted and grieving are declared ‘blessed’: when the reign of heaven, where God’s way and will is done, comes on earth.
We look for and pray for the day when humanity will find its home with all God’s creation, not against it.
We look and pray for the day when peace and justice flow, like a river of hope.
To sing for joy at Christmas is not about the sentimental images which are around us everywhere.
No, it is to hear the crying of children, all over the world, hungry; the anguish of homeless, refugees and victims of war; to sense the despair of so many, in the face of grinding injustice—and to know that this is not how it must be.
There is another way: a way that calls us, even as the cry of the baby calls us, to do something, to do whatever we can, and to join all those who say ‘No’. No, we will not just bow ourselves to this way. We will not ignore these cries. We will not just let it be.
With the God who comes, we will say: Yes, this is the birth of a new way.
This is Christmas.