Garth George: Faith brings much in troubled, complex world

Photo / APN

As Christians prepare to celebrate the anniversary of an event we consider to be the most important in the history of the world - the birth of our Saviour, Jesus Christ - we cannot help but be conscious of what is going on around us, at home and abroad.

Some of us might even wonder whether the words of the angels who proclaimed his birth - "Glory to God in the highest, and on Earth peace, goodwill towards men" - don't ring a bit hollow this year.

In the weeks leading up to the celebration of our anniversary, 29 coal miners, members of our national family, had their lives snuffed out in a series of massive underground blasts in the Pike River mine. And not too long before, thousands of Cantabrians had their homes and businesses destroyed in a huge earthquake. The news throughout the year has been regularly punctuated by reports of unspeakable violence committed against helpless children; of brutal murders, rapes and vicious assaults on innocent citizens; of often drug-fuelled burglaries, robberies and muggings; of horrendous road deaths in often liquor-fuelled accidents - a year-long parade of social and criminal mayhem.

In the world at large European economies continue to fail; the unwinnable war in Afghanistan continues with unacceptable loss of human life; the Middle East remains a hotbed of sabre-rattling distrust; earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, fires and floods have killed and displaced untold thousands; and we are only too painfully aware that corruption, disease, poverty and famine still stalk vast areas of our world.

So how do we Christians approach our annual celebration - showering one another with gifts, eating, drinking and being merry - in the light of all this? Easy. We count our blessings - and keep firmly in our minds the fundamentals of our faith.

We thank God that he is our God and that we are among his people; that he is creator and sustainer of the universe and, in spite of what might seem evidence to the contrary, is in control.

That he is with us every second of every minute of every hour of every day; that he is the same yesterday, today and forever and thus imparts to us a changeless security as we go about our daily lives in this increasingly complex and troubled world.

At this time of year we recall especially those wonderful words of Jesus himself: "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life."

We recall, too, that Jesus' entry into this world came at a time when life wasn't all that choice. He was, after all, born in a stable at the back of a pub because there wasn't any other accommodation available.

At the command of a somewhat heavy-handed foreign power his heavily pregnant mother and her partner had had to walk a long way in the middle of winter to get to their home town of Bethlehem to be counted in a Roman census.

Within weeks of his birth his parents had to spirit him away into Egypt because Herod, the Jewish king, had ordered every male child born in and around Bethlehem within the previous two years to be slaughtered.

And only after years of scratching a living in a foreign country were they able to return to their homeland where Jesus followed his father into the carpentry trade before he began a ministry that would turn the world upside down and divide history into two eras.

We have to remember that Jesus was human, that he suckled at his mother's breast, had to be toilet trained, had to learn to walk and talk just like any other kid, had to go to school, to earn a crust - to experience all the things that we have to as we grow into adulthood.

We know, too, that he was subject to all the temptations known to man, for the writer of the letter to the Hebrews tells us: "For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathise with weaknesses but was in all ways tempted as we are ..."

Since Jesus came to Earth to reveal to us the nature and purposes of God, we know we have a God who understands us better than we understand ourselves, who rejoices when we rejoice and weeps when we weep, who loves us no matter where we are and what we do, who is always ready to listen and to give us his counsel and bless us with his peace.

So as another Christmas Day approaches, let us set aside the cares of the world and revel in these words of our Lord's that ring down the ages to us today: "In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."

* garth.george@hotmail.com