There
is always some point in the Christmas season when I find my thoughts
turning to the fearful anxiety of the Holy Family as they trudged the
streets of Bethlehem on that first Christmas night trying to find
somewhere to stay.
Sometimes I think of this on a particularly cold night as I dash from the car to the front door and luxuriate in the warmth of a centrally heated house. Or else I see a homeless person on the street, or hear about the fears of the unemployed, or learn of a house re-possessed and a family moving into temporary accommodation.
I have never known this sort of anxiety myself. I have had troubles in life. But I have never really doubted where my next meal was coming from, or where I would sleep at night.
But it was these basic fears that gripped Joseph as he shepherded Mary around Bethlehem, drawn there by the unsympathetic requirements of an unfair tax. And these thoughts make the Christmas story very real. They mean that this story speaks to the stories of the world; that this God we follow knows about the sorrows and the challenges of human life.
And what a time to be without a home! Mary was about to give birth. This child, born in the outhouse at the back of a pub, is God come down to earth, God coming to share in and direct the world he has made. And when this happened the angels sang: ‘Peace on earth, goodwill to all people.’
The challenge of the Christmas story is to sing this same song of peace and good will amidst the sorrows, trials, inequalities and injustices of today's world. It means caring about those who are without a job, or without a home. It means trying to build a different world and trying to live by a different set of values. It means remembering those who are worse off, and doing something about it. It means providing jobs and homes and meals. It also means ensuring that people have jobs and homes and meals for life.
None of this will be easy. But the biggest danger of all is starting to believe that nothing can change and that our own contribution makes no difference. It does. Things can change.
And if the Christian faith teaches us anything, it is that one person can make a difference. That person is Christ. He shows us a different way of living. He gives us a different set of values. What he brings is what the world so desperately needs. And he begins that life in solidarity with the poorest of the poor.
We must listen to him. First of all it will be a cry of need. But soon it will be a way of life.
+Stephen
Bishop of Chelmsford