NAVIGATION PANE

The ‘SALE’ season which began well before Christmas has seen price reductions never before offered in most retail outlets. Discounts of up to seventy percent have not been uncommon, with one retailer offering up to ninety percent in the days following Christmas. There again the government hopes that we will ‘spend’ our way out of recession a policy that has been condemned by many as just a short term solution to what many financial analysts see as a long term problem.

The Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams was one among many who regretted this ‘buy now pay later’ policy that in time may, and probably will prove even more painful. 

With the media giving almost blanket coverage to the credit crisis there has been little space given to any good news as 2009 dawns. The eternal message of Christmas of peace and goodwill seemed to have become more lost than ever this year. That’s sad because it’s a message that speaks much of overcoming difficult and threatening circumstances. The way in which God’s love and provision enabled Mary and Joseph overcome the tremendous difficulties they encountered as they made their way from Nazareth to Bethlehem.

When they arrived wearied and tired there was no room at the Inn until a stable was offered to them. Little comfort and deep anxiety as King Herod’s sword hung over them as he slaughtered the innocent children to feed his massive egotism and fear at the coming of a greater King. None of us know what 2009 holds and yet with faith we continue our pilgrimage into its unchartered territories. Our hope is inspired by the eternal goodness of God who gives peace and promise to his people.

Whatever 2009 holds for us and those we love, we know that God can make all the difference when we seek his leading and presence. Times may be tough, money may be short and Herod in the form of cruel despot dictators wreaks havoc in the lives of the innocent in our world. Things have changed little since the Holy Family fled from the threats of Herod and the abject poverty of Bethlehem’s stable. Yet God was with them as he will be with us when in faith we enter this New Year trusting in Jesus who said ‘I will be with you, even to the end of the age’. 

- The Rev. David Jones