By Bishop Tim Harris
AS I sat down to write these few words, I noticed amongst several Christmas card greetings on my desk one featuring the stable scene with the words “All is calm”.
I thought to myself, thank God for the Christ Child, thank God for the incarnation and for the gift of the Saviour of the world.
“All is calm” because in the midst of the messiness of life hope is born.
A world without hope is not much of a world at all.
“All is calm” not because of a secular hope but because the miracle of Christmas is God-with-us.
What God had promised through the Prophet Isaiah came true on a cold night in Bethlehem.
Furthermore, we could hold fast to the promise that we don’t have to face this life alone.
This truth is deeply consoling surely at a time when things seem far from calm.
COVID-19 continues to take lives around the world with ramifications that destabilise our communities.
Australians have turned against each other in this COVID environment, which saddens me greatly.
We have the vaccinated and unvaccinated with conspiracy theories galore.
Our God is now with us in a profound way and, as seekers of truth, we must always turn to Christ in good times and in bad.
All will indeed be calm if we embrace the miracle of Christmas with both hands and hold the child as he holds us.
But the child grows up.
That child like us matures.
It is not just therefore a child we embrace but the one who eventually suffers and dies, and who defeats death only to rise to new life.
He gives our lives meaning and hope from the beginning to the end.
I pray this Christmas that a calmness may descend upon us in such a way that the joy of Christ will fill our hearts and soothe our fears, for everything is possible for God.
Our task now is to trust in the ONE who walks with us along every step in life’s journey.
The incarnation invites us to know the true meaning of Christmas for that meaning is that there is hope for a troubled humanity – hope of pardon, hope of peace with God and hope of glory.
It is the most wonderful message that the world has ever heard or will hear.
It is a message that believers need to share and model by their very lives.
I wish each of you a very happy and holy Christmas.
Bishop Timothy Harris is the Bishop of Townsville
