For all of us, privately and publicly, 2025 will have been a mixed year. Years are always like that. Hopes and fears, dreams and nightmares. The same kind of mixture can be found in the Christmas story, and you don’t have to look too hard to find it. The incarnation of Jesus is never going to be sanitised or made pretty no matter how much tinsel we put around it or how often we try to hide behind the lie that Christmas is really just all about the children! There is, however, beauty, awe and wonder in the Christmas story, but there is also pain, uncertainty and despair. All of these we find in the world, so all of these have their place in the stories of Christmas.
As we write, those mixed feelings are dominating our news. The situation in America. The wars in The Holy Land and Ukraine. The tensions across the globe. For some there is excitement and possibilities in the things that are happening in the world. We find ourselves with the others – rather perplexed and astonished.
We will not despair, though the world is turning upside down. We will not despair, though the hurts are real. We will not despair, though walls may be built. We will not despair, though light is flickering. We will not despair, because hope will come. We will not despair, because truth will triumph. In all that has happened in our world in 2025, much of which has saddened and dismayed, faith will give the courage, the strength, the vision and the resilience that is needed. Divisions must be bridged, and we, the children of faith, have to be the people to do this. We will not despair, because although our hopes and dreams have not always carried the day, we believe the arc of God’s justice bends inexorably towards mercy. We work steadily to see God’s kingdom, in all its challenging discomfort, established. We will not despair, because there is, always, hope.
The story of Christmas has many meanings: it speaks to the elated and the despondent. It also transcends the cares and worries of this present age. That is why the Christmas story shines. It shines in the world, despite everything. It shines in our private lives, despite everything. It shines because it tells of God with us, a light in every darkness, and a hope in every despair.
May the light and hope of Christmas shine in your lives and homes now and throughout the coming New Year.
Jackie and Drew
