The small nations of the Pacific, including New Zealand, have no say in what the industrial giants of the north do, and yet it is we  that bear the consequences. It is as though we just don’t count… or don’t even exist.

I once read about a celebrity  of some kind who had a pet lion that she pampered – treating it like a human child. One day the lion attacked her and badly mauled her. Nuclear power stations are a bit like pet lions, we might think we are the masters, but we are never in control. We think we are so clever. We are so stupid.

And in this case the lion is not inside, it is in the rich person’s back yard, and there is a hole in the fence. It has escaped and now it is running riot in our backyard.

Oh God I thank you for the beautiful bountiful earth… I try to believe that it is the meek who will inherit it. Help thou my unbelief.

I hold it true, whate’er befall;
I feel it, when I sorrow most;
‘Tis better to have loved and lost
Than never to have loved at all.

So said Alfred Lord Tennyson. A Blogger called “Raven”, by way of commentary says  “Yes love is great..but when you get your heartbroken it is the worst feeling in the world..maybe sometimes its better to not love..so you wont get hurt..because feel like so many relationships now and days just end up in heartache. Maybe we should all just fool around with each other and not get so attached..because this feeling sucks..”

Now as an old man  I have no problem agreeing with the Prince’s grandma “grief is the price we pay for love.”  but even if the feeling ‘sucks’ I am prepared to pay the price. Even more grief is the cost of “just fooling around with each other”.

I cannot imagine a world without love… But what passes for love in some quarter appears to me to be “just fooling around”. The love and the loss which was the inspiration for In Memoriam was not of the of the tempestuous variety, it was for a Cambridge friend who died unexpectedly.

The response to the earthquake has moved from a “rescue” to “recovery”.  For many hundreds of people this has dimmed almost to extinction any expectation that they will see their beloved again.  They now move to another level of hope – or to complete loss of hope.

I have no idea why tragic events occur. I am left with a choice: life has no meaning and purpose and is just a collection of random events, or there is meaning and purpose but it is beyond my ability to comprehend. Both conclusions require an act of faith; I find it easier to believe that life has a meaning.

Some times it is possible to discover how things happen – the tectonic plates shifted. The ultimate “whys” however elude me. Why is it thus?  Couldn’t God have made a safer world for us to live in?

I find it impossible to believe that any being of such nobility, grandeur and beauty as a human person, is is simply an ephemeral ripple on the surface of reality that has emerged from nothing and returns to nothing. I believe that I was born out of love, that I am sustained by love and that I will return into love.

The sad thing is that most people, usually don’t give such contrasts a second though, we have become used to it; inured to it. It no longer seems scandalous, insane, preposterous.

I am not passing judgment on the megastars. I can also honestly say that it is not envy on my part; I  prefer to be me that to be any of them. There is however something wrong with a market driven economic system which places such value on what is so ephemeral and places so little value on rewarding those who work hard to  provide food for people who do not know where their next meal is coming from.

What is even more alarming is that what the free marketeers say is quite true; the market reflects the reality. The human race appears to be performing some fearful frenzied death dance.

At this time of the year it is no surprise to see a crib in a church. It is astonishing to find one, and a living one, in McDonald’s of the golden arches; this is the real story of the Incarnation, God choosing to insert themself in to the heart of humanity – God alive and active in everything even Mcdonald’s.

To be able to see God at McDonald’s it helps to first look at the crib in the church – it is easier to understand. But if we can’t connect the two  we are just let with a set of lifeless statues and a warm feeling.At the incarnation God chose to lay aside the power and the majesty and the glory and to become as we are. By taking on our humanity God allows us become sharers in the divine life. Because of this we can truly say: “welcome into life Corbin Edwards beloved child of God.” And be sure of this – whatever may happen good or bad, explicable or inexplicable we have God’s assurance that all will be well. God has revealed this in the only way that the Divine can communicate with the human, by becoming like us in all things, but sin.

It is good we are comforted by the warm feeling of Christmas. Enjoy the carols, the food, the gifts given and received, the company of friends and family. But bow down in adoration too. Be amazed that God is made flesh in all things -  even McDonald’s.

Some times when I after watching, reading or listening to the news I start to wonder if I live in a parallel universe.  The News leaves me with the impression that I live in a dangerous world populated with all sorts of evil characters who are out to get me.

But I don’t feel that way when I go out the door  into the real world. Then the world seems to be populated mainly with quite ordinary people just going about their daily business doing their job and caring for their loved ones and a smattering of some truly outstanding people who are dedicated to the service of others.

It is the fact that the bad news is the exception to the rule that makes it news worthy. If I am honest I think I would get bored by  just reading about ordinary people doing ordinary things. I think I may even become a bit switched off if I was fed a diet of “exceptional people” stories.  I  do need to remind myself that the bad news is the exception to the rule. The default position is good news.

Thank you God for your goodness, and for the goodness of all you made

I am opposed to violence against children and any other vulnerable group of people who cannot defend themselves. My problem is this, does making a law make any difference? Do we have to make a law to cover every eventuality? Passing a law may give us a sense of satisfaction that we have a actually done something useful. By the stroke of a pen, we think we have put the problem to rest when in fact nothing has changed.

As a society we no longer have a shared set of basic beliefs, and as a result of this we do not have a shared set of basic values – and values determine behaviour.  To fill the void thus created we are trying to make more and more laws.

But the law has its limitations. He is convicted if all the jury agreed that he punched or all agree that he pulled an ear. The trouble was some said he punched and some said he pulled an ear, but not all could agree about either action… so cumbersome so crazy. The real questions are what harm did he do his son and what if anything can we do to heal father and son?

Lord give a justice beyond the law.

One of the turning points in Thomas Merton’s life occurred when he suddenly realised that he could not be absolved of all responsibility for malevolence that exists in the world. By our manner of living each of us either adds or subtracts to it to some degree. We are indeed our sister’s and our brother’s keepers.

When I was younger I could never understand people who opposed the Welfare State; it seemed to me that it was a splendid institution, put in place with the intention of helping those in need. The motivation behind its establishment is an expression of all that is estimable in the human heart; I still think it is better that the alternatives on offer.  But human beings are endless inventive when it come to torpedoing their dreams and vision; I fear this particular vision has be perverted by the fact that many of us have, perhaps subconsciously, come to believe that we can exonerate ourselves from our obligation to be a neighbour to those in need by paying our taxes and letting the government do it for us.

We have paid Samaritans to do our dirty work for us and we walk by on the other side.  When these servants of ours fail because there are just too many neighbours in need, we are aggrieved, our hearts bleed for the victims, we cry crocodile tears, pouring ourselves another latte we sanctimoniously condemn our paid care-givers, not for their lack of compassion, but for their incompetency.

Today we remember and celebrate Francis of Assisi – may I have to courage to embrace the next leper I meet.

But there is more, I can’t help wondering if it is just too easy to expect the Government of the day and its many agencies to do all our dirty work for us. In the past, when people tried to convince me that the Welfare State was not perfect, I found it hard to see what they were on about. It was often argued that the Welfare State makes people “welfare dependent”, whatever that means. That may or may not be true, but I have come to suspect that the Welfare State makes ordinary people welfare independent – an attitude, perhaps only subconscious, that thinks it is the government’s job to look after the needy,  “I am happy to pay my taxes, and I might even be happy to pay more taxes, so that ‘they’ can look after the needy. Meanwhile I will carry on with my reasonably comfortable life content that I have done my bit.

In the days before the Welfare State, people of good will banded together and went out and did the work. They raised the money, they build the buildings, they set up the programmes. I know there are still organisations around that do this, but they are not thick on the ground.  In my own church there were, in the past, massive efforts made to educate the poor, care for the sick, and house the homeless. Such activities now seem to exist only on the periphery, while we put all or energies onto making sure we are using the correct formulas when we pray….  history records that this phenomenon also happened in the time of Jesus.

Oh God give me a generous heart and also stop me from becoming a curmudgeon in my old age.

That said, I have no idea what he answer is. I am not so naive as to think that everyone would willingly sign up to shared ownership. In the meantime I will examine my own conscience and consider what I must do to reduce my level of comfort so that I might feel more comfortrable.