At Christmas time, many charities try to enlist our support, and the flow of begging letters increase dramatically for their organisers realise that people are more generous at Christmas time than at any other time of year.People are willing to dig deeper into their pockets and in the UK alone millions of pounds are raised at this season for all kinds of good causes.
All this reflects the fact that our country, and our world too, is full of people who do actually care about the plight of others less fortunate than themselves, and who are prepared to convert that care into action. It can sometimes be forgotten in a world that seems so brutal and bloody, where we see and hear of so much violence – often against people who cannot defend themselves – that our world also consists of millions of people who do care for others. When there is a disaster, be that overseas or in this country, the instinctive reaction of most people is to want to do something to help.There is something in our make-up, as human beings, which somehow impels us towards compassion.
Odd then, that our world finds it so hard to accept that God’s character is also one of love and compassion for those who suffer, or are in need of any kind. Yet the heart of the Gospel, and the central message of Christmas is that, confronted with so much evil and hatred, God in Jesus assures His world that He cares for it and loves it and so approaches to it with loving embrace and is even prepared to die for it.Odd that people find it perfectly natural for humans to be caring and compassionate, but that they cannot quite grasp that the same might be true of God.Yet Christians believe that we are capable of showing love precisely because we are made in God’s image. It is not the case that God is as compassionate as we are.Created by Him we reflect God’s compassion because we are His sons and daughters.
It is enormously difficult to put all this into words, and Matthew and Luke struggle to convey this truth through their stories of the birth of Jesus and through Him of God’s involvement in the world.St. John, the writer of the Fourth Gospel, avoids that method and merely says that “the word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us”. “God’s nature and his very name is love”, writes a poet. “The heart of the Almighty is so wonderfully kind” says another hymn writer. And it is precisely because God is like that and we are made in His image, that we too, at our best moments, realise that to love and to care is to go with the grain of the way the universe is made.
The Most Reverend Dr Barry Morgan
Archbishop of Wales and Bishop of Llandaff
The Archbishop of Wales will be preaching at Llandaff Cathedral on Christmas Day. The service starts at 10.45am.
