Thursday 12 December 2013

Advent Christmas 2013


Advent  Christmas 2013

The news of the death of Nelson Mandela has seen a flurry of words, and expressions of sadness and celebration from people of all walks of life across the world.  His ability to forgive and to offer hope will be his most poignant legacy and model of leadership to be emulated by all of us no matter our status or level of responsibility. He will be remembered as one of the greatest leaders in modern times, after he himself experienced abuse, exploitation, degradation and humiliation, including 27 years' imprisonment, at the hands of the political elite in South Africa. Like most black South Africans, he was subject to the  cruel apartheid regime of the white minority South African government who maintained power by denying the vast majority of africans rights to education, health, housing and the vote. Black South Africans under successive apartheid governments were regarded as second class citizens and continually suffered on account of their colour.  It is reported that, on his release from prison, Mandela believed that unless he was able to forgive the treatment he had received from  the police and political authorities he would remain a prisoner in his own mind and be unable to move forward.

Many who have commented on Mandela's contribution to the rebuilding of South Africa recognise that much is still to be done in order  to ensure that all are treated equally, and receive education, housing, properly paid  employment  and access to health services.  This is undoubtedly true, but Mandela's concern for the other, his words of forgiveness, his humour and ability to relate to all people shine out as his legacy and contribution  to building  a better and more just global community. He lived a Christ-like life in his relationship with others, while his own failures and sadness remain part of who he was and how, in his later years, he lived life. In his inaugural address as President of South Africa he spoke about the capacity of everyone to be a light to the world and the responsibility we all have  of not hiding our own talents. Mandela was a man of hope and his legacy will continue.

Hope is central to the meaning of Advent as we move to the celebration of God coming among us in human form at Christmas. Each season of Advent, I scan the newspapers, and now social media, for messages and writings that reflect words of anticipation and hope for a more just world where the broken and dispirited are welcomed and the bounty of our nation shared . In recent times there has been a growing number of articles suggesting that we need as a community to look for more at Christmas than parties, family gatherings and gift giving. These sentiments stand in stark contrast to the endless crass commercials urging us to spend, spend, spend, as though our whole future as a nation depends upon retail therapy as the antidote to our anxiety and unhappiness.

The essence of Christmas is more than family gatherings , although these are important. The essence of the Christmas story encapsulates the whole human experience including rejection, alienation, fragility, abuse, loneliness, love, forgiveness and hope. Each of these can be found in the account of the birth of the babe in Bethlehem recalled each Christmas. Mandela showed in his own life the great capacity for forgiveness, the need for personal reflection, the setting aside of hurt and pain experienced in the past in order to embrace the future and offer hope . His life was Christ like and a call to us all to act with justice and love .

Christmas is  a time for the celebration of the human potential that is within us all. It is a time for not just words, but actions. It is a time for our own political leaders, for all who exercise leadership, to deliver more than words and to seek to build our common life together on forgiveness and hope for everyone . This claim is at the heart of the Christian message at Christmas, but it equally applies to a multicultural and secular observance of the times.  Christmas condemns all acts of abuse, terrorism, greed and exploitation.  With the birth of the Christ child at Christmas, God dwells among and with the people of all nations and seeks to encourage us to dwell with Him in building a world of hope for all.

So be it this Christmas.