Leader

In the heavenly country bright

IT WAS some months ago that the sticklers for numerical accuracy lost the battle; and in a few days' time, Deo volente, the Millennium parties will be under way. By the end of the year 2000, everyone in the Western world will have had more than enough (if they have not already) of retrospection of the first two millennia and the 20th century of the Christian era, and of speculation about what the 21st century and the third millennium may hold in store. It is symptomatic of the brash but fragile confidence of the human race in the closing 1900s that the date fixed in the public mind as the turn of the millennium is the point at which our assurance of technical competence and mastery over the forces of nature is called in question. As so often, when all proper care has been taken, Christians have a duty to put their trust in God, and to pray for faith, hope and courage if and when trials arise.

All being well, men and women in the northern hemisphere will find, as they always have, reason to celebrate in the midst of winter the light and joy of human fellowship. This natural thing is God's gift in creation and, though marred by sin and self-interest, has never even in the most brutal times disappeared from the world. It is not the exclusive possession of the Christian; nor is that sense of gratitude for life and its good things which can steal upon even those hostile to religious belief. That is not to say that the holidays, with their associated expectations of a happy home and family life, are not hard days for many. The "No One Alone" campaign for New Year's Eve, though redolent of compulsory glad-handing, is a welcome acknowledgement that, though charity begins at home, it should not stay there.

New Years come and go, and we could tire the moon with talk about numbering them; but they are, for the Christian, of no account compared to the joy of the Christmas celebration that comes first in order and importance. For the Christian, joy and hope are not the by-product of seasonal bonhomie, at constant risk from unaccustomed close-quartering with relatives, or from over-indulgence in food and drink. They are the logical consequence of belief that God in Jesus Christ, born of the Virgin Mary, has assumed our human nature that it may ultimately and eternally find its true home and kinship in him. And so it is with quiet confidence that we wish our readers a merry Christmas and a very happy New Year.

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