'Born to raise the sons of Earth!' - Final Day of Advent

            Born to raise the sons of Earth!

            Born to give them second birth.

Christmas Eve marks the final day of Advent, and where could these reflections end but on that most iconic of carols, ‘Hark! the herald angels sing’? So revered is it within our canon that we are in danger of familiarity dulling us to the sensational text, penned by Charles Wesley. It is in richness of hope, theology and poetry unsurpassed by any other popular carol in the English tongue. And having a tune crafted by the great Felix Mendelssohn has undoubtedly consolidated its endurance and estimation!

‘Born to raise the sons of Earth!’ Jesus Christ was born, lived, died and rose again. He bids all people to die to themselves and follow Him, that he might raise them up in the same resurrection power with which He himself was raised. He came into the world to die that we would no longer be slaves to death, but be raised to new life. ‘Born to give them second birth’; not only did Jesus come to raise us from death, He came to make us new, to be born again, in a miracle of birth reflecting his own Christmas incarnation.

As the seasonal campaign proclaims, Christmas does indeed begin with Christ. But Christ does not end with Christmas; rather, His wonderful promises of new life and new birth to those who will receive Him reach down to us all even this day. So let us indeed give alert attention the heralding angels and worship Jesus Christ, our glorious King!

Hark! the Herald Angels Sing - words by Charles Wesley.

Sussex Carol and the Goal of Christmas - Advent Day 22

            “Glory to God and peace to men,      

            Now and for evermore, Amen!”

If the Christmas message is great news of hope, what exactly does that hope look like? What is its end or its goal? The final lines of ‘Sussex Carol’ summarise the three essential characteristics of the new relationship between God and Man made possible through the coming of Jesus Christ.

Firstly, ‘Glory to God’. All wrongdoing ultimately stems from pride, and all pride is an attempt to take the glory that belongs to God and place it on ourselves. It is not that we shouldn’t seek glory – for that is an essential stirring of the human heart – but that we should seek it in God, for that will ultimately satisfy us in a way that prideful striving never can. Jesus came to redress our woeful pride and liberate us again to give ‘glory to God’.

Secondly, ‘peace to men’. Not only had pride divided the human race from God, it had divided us from each other, and continues to do so when Christ is not honoured as the Lord. But Jesus came to reverse all the effects of the curse, including to restore right relationships between all people. And the creation-wrought dynamic of mankind was not to be at war but at peace with each other, that we could prosper without fear of evil.

Finally, ‘now and for evermore’. There is a forever, an evermore. Given the struggles we and the world still face it would be cruel to hold out all of these promises of restoration without their resolution. And while glimmers of their resolution shine today, these things will only be fully known in the New Heavens and New Earth that are still to come.

The invitation to a God-centred, glory-fulfilled, peaceful and eternal land has been issued in Jesus Christ – we must take hold of it! Or will we prefer to carry on in the comfort of self-centredness, conflict and instant gratification? That would be a tragic choice to make this Christmas time.

Sussex Carol (On Christmas Night) - traditional English.

The Age of Gold - Advent Day 21

            For lo! the days are hastening on,

            By prophet bards foretold,

            When through the ever circling years

            Comes round the age of gold.

There is a golden age coming. An age where peace shall reign over all the Earth. An age of prosperity, an age of fulfilment, an age of exploration. An age where humankind and God are united as in Eden; an age with no room for pride.

It is an age revealed to the prophets of the Old Testament, an age of which the apostle John saw glimpses of, an age hoped for by all the martyrs of Jesus. It is an age that all believers must long for. The age of the New Jerusalem come down to Earth.

It is the age that the angels proclaimed over Bethlehem that first Christmas, for it was in the birth of Christ that history’s corner was turned and the Earth could once again hope with the awe of a new morning. So let us cast away deafening noise and strife this Christmas time, that we may ‘hear the angels sing’.

It Came Upon the Midnight Clear - words by E. Sears

'O Holy Child of Bethlehem...' - Advent Day 20

            O Holy Child of Bethlehem

            Descend to us, we pray;

            Cast out our sin and enter in,

            Be born in us today.

Nostalgia is, to its core, bittersweet. A longing for something that was, but is not any more. “Do you remember when…”; “What would it have been like to be there when …?” A present detachment from the event is a requisite for true nostalgia. Indeed, we need not have ever experienced that which we long for in order to know nostalgia for it.

The first Christmas seems a prime candidate for such emotions, separated as we are by two millennia from those glorious events. And yet, it cannot be! There are two reasons for this – firstly, the promises of Christ heralded by the first Christmas are still here to be taken today. Secondly, the hope of Bethlehem is still to be perfectly fulfilled in an age to come. Therefore, we are not detached from the first Christmas, nor is it ‘not any more’.

The final verse from ‘O little town of Bethlehem’ recognises our present connection to the first Christmas through earnestly pleading for Jesus to ‘be born is us today’. We need Jesus to cast out our sin, to be present with us and to be preparing us for His final advent. There could not be a better prayer to pray this Christmas time!

O Little Town of Bethlehem - words by Phillips Brooks

'Born to set us free' - Advent Day 19

Soon it will be Christmas morning,
Cards and gifts around the tree;
But will you treasure, will you worship
Jesus born to set us free?

I am a big fan of the giving and receiving of presents. It is an opportunity to give those you love something they like. It is a way of saying to someone ‘I appreciate you’. Our family Christmas day is a great and multi-dimensional day, but the centrepiece for me is undoubtedly the present giving ceremony (yes, even ahead of dinner!)

Yet in buying our gifts, we can easily get weighed down under a sense of burden and duty. And in receiving, more of our emotion can settle on what the gift is rather than the fact someone having given it to us. The corporeal outweighs the symbolic; the actualised trumps the theoretical.

This song reminds us that cherishing material things is not the right path to walk at Christmas. And good as it is to cherish the heart of the giving exchange, the writer exhorts to go further than this still, and adore the One whose birth we give these gifts in remembrance of. And when we remember that Jesus was indeed ‘born to set us free’, why would we not treasure Him above all things this Christmas time?

On a Dark Night (link to lyrics only, sorry no YouTube available) - by Paul Oakley.

'Fear not, he said...': Advent Day 18

"Fear not," he said, for mighty dread
Had seized their troubled minds.

Who are they? And why would they fear? For those not familiar with the story of this carol, it is the account in the Bible of shepherds encountering an angel of God, announcing the birth of the Saviour in Bethlehem to them. At this point in the carol, the angel had just appeared to them, ‘and glory shone around’. So what to be afraid of? Aren’t angels, sort of, nice?

No. ‘Nice’ is not the right word to describe angels. They are good. They are pure. They are helpers of men. But they are also powerful and mighty, agents and messengers of God Himself. They are supernatural beings involved in all of history, including today, and they make appearances as and when necessary. So the fear of the shepherds was not misplaced, yet the angel was quick to reassure them, and to herald the Christmas news.

I don’t know how comfortable you are considering the supernatural, but Christmas is all about, as my pastor put it, ‘God breaking in’ to our world. These things demand deep wrestling, but ultimately the choice is clear cut – we can embrace the supernatural, or we can dismiss it as a trifle. But if we do the latter, we throw away the wonderful hope that the angels, the incarnation and the virgin birth tell of; to trade in Christmas is far too higher price to pay.

While Shepherd's Watched Their Flocks

'Let Nothing You Dismay' - Advent Day 17

God rest you merry, gentlemen,

Let nothing you dismay,

For Jesus Christ our Saviour

Was born upon this day

Peace and joy. Two words ubiquitous at Christmas time, yet two words I suspect we do not feel as frequently as we hear them, even during a festive season. Yet that is exactly what the (somewhat archaic) first line of this carol bids us to feel – peace and joy from God. And it doesn’t stop there, with freedom from all fear being thrown in also. The reason? The Saviour has been born!

So why the variance in our emotions when this saving birth has most certainly taken place? The fundamental reason is that we are imperfect beings whose emotions are affected by curse just as the rest of our constitution is. Yet we can misuse this sober assessment as an excuse for apathy, fatalism, self-pity or whichever brand of gloom we are most comfortable with. The right course is to take hold of these wonderful truths – to meditate on them, to sing them, to embrace them in our hearts.

God would not have us wallow in despair, and nor will this carol. Its tone is thoroughly pro-active: Seek peace! Rejoice! Do not be afraid! There is indeed great emotional resource to be found in the Christmas message, and it is up to us take hold of it.

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen - English Traditional.

'A city with no room for its King...': Advent Day 16

Oh Bethlehem, what you have missed while you were sleeping-
For God became a man and stepped into your world today.
Oh Bethlehem, you will go down in history
As a city with no room for its King;

While you were sleeping.

Missing out always hurts. How much it hurts depends on the severity of the lack. A missed bus will produce mild annoyance whereas a missed loved one causes great heart ache. But these two extremes share the once essence – grief caused by loss. This is the theme of this Casting Crown’s song, and the subject is the most terrible loss there can be – missing out on God’s amazing unfurling of redemption in Jesus Christ through human history.

The song begins with a consideration of Bethlehem’s obliviousness to the Saviour’s birth, banishing Jesus to a filthy stable. It moves to Jerusalem’s blindness to Jesus’ true identity as they crucify Him at Golgotha. The final verse is contemporary, decrying the western world’s stubborn apathy to His coming return (although be cautious of the anti-environmental and pre-millennial sentiments).

It is a song of deep mourning and grief, undergirded with a plea – wake up! Don’t miss out. Don’t make the mistake of Bethlehem or Jerusalem or secularism.  Don’t be asleep to Jesus this Christmas time.

While you were sleeping - by Casting Crowns.

'Sing through all Jerusalem...': Advent Day 15

                        Hail, thou ever blessed morn!

                        Hail, redemption’s happy dawn!

                        Sing through all Jerusalem:

                        ‘Christ is born in Bethlehem.’

Sometimes we get news so good we can’t keep it to ourselves. Nor should we – joyful things are meant to be heralded. Yet rarely do we get the same frantic stir to share the victories of history; much as we admire and are thankful for VE-day or the defeat of the Armada, we do not run downstairs and shout to our loved ones of their triumph.

The chorus to this carol demands that we make one exception to this rule – and that is the birth of Jesus Christ. The morn is ever blessed, for redemption has dawned! The birth of Christ must be proclaimed through all Jerusalem, and then to the ends of all the Earth. The news of Jesus’ birth is always as fresh as that first Bethlehem morning, for the hope and offer of redemption in Him has not ceased.

This is what Christmas is all about – proclaiming the great news of Jesus’ birth! Let us join the song.

See, amid the winter's snow - words by Edward Caswall

'We shall see Him; but in heaven' - Advent Day 14

Not in that poor lowly stable,
With the oxen standing by,
We shall see Him; but in Heaven,
Set at God’s right hand on high;

We can be surprised, even shocked, to see someone out of context. The boss at a garden centre; an old teacher on a night out.  We often spend time in such encounters establishing just how the other had got to the unexpected place, or why they are there (if not obvious).

The classic carol ‘Once in Royal David’s City’ tells the story of Christ in three very different places – the stable of His birth, His wondrously patterned childhood and then His appearing at the end of this era of history. So let me ask you a question – are you more shocked that Jesus was once a baby in Bethlehem or that He will appear again in the future as the glorious Lord? I suspect that most of us, if we are being honest, are more comfortable with the former than the latter.

Yet if allow ourselves some sober meditation, is it not more incredible that Jesus (a person of the eternal God) would come to Earth as a baby to rescue us than that He would appear visibly as the Lord He rightfully is? Jesus’ first advent is the real shock; his second advent is entirely fitting. It would thus do us well to remain in wonder at Jesus’ birth and to prepare ourselves for His return.

Once in Royal David's City - words by Mrs. C.F. Alexander

'Light of Light' - Advent Day 13

God of God, Light of Light,
Lo! he abhors not the Virgin’s womb;
Very God, Begotten not created;

There are some things that cannot mix, oil and water for example. There are other things, such as love and hate, which are in such antipathy to each other that when they meet they invariably clash. Then there are things that we detest when they do meet, for example children and Class-A drugs.

Given the gulf that exists between God and humankind due to our turning from Him, we should not be surprised if the meeting of the two would be either impossible, result in a violent war or be an abhorrent spectacle to behold. The joyful news of Christmas is that this is, in fact, not the case and that God Himself in Jesus Christ took up residence in the womb of Mary. The Light of Light dwelt in the dark of a human! The uncreated One was incarnated into the creation!

What more can be said or sung about such mind-blowing truths than ‘O Come, let us adore Him, Christ our Lord!’

O Come, all ye faithful - words by John Francis Wade. 

'The soul felt it's worth' - Advent Day 12

                        Long lay the world, in sin and error pining

                        ‘Till he appeared, and the soul felt its worth.

What is more joyful than watching something come alive? To hear the first cry of a newborn, to see the virgin rays of dawn or to watch the unfurling of a flower. But even more satisfying is seeing a person come alive, be this through pursuing a passion, reconciling with an old friend or discovering fresh purpose.

Stories are often a catalyst to this process, which is one reason why films are so popular – at their best they lead to self-reflection and offer a vision of a better, higher self. The Christmas story is one such story, and it brings us alive in the profoundest sense. This is captured in these lines from ‘O Holy Night’, that speak of a bleak landscape of woe being shattered by the appearance of Christ. But what does it mean for ‘the soul to feel its worth’?

It means recognising that in our deepest being we were made to know and enjoy God and His glory; it means recognising that through our choice of pride we have surrendered that magnificent soul call; and it means recognising that only in Jesus Christ can we truly come alive once again.

O, Holy Night - from the French hymn by Placide Cappeau

'If I were a shepherd...' - Advent Day 11

What can I give Him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;
If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part;
Yet what I can I give Him: give my heart.

Imagine you live in a town ruled by enemies. You live in constant fear of exploitation and cruelty; you know any hint of rebellion will be met with fierce vengeance; the fabric of your community is decaying by the second. After enduring this for what seems an age, your town is unexpectedly liberated by allied forces in a daring counterstrike. What is your reaction? Overwhelming thankfulness, of course. But how can you thank them enough? You can’t. What can you return to them in the measure they have given to you? Nothing.

This is dilemma of the protagonist of ‘In the bleak midwinter…’ Just how can I respond to this magnificent hope, this incredible grace, this new era? If I were there at the blessed birth, I would certainly give my lambs or my homage, but I wasn’t. So what can I do? The answer is that there is one thing that we can all give to God, and that is our hearts. And that is what God delights in – our love, our trust, our devotion, our affection.

This Christmas, let us not be cynical about hope and cheap with our affections; rather, let us truly take hold of what God has done for us in Jesus and be generous in returning our love to Him.

In the bleak midwinter - words by Christina Rossetti.

'Be near me, Lord Jesus...' - Advent Day 10

Be near me, Lord Jesus,
I ask Thee to stay
Close by me forever
And love me I pray.

At their best, Christmas celebrations are a wonderful time for enjoying, cherishing and deepening family relationships. The very nature of a festival and a feast is in its communal dynamic, which is why people being alone on Christmas day is such a saddening spectacle. It is also why those with difficult relationships often feel the tensions more acutely during the festive season.

Yet there is a far deeper relationship at stake at Christmas time, namely our relationship with God – Father, Son (Jesus) and Holy Spirit – Himself. For all the hope and joy of Jesus’ Advent is purposed to an end– that we might know God himself. This prayer, taken from ‘Away in a Manger’, is an example of the childlike, humble and heartfelt prayer that God loves to hear from us.

So amidst the throng of our Christmas relational experience - present giving, TV watching, ‘heated debates’ over Monopoly, tussling over the stuffing – let us take time out to seek sanctuary and joy in that most precious relationship of all.

Away in a Manger

'Soon comes the cross...' - Advent Day 9

Sing lullaby!
Hush, do not wake the infant King.
Soon comes the cross, the nails, the piercing,
then in the grave at last reposing;
Sing lullaby!

Could there be a more shocking contrast? The hopeful birth of the long awaited Saviour-King, and the brutal execution of a condemned man through crucifixion. They don’t cohere, and it feels almost offensive considering them together, for we do not ponder the birth of criminals nor the death of newborns. Yet this traditional Basque lullaby makes us confront this most sobering of fact: the baby Jesus of our Christmas carols died a horrendous death at Calvary just 33 years later.

But the most shocking thing about Jesus’ death wasn’t that the hope of Emmanuel appeared over (for we all know the reality of disappointment). Rather, it was that this death was the means of fulfilling that very hope. For God’s plan of redeeming humankind and reversing the tyranny of curse rested on Jesus receiving, in our place, the wrath of God that was justly set upon all humans. In Jesus’ death, God’s perfect love and perfect justice toward humankind were reconciled. Jesus’ death unlocked God’s good countenance and so fulfilled, rather than ruined, the promise of the Saviour-King.

While we focus on the incarnation of Jesus at Christmas time, we should never forget that His birth was only the beginning of Jesus’ mission. It was not the end of the story of God’s grace, but the start. Easter follows Christmas, and their hope cannot be separated.

Sing Lullaby (The Infant King) - Basque traditional, arr. David Wilcocks

'The gift of God, come down to man...' - Advent Day 8

But the skies were filled, with the praise of heav'n,
Shepherds listen as the angels tell
Of the Gift of God, come down to man
At the dawning of Immanuel

A popular and tragic theme of many romances is that of the lover who will never yield themselves.  They will treat their other half with respect and shower them with a myriad of presents, but there is always something held back. Over time, this absence becomes a crushing sorrow upon the other, until they finally let out that cry – ‘I don’t want your gifts…I want you!'

What if God was to treat us like that? What if He gave all the things we can often think He should give to us – a comfortable life, a stable society, an end to suffering – but withheld Himself? We’d be spiritually empty, and ultimately no better off than in our struggles, for God Himself is our greatest need. The great news of Christmas is that God has given Himself in Jesus Christ! His name is Immanuel – God with us. The tragedy of separation from God is over, and the angels cannot but proclaim it to those wandering shepherds.

We give presents at Christmas time in replication of the gifts of Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh bought as homage to Jesus by the wise men. But they speak of a deeper gift – ‘the Gift of God, come down to man’. So there is no place for living like the wilted lover before God, for He has offered Himself to us all. The question is, will we accept Him?  

From the squalor of a borrowed stable - Stuart Townend

'Heaven was filled with His praises' - Advent Day 7 reflection

                                    One day when heaven was filled with His praises,

                                    One day when sin was as black as could be –

                                    Jesus came forth to be born of a virgin.

What was life like for Jesus before his virgin birth? Scripture tells us that Jesus had always been with the Father, that all things were created through Him and that all heaven indeed was filled with his praises. Any serious meditation on this point leads swiftly to the heart of Trinitarian thought – that Jesus was forever the second person of the Godhead, and thus truly God Himself. This brings into sharp focus the colossal gap between Jesus’ station in Heaven and His remote, lowly birth on Earth.

The one who was worshipped by angels humbled himself to dwell in a human womb, to walk for 33 years on the Earth and to submit himself to crucifixion, all for the sake of bringing humans back to God. Today’s song – an epic contemporary reworking of a classic American hymn – dwells on the wonder of these truths, and also what followed, namely Jesus’ resurrection from the dead and His future advent as our glorious king.

It can be easy at Christmas time to think of Jesus only as a baby, but in doing this we rob ourselves of much of the wonder of the advent message. For it was God himself who came to Earth over 2000 years ago, a truth that demands to be reckoned with by us all.

One Day When Heaven (Glorious Day) - words by J Wilbur Chapman, additional words and music by Casting Crowns

'He, whom angels worship...': Advent day 6 reflection

I cannot tell why He, whom angels worship,
Should set His love upon the sons of men.

Consider again that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was incarnated as a human in the womb of Mary that first Christmas time. What do we make of such a thing? We could be amazed that such a thing ever happened. We could overflow with hope that the Messiah has come. We could be filled with confidence that God came to be with us. Or we could simply be without words at the wonder of it all – ‘I cannot tell…’

Yet the writer of these lines tells us two very important things to hold onto when considering the Christmas story: not to forget the great glory of Jesus before he came to Earth (‘whom angels worship’), and that his incarnation was an incredible act of love towards humans. And not merely sentimental love, but a love that said ‘I will give up all of this glory, dwell in the womb of a virgin and be born in a filthy stable for the sake of those who rejected God, to bring them back again’.

In our festivities, let us not miss out on the richness of Jesus’ love for us that the Christmas story displays.

I Cannot Tell Why He, Whom Angels Worship - words by William Young Fullerton

'Emmanuel shall come to ye...' - Advent Day 5 reflection

                        Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel

                        Shall come to ye, O Israel.

Enduring an unwanted separation from a person – be it a child, a partner or a friend – is hard load to bear. And when we ourselves are partially or wholly responsible for that separation, this intensifies to often oppressive levels of sorrow. This was the prevailing spiritual climate in Israel in the years leading up to the birth of Jesus.

Israel, a nation chosen out of obscurity to bear the light of God to the world, had strayed far from their purpose. The knowledge of God’s presence with them had almost vanished. Those looking for something better were deeply troubled by this, and needed to hear the promise of Emmanuel – a name that means ‘God with us’. In the coming of Jesus, this promise was fulfilled.

Jesus, our Emmanuel, came to the Earth so that all people could know God with them. Jesus is with those people who seek him now. Jesus shall come again, and dwell forever with His people.  Emmanuel has come to us and healed that greatest and most devastating separation, the separation of God and man. Rejoice indeed!

O Come, O Come Emmanuel

'A day of freedom...' : Advent day 4 reflection

There is a day that all creation's waiting for;
A day of freedom and liberation for the Earth.

Longing. Perhaps there is no more commonly shared feeling amongst humans than longing. And perhaps there is no emotion harder to get a handle on – our longings are often indescribable, irrational and untraceable…yet undeniably real. What are we to do with this powerful force within, that so often seems unfulfilled? To keep us from turmoil, the sensible thing would be to subject such longings to a stoic realism, to lower our sights and board a carefully balanced craft of scepticism and light entertainment to pilot us through life. 

Yet Christmas refuses to allow such thoughts; the scrooge and the Grinch are lionised, decorations erupt with colour and light, and the festive spirit flows in abundance. The authentic root of this joy?  The stunning news of the Advent message that there is something better coming and our longings can be met. Indeed the Bible tells that not just human longings, but the longings of the whole universe will be met on the day of Jesus’ Second Advent. It will truly be ‘a day of freedom and liberation for the Earth’.

This song, by contemporary band Phatfish, extols us not to sacrifice our longings on the altar of ‘getting by’, but rather to ‘lift our eyes to the things yet unseen’. May it be so with us this Christmas time.

There is a day - words by Nathan Fellingham.

'God appears on Earth to reign': Advent day 3 reflection

‘God appears on earth to reign’

We’ve considered a little already the remarkable facts of Jesus’ first advent, his mission to overturn ‘curse’ and that his birth on Earth was announced as a great blessing to humans. But how? Through what means was God going to achieve these things? The answer is quite simple – God was going to re-establish His reign on Earth through Jesus.

Did it work? That we still see so much suffering, distress, faction and discord over 2,000 years after Jesus’ advent can tempt us to dismiss God out of hand, and certainly any notion of ‘success’ in overturning the curse of this world. But that is to have too small a vision, for ‘God’s appearing on Earth to reign’ is not yet fully complete, which is why today’s carol – Charles Wesley’s masterful ‘Lo! He comes with clouds descending’ – focuses unashamedly on Jesus’ return to Earth in the future. This will complete the work of restoration began in Bethlehem all those years ago.

But where does that leave us today? The good news is that the project is not ‘on hold’. Jesus is the Lord today, and God calls all humans to believe on Jesus as Lord and our lives to be a genuine response to this. Amidst the sorrows and evils of today, there is still much blessing being countenanced to us through Jesus. So are we prepared this Christmas season– like Mary – to humble our hearts to receive our Lord and his blessings?

Lo! He comes with clouds descending - words by Charles Wesley. The lyrics can be found if you click on the 'show more' button under the video description.

'To children's children...' : advent day 2 reflection

                        Tell out, my soul, the greatness of the Lord

                        to children’s children and forever more!

These are the closing lines to Timothy Dudley-Smith’s working of the Magnificat. The Magnificat is the adopted name of a song recorded in the Bible (Luke 1:46-56), sung by Mary as she learned she would, as a virgin, bear the one who would be called Jesus, the Son of God. The contrast between the proclamations about Jesus – “He shall be great, and shall be called Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David” – and the lowly station of Mary is astonishing. For Mary was a young girl without children in a social, cultural and spiritual backwater, about as far from fame as one could get. Yet God, in his wisdom, chose her to be the bearer of the Lord Jesus. Incredible as it seems, the hope of all humans took up home in a virgin’s womb. It tells of the wider wonder of the incarnation – that the Son of God would take on flesh and live upon the Earth. Great is the Lord indeed that such things are so!

Christmas is a great season for story telling. Family stories, funny stories, heart warming stories. The films and the sitcoms go to town, and the tap of festive entertainment never runs dry. This reflects that there is an old, deep and true Christmas story to be told ‘to children’s children and forever more’. Let us make it our goal this Advent season to tell of that first Noel, the hope that it brings still today and the greatness of the Lord in effecting such wonders.

"Tell out, my soul" - words by Timothy Dudley-Smith, after Luke 1:46-56.

Advent Day 1 Reflection - Joy to the world!

This advent season I’m going to write a short, daily reflection on a line or verse from an Advent or Christmas carol. I hope you find them helpful and inspirational. A few notes before I commence:

1.      Despite what the chocolate calendar says, in the western Christian cycle Advent does not necessarily begin on December 1^st; rather it commences four Sundays before Christmas day, and finished on Christmas Eve. This means it can start as early as the 27^th November (if Christmas day is a Sunday) and as late as December 3^rd (if Christmas day is a Monday).  With Christmas day falling on a Tuesday this year, it means that Advent commenced on December 2^nd (yesterday).

2.      I won’t say too much about the meaning of Advent at this point, for that is what I will explore in the reflections.  However, as a summary, one need look no further than verse one of this popular Advent carol:

Joy to the world, the Lord is come!

Let Earth receive her King;

Let every heart prepare him room,

And Heaven and nature sing.

Advent is about the joyful news that the Lord Jesus was incarnated upon Earth over 2,000 years ago. It is about Jesus being our Lord now – the Lord is come.  And it is about anticipating that the Lord Jesus will come again to the Earth. It is about a challenge to all peoples to receive Jesus as their king and to let him enter their hearts. It is a call throughout heaven and Earth to celebrate the Lord of all.

3.      It was not at all difficult to find enough carols that I cherish to fill up the days, perhaps telling of the richness of the theme of advent that so much poetry and music has been devoted to it.

4.      I use the term ‘carol’ broadly to mean a song that is used primarily for corporate Christian singing, and do not exclude contemporary works from the list. Thus I include a song by Casting Crowns, but I do not include ‘Let it Snow’ or ‘She came home for Christmas’, for example.

5.      Accommodating the multi-natured reflection of Advent, the traditional focus of celebration tends to move from the second coming of Jesus at the start of the season to the first coming of Jesus towards the end. I present the carols in an order that broadly reflects this.

6.      Wherever possible, I provide a YouTube link to the carol of the day. If you want to find out more about the carols – for example, their origin or the full text – I encourage you to research that yourself, as I don’t want to clog up the posts with history or preamble (apart from this one, of course).

7.      I’m aware I have started a day late – I will cheat by posting two posts today!

So, here we go! My excerpt for today sticks with ‘Joy to the world’:

                        He comes to make His blessings flow

                        Far as the curse is found.

‘Curse’. An uncomfortable word, and an abrupt interruption of the growing festive spirit, yet a word we would be wise to deal with. Before the joys of advent were the woes of a world that had turned away from God. A once perfect world, without evil, was subjected to curse because of this rejection of God. A harsh act on God’s part? I would suggest not. For in rejecting God, we humans rejected the fullness of life and love that God had in mind for us. If this came with no consequence, we would never feel our need to turn back to God to experience the true joy of community with Him and our fellow humans that we were made for. And while this curse has bought a previously unknown burden of distress, God left in us longings for something better. He did not take away His image from us, nor were our consciences or capacity for love fully paralysed.

But what hope for freedom from this curse? The hope indeed is the Lord Jesus. He came to Earth to reverse the effects of this curse; his life showed His passion and purpose in realising this aim. His death was the decisive act in winning this epic battle. And His resurrection and ascension confirm that the work of restoration continues to this very day, and will continue until He comes again.

That we live in a deeply burdened world is undeniably; and if we are truly honest it is undeniable that we ourselves are not as we ought or long to be. Praise be to God that he sent the Lord Jesus to ‘make his blessings known wherever curse is found’!

"Joy to the World" - words by Isaac Watts.

Government EU defeat, Lance Armstrong and storm Sandy

In a shocking departure from recent form, high level British politics became interesting last night as the House of Commons supported an amendment to demand a reduction in the European Union’s budget. Not only was this a strong show of British political muscle against the excesses of the EU, it also marked a defeat of the government in a whipped vote, as Tory backbench rebels joined forces with Labour, the SNP and the DUP. It is a result warmly welcomed by all sceptical of the growing federal behemoth of Brussels, but as it is not binding on the Prime Minister it is but a small skirmish in the battle. Whether this will catalyse Parliament into ‘sorting out’ the European question (which, given the widespread and growing public disquiet on the issue must surely include a referendum on the UK’s relationship with the EU) remains to be seen. But regardless, it’s good to see things getting exciting in the Commons once again.

I don’t wish to add too much ink to the Lance Armstrong case, so I offer only this -  putting aside the ethics, deception, methods and outcomes of the scandal, two great sadnesses emerge: firstly, we will never know how good Armstrong truly was. Many say that without EPO you drop from the front of the peloton to the middle; although I have no doubt he wouldn’t have achieved the success he did without EPO, I would be surprised if he hadn’t experienced some success and been competitive at the front end without it. But this is the point – these questions can never be answered, they will forever be speculative and will forever be worthless, for Armstrong the sportsman is now worthless. The second sadness is that there is no inspiration left for fans and riders of an era of cycling already largely discredited, for the success of Armstrong was one of the few lights – and certainly the brightest – that remained. I’m just thankful that my own interest in the sport was only birthed two seasons ago.

Returning to politics while hopping across the Atlantic, the American presidential elections have been thrown to the back stage in light of storm Sandy. This is quite proper in light of the tragedy that the storm has wreaked. Yet a scene from The West Wing comes to mind when Zoe Bartlett has been kidnapped and President Bartlett is unable to focus on the politics of the situation. Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman speaks up and says ‘that’s why I have to’. It is entirely right that political calculation doesn’t show a public face in these times, but no doubt in the background many campaigners on both sides of this election will be calculating the political ramifications of the storm. This is not hateful when their goal is to respond rightly and responsibly to the tragedy; it would be hateful if either side tried to use the storm to their political advantage. 

Words of joy, words of sorrow...

For those who best express things through the written word, triumph and tragedy are the greatest challenges. How can one capture either the heights of elation or the bitterness of mourning that are, literally, beyond words? Yet it is those time when the wordsmith is most needed, for it is those times when people desperately seek to bridge the gulf between what they are feeling and what they can express. This is almost the definition of art itself, for it is from the extremes of human experience that the majority of great art finds it richest resource. Now, I can assure you that I do not consider myself a literary great. But I do consider myself as someone who best expresses themselves through writing. I write in various forms – song lyrics, poems, analysis & opinion (i.e. blogging) and have a couple of nascent novel ideas. The past couple of weeks I have seen a flurry of writing that I’ve not experienced for a long while; not incidentally there have simultaneously been things of both great joy and sorrow going on. The point of these musings? I have come to appreciate afresh that writing is a powerful, valuable, God-given entity that has a life-affirming and healing power both for the author and those far beyond; the ability to connect in the midst of our brightest and darkest hours.

*******

Continuing on the theme of the power of writing, I recently came across this astonishing quote from Victor Hugo that I had to share: “I feel within me that future life. I am like a forest that has been razed; the new shoots are stronger and brighter. I shall most certainly rise toward the heavens the nearer my approach to the end, the plainer is the sound of immortal symphonies of worlds which invite me. For half a century I have been translating my thoughts into prose and verse: history, drama, philosophy, romance, tradition, satire, ode, and song; all of these I have tried. But I feel I haven’t given utterance to the thousandth part of what lies within me. When I go to the grave I can say, as others have said, “my day’s work is done”. But what I cannot say, “my life is done”. My work will recommence the next morning. The tomb is not a blind alley; it is a thoroughfare. It closes upon the twilight, but opens upon the dawn.”

American Election Prediction Special

Yes, as promised last week, American Election FaceOFF is here! I go head to head with American Politics Geek Extraordinaire Mark Summers and attempt to call, state-by-state, the 2012 US Presidential Election. The rules are simple – we make our prediction, and whoever gets the most states correct wins. We thought a month before the election was about right – far enough away that it requires some political acumen beyond simply plagiarising the latest polls, but not so far as to make it all a wild stab in the dark. So, without further ado, here are my state by state predictions:

Alabama – Republican (R)

Alaska – (R)

Arizona – (R)

Arkansas – (R)

California – Democrat (D)

Colorado – (D)

Connecticut – (D)

Delaware – (D)

Florida - (R)

Georgia - (R)

Hawaii – (D)

Idaho - (R)

Illinois – (D)

Indiana – (R)

Iowa - (R)

Kansas - (R)

Kentucky - (R)

Louisiana - (R)

Maine – (D, all districts)

Maryland - (D)

Massachusetts – (D)

Michigan - (D)

Minnesota – (D)

Mississippi – (R)

Missouri - (R)

Montana - (R)

Nebraska - (R, all districts)

Nevada – (D)

New Hampshire – (D)

New Jersey – (D)

New Mexico – (D)

New York - (D)

North Carolina – (D)

North Dakota – (R)

Ohio - (R)

Oklahoma - (R)

Oregon – (D)

Pennsylvania – (D)

Rhode Island – (D)

South Carolina - (R)

South Dakota - (R)

Tennessee - (R)

Texas - (R)

Utah - (R)

Vermont – (D)

Virginia – (D)

Washington – (D)

Washington DC – (D)

West Virginia - (R)

Wisconsin - (R)

Wyoming - (R)

If this voting pattern were to happen, it would yield an Obama victory with 284 electoral college votes vs Romney’s 254. Now, I realise a few things:

1)      This is a lot closer than most people are currently calling the election.

2)      Awarding Romney Ohio, Florida and Wisconsin while still giving Obama the overall victory is an aberration from conventional psephological wisdom.

3)      This is accounted for by calling Virginia and North Carolina for Obama.

4)      The above two decisions could well be utter foolishness that hand victory to Mark Summers. However, if they are correct I would expect every polling organisation in America to be offering me a job with immediate effect. A worthwhile risk.

Roll on election night, politics does not get any better than this…

Mumford vs Babel vs Europe vs USA

The wait for a second album is a nerve wracking one. The stakes are high – will it be a drift into obscurity? Or a glistening triumph? This week saw the ending of such a wait as Mumford and Sons finally released ‘Babel’, the follow up to 2009’s ‘Sigh No More’. My biggest fear was not for the overall quality of the album (the verdict is still out), but that following the phenomenal success of the past three years Mumford & Sons would lose their lyrical ambition and musical passion and become a watered down cliché of themselves. Happily that fear is smashed to smithereens within seconds as a pounding bass drum, urgent banjos and Marcus Mumford’s yearning vocals let you know that they mean business. The lyrical gems are plentiful too: ‘Like the city that nursed my greed and my pride, I stretch my arms into the sky, I cry “Babel, Babel, look at me now”, the walls of my town they come tumbling down”. However high or low the album ends up in their portfolio, there’s no doubt that Mumford still ‘have it’. Happy listening!

***

I love the Ryder Cup. It is by far my favourite golfing tournament, and the only time when golf approaches the upper echelons of my passion scale. The intense rivalry and matchplay format suggest that this isn’t so surprising. But what is surprising is the Europe factor. Europe, if you haven’t noticed, isn’t doing so well - regions in Spain have run out of essential medical supplies, Christianity is being squeezed out of every corner of public life and Germany is wielding the kind of power that a Union was meant to prevent ever happening again. In the UK, the EU flag has probably never been held in lower regard. And yet, for three wonderful days every two years, Les Douze Etoiles flies with pride and the old world lion roars down the fairways with glory. There are, of course, historic golfing reasons why Europe as a continent competes in this event, but that its popularity continues to grow in these troubled times is noteworthy. For the Ryder Cup has succeeded where a political union, legal integration, a single currency and even the presidency of George Bush failed – to create an emotionally united Europe. Not that it will stop me voting to get the hell out of the EU as soon as possible– that is, if we’re ever given the chance express such sentiments in the ballot box…

***

I’m about to do something dangerous and endorse a book which I’ve barely read a quarter of so far. The book in question is John Maxwell’s life@work. John Maxwell makes the unusual junction of being both a sought after business guru and a evangelical megachurch pastor. The contention of the book is, essentially, that such a portfolio shouldn’t be unusual – that to separate God and faith from work and success is a huge mistake. But this far more than a ‘let’s be nice to everyone at work and try hard’ but a tight theological argument that work itself is central to who God made us to be (Genesis 1:26-31). Maxwell then proceeds to examine various elements of work and identify their spiritual integration. I eagerly await reaching his conclusions – let me know if you get there first.

***

EXCLUSIVE PREVIEW Make sure you check into Words of 50 next week, where an American Election FACEoff ™ between myself and good friend, fellow blogger and published journalist Mark Summers will take place. Need I say more…

Clegg, Cavendish and Cricket

Words of 50 is back! After what can only be described as an accidental hiatus, I’m looking to return to at least weekly posting. As you will see from today’s offering, the style of posting is going to move away from dedicated posts on a particular topic (lack of inspiration has been one factor in the recess) towards a more random diary like collection of various thoughts I have had during the week. Something along the lines of Simon Hoggart’s diary (Saturday Guardian) or the Evangelical Alliance’s Friday Night Theology. Hope you enjoy…

It’s been a rocky few weeks for Nick Clegg. Facing a likely hostile Liberal Democrat autumn conference, we’ve had all kinds of aggressive plays coming out of the deputy prime minister’s office – an apology over tuition fees, new zealousness for the ‘equality’ agenda (somewhat overshadowed by ‘bigotgate’), a call for higher taxes on the super rich and an open declaration that the party would be willing to work with Labour in the future. Are these the actions of a renewed political force or the desperate thrashings of a dying beast? Time will tell, and whilst there may be enough political ‘meat’ here to satisfy the braying conference hordes, it’s going to take far more to win back anything near the popularity Clegg enjoyed during the 2010 election campaign. For that to happen, it would be nothing short of a political miracle.

***

Talking of political figures of dubious substance, I find myself ever more saddened at the presence of Mitt Romney in the presidential election. Over the months I have seen nothing come from the Republican candidate that speaks of genuine political vision and value, or that there is a coherent centre to his policy. Regardless of one’s views on President Obama’s policies, he remains the most compelling candidate by a country mile and can only have himself to blame if he loses to a man best described as a political opportunist.

***

Amidst the bottomless triumphs of British sport in 2012, two things sadden me: firstly, I have not been any near as enthused about cricket as I usually am. I would suggest a few potential causes of this: boredom over the Pietersen affair, the continued absence of test cricket on free television and not having played or made it to a game this summer. Either way, I feel a poorer person for this, and hope the enthusiasm returns during the winter series.

Secondly, the continued talk of Mark Cavendish leaving Team Sky distresses. While not upset at Cavendish for wanting to maximise his success, I find his calculation that leaving Team Sky will achieve that a little odd. For a start, 2012 has been a successful year for Cavendish – 13 stage wins (including 3 in the Tour de France), 1 one-day race win (Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne), 1 stage race overall win (Ster ZLM) and missing out on the Giro D’Italia red jersey by just one point. This is arguably a stronger return than that of 2011 when he had an entire team built around him. The only exception to that is the Tour de France, where he has been winning 5 stages on a regular basis for a number of years and picked up the Green Jersey last year. If Cavendish were to move to a team where he again picked up 5 stage wins a year in the TdF (which is far from a certainty), he would surpass Eddy Merckx’s stage win record in 3 years time; yet if he stayed at Sky and won at a rate of 3 stage wins a year that timeframe would only expand to 4 years. Besides this odd calculation, Team Sky have come close to ‘total cycling’ this year – i.e. on any given stage of any given race a Team Sky victory has been a realistic prospect. It is an exciting philosophy of racing, and one which would be very badly damaged with the loss of Cavendish. Finally, the thousands who lined the streets of Guildford on the final stage of the Tour of Britain roaring Cavendish home to victory in his Team Sky rainbow Jersey will forever be an iconic moment in British cycling – it would be a real shame if there were no more of those. So Mark, if you are reading this, please reconsider!

Politics - the 2 big questions

There are two essential questions upon which the whole opera of democratic politics rests – what is the good life? And how are we to realise it? The second question is what the majority of news coverage focuses on – what is happening, what is not happening and who’s fault is it for happening/not happening. This is not wrong scrutiny, but when severed from the anchor of the first question, politics becomes a puerile, unattractive scrap that neither inspires civic ambition nor deals with the really big questions that need to be dealt with.

Much has been written on issues such as the media devaluation of the political process and the impotence of elected government in the face of global economic pressures; I will not tire readers by rehearsing such proclamations. But neither of these are the deepest lack - the true poverty of British politics is the absence of inspiring oratory regarding the good life of the nation. Let us pray men of vision and wisdom rise up to fill the vacuum.

Scottish Independence - turmoil for Northern Ireland?

The question of Scottish independence has been prevalent in the news for the past few weeks, and returned to the agenda last week with the launch of the ‘better together’ unionist campaign. But one aspect that I have not heard anyone talk about is the fallout that a future independent Scotland would bring upon Northern Ireland.

The problem is fairly simple: the Good Friday Agreement states that while the majority of people in Northern Ireland wish to remain united to Great Britain in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (henceforth UK) state as opposed to with the Irish Republic state, the UK and Irish government are treaty-bound to ensure that is the case. But should Scotland leave the UK, the UK would cease to exist. This is because of the four constituent members of the UK – England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland – only England and Scotland have the legal status of being countries, and the foundation of the political UK (as opposed to the Union of the Crowns which is another issue…) is the political integration of England and Scotland.

Wales’ legal status is as a ‘principality’, and its governing affairs were tied to England’s a long time before the 1707 Acts of Union. Ireland meanwhile, existed as an independent state outside of the UK until 1801, became part of the UK, and then seceded again 1922. Except that 6 of Ulster’s 9 counties where the majority wished to remain in the UK were permitted to do so, and hence the entity of ‘Northern Ireland’ was established. Its status with in the UK is that of a ‘province’.

Thus the severing of Scottish political affairs from Westminster would end the UK, and those who hold the political philosophy of British Unionism (whether in Northern Ireland or elsewhere within the Isles) would have no supra-British state to which they owe loyalty. This, to put it bluntly, is a major problem, as the identity of ‘Unionist’ or ‘Republican’ in Northern Ireland of course runs far deeper than constitutional predilection. The Good Friday Agreement (GFA) remains a successful peace agreement and essential to the future of the province, and yet it would be entirely undermined constitutionally should the UK cease to exist. The framers of the Good Friday Agreement simply did not foresee the possibility that the UK or Irish Republic would ever cease to be. Yet serious thought must be given to this issue otherwise there is a real possibility of a return to ongoing violence in Northern Ireland should either community become disenfranchised (in the broadest of terms).

So what is the way forward should Scotland declare independence? There appear to be four options, which are outlined in ascending order of plausibility:

1.  Assume that all references to the ‘UK’ or ‘British Citizenship’ in the GFA are now replaced with ‘England’ (which would technically be the correct name for the new state covering England & Wales) and ‘English citizenship’. This is a completely ludicrous option as Northern Ireland Unionists do not identify themselves as English, but as British (and sometimes as Irish as well), so being governed by England would be equally as abhorrent to both the Unionist and Nationalist communities. Additionally, the English state would have no constitutional obligation or responsibility towards the province of Northern Ireland as the union would be dissolved.  Hence this ‘neat’ option, which many people seem to be assuming, is not an option.

2. Northern Ireland to become an independent state. While a better solution than the previous option, there is very little support for this amongst either community in the province. The term ‘Northern Irish’ exists only to describe that someone is from the province; it is not an identity or nationality, and thus imposing this solution would ride roughshod over both community’s right to self-determining-identification.

3. Northern Ireland to secede to the Irish Republic. Under the Good Friday Agreement this would only happen if a majority expressed the desire to do so through a referendum, and currently the majority are against this course of action. However, many ‘softer’ Unionists might see this as the most realistic geo-political option should the UK cease to exist. The power-sharing agreement in the province itself would remain unaltered.

4. A new pan-British Isles Union is established (consisting of England, Ireland, Wales, Ireland, The Channel Islands and the Isle of Man) which, while not a sovereign state in its own right, would have technical sovereignty over Northern Ireland and continue to issue British passports to all within the constituting nations who wish for a British rather than national passport. In this arrangement, Northern Ireland would be considered as a province of Ireland, but sovereignty would only pass to the Dublin government if the majority of the people express the desire for it. This is a highly desirous solution, and would have geo-political benefits beyond the constitutional solution for Northern Ireland. But there are problems – the international community would have to assent to recognising pan-British identity without the existence of a pan-British state. Secondly, Ireland would have to agree to participate in this Union

Of the four options, only three and four seem realistic, and as things stand, only four would politically plausible to both nationalists and unionist in Northern Ireland. Perhaps there are more options (I am not a constitutional expert) but regardless, the potential for turmoil in Northern Ireland must be faced, and it would be a very good thing if the nettle was grasped now, even if Scotland doesn’t end up dissolving the UK in two years time.

Facts - the enemy of vision?

I’ve always had an ambiguous relationship with facts. While fully committed to the principle that we must speak from the truth, I have shunned the process of actually establishing the objective reality of the situation into/out of which I speak. This is justified by categorising my offerings as ‘visionary’, and therefore it would be a poor thing to clutter up such oratory with endless statistics. The visionary must be immunised against bland utility.

But recently I’ve found myself questioning the validity of this dichotomy, as it dawned on me that many of the articles that I find most convincing are those which are insistent on uncovering the truth of a situation, which nearly always entails statistics of some sort. Now, I don’t promise to overhaul the tone of my posts overnight, for two reasons – firstly, I’m incredibly lazy with regards to doing the hard graft of proving my points, as I prefer to let unadulterated prose wing them to their destination. Secondly, even if I do overhaul this laziness, I would still struggle to dedicated the necessary time to researching and establishing the objective reality into which I speak on a regular basis. Perhaps this is the remaining distinction between true journalism and whatever this is…

Yet I do not think the essence of the dichotomy is entirely false, but that it is wrong to locate the antithesis of vision in the realm of ‘fact’. Rather, I would suggest the true enemy of vision is ‘functionality’. The visionary says “this is how things are, this is where we should go, let’s get there!”, whereas the functionist says “this thing is not working, let’s make it work”. Now of course there is nothing wrong with solving problems and fixing things that are broken, but when this is the driving philosophy of change rather than a consequence of a bigger vision of life, functionality triumphs. And this should not be so – humans are beings of imagination, aspiration, desire and spirituality as well as creatures of a physical environment, thus we need vision as well as order.

This has application across most realms of humanity, and certainly in politics. No doubt the low state of engagement in national life is due to a lack of visionary politicians – who is there in comparison to (the albeit fictional) President Bartlett? But there are application for our churches as well – do we make decisions about the future that flow from a vision to actualise a radical Christ-shaped community, or from a sense of the need to ‘keep things going’, or to employ each latest whim of culture to ensure we are not ‘left behind’? (no pun intended)

So, where does this leave Words of 50? In short, the visionary tradition will not be abandoned, but, when possible, I shall endeavour to prove that I do have a clue to what I’m talking about a little more diligently than in the past. That is, of course, if do have a clue… 

Democracy - an enemy of good economics?

This morning on Radio 4’s today show, there was an interview with American ‘anti-austerity’ economist Paul Krugman. Krugman’s central argument is that recessions are not the time to be balancing the books through cutting public spending; rather, in such times, governments should borrow more to stimulate growth, and once the economy is growing again institute tighter fiscal policies to balance the books. This is nothing new – a restatement of classic Keynesian economics. Given the social failure of Thatcherism and the personal debt crisis of the New Labour era, such a model still holds a great deal of plausibility.

But this poses a problem – what democratic government would ever institute such a policy? One might expect a full ‘Krugman’ cycle to take around 15 years, and both increasing national debt (in light of Greece) and taking the ‘silver lining’ off the boom times are massive electoral risks. Give most democratic countries have executive electoral terms of between 2 and 5 years, governments will calculate that the likelihood of seeing ‘payoff’ before the next round of elections is slim.

Again, the notion that the electoral cycle stifles wise, long-term governance is not a new one, and there are three ways out of such policy conundrums: a) abandon democracy b) move to ‘democracy minus’ (elections ever 10+ years, stronger executive power including fiscal adjustment powers) and c) wait for the zeitgeist of popular opinion to shift to politically permit said policy. Assuming we don’t a) and dismissing b) as an interesting, potentially desirable yet highly unlikely solution, we come to the root core of the problem, namely c).

So what shift in public opinion would allow a government to whole-heartedly enact Krugmanism? Essentially, the desire for a sound national economic condition would have to decisively trump the aspiration of greater and greater consumption. The better off would have to accept that increased incomes in boom times would be taxed progressively, and the less well off would have to accept that in harder times that fixed term ‘new deal’ type jobs would become the norm. The public sector would need to accept that artificial expansion in a recession would demand significant pruning in growth periods.

If these convictions were to arise, then perhaps a majority would vote for Krugmanists over a whole economic cycle. So, as with all matters of importance in democratic society, good economics is fundamentally a battle for hearts and minds. Regardless of one’s assessment of the merit of Krugmanomics, may we all stop worshipping at the altar of greed and heed God’s call to seek responsible economic stewardship. Only then will democracy and good economics flourish together.

The Welcome of Christ (Romans 15:7)

“Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God" (Romans 15:7)

The pressing question of this verse is ‘how has Christ welcomed us’? A brief meditation reveals this verse to be an immense challenge issued to the church, for…

Christ has welcomed us with sincere love as opposed to a cool apathy. Christ has welcomed us with an invitation rather than coercion. Christ has welcomed us with concern, rather than indifference to, our welfare. Christ welcomes us with hard and challenging words rather than an unloving permissiveness. On Earth Christ welcomed unconditionally those of different nationality, race, educational level, social class and wealth than himself. Christ welcomes us at a great cost to himself, embracing a filthy cradle, a manual apprenticeship in an obscure backwater, a band of rough fishermen as his best friends, a cruel crucifixion and a dark tomb in order to secure our everlasting welcome in His, the Father and the Spirit’s presence.

May our welcome of each other be so shaped after Jesus.

Vote 'Yes' for a Newcastle Mayor

On Thursday May 3rd residents of Newcastle City are being asked to vote in a referendum on whether they want a directly elected mayor to run the city’s affairs. Here are 5 reasons why I am voting ‘yes’ and would encourage all in Newcastle to do the same:

1. The revival of the City. Following a century or so of national economies holding sway, the city is re-emerging as the primary economic and cultural unit, largely as a consequence of globalisation. Cities thus need the strong, distinctive, political leadership that a directly elected mayor would provide if they are to stand out as globally distinctive centres of ideas, creativity and wealth. The health of the city depends on such vibrancy.

2. The need for economic leadership. Economic leadership in the North East has been woeful, and the decline of One North East has only exacerbated the constant and uncooperative bickering over meagre regional funds. As the region’s leading city Newcastle needs better than this, and a strong mayoral figure is the best hope for the economic nettle to be grasped and the potential prosperity of the region to be realised.

3. Resist the magnet! There is a giant magnet standing strong in the South East corner of this country. It sucks in a vast amount of the nation’s talent, influence, investment and political attention. It is, of course, London. Yes, lots of people live in London, but 80% of English persons do not. And it is becoming ever more apparent that the centralised nature of the English settlement is not serving the regions well, particularly harming the cities of the Midlands and the North. Resistance to this trend requires alternative centres of influence emerging, and an elected mayor is in a vastly superior position to resist the pull of London than a council leader who is in the throes of the Westminster-saturated main political parties.

4. A chance to end local politicking. Having national political parties compete in municipal elections has not served local governance well. Local government should be about serving the city as effectively as possible, overseen by a council whose concern is entirely for that happen. As it is, there are innumerable political pressures that flow both within the party groupings and between the council chamber and the executive office, that often have very little to do with what’s best for the city as opposed to what is best for particular individuals or mini political cartels. By voting for a directly elected mayor there is a chance to bypass this wasteful and unwholesome politicking by electing an independent mayor whose sole concern is the welfare of the city.

5. Ultimate accountability. Currently, if you think the council is doing a bad job, you can’t vote out the leader (unless you happen to be in the minority whose ward is the ward of the leader). With an elected mayor you would be able to do that. Surely a good thing.