Drawing closer

The world seems to be getting smaller. The financial crisis in the USA affected countries around the globe. Ash from a volcano in Chile has caused the cancellation of air-line flights in Australia.
More positive are some scientific effects so that reseach in European laboratories can have life-saving results for people in countries far away. Personally, I appreciate a web cam which gives me to have a weekly opportunity to see and hear family in Europe.
But of course, it takes more than science really to bring people together. It calls for love and respect. Closeness to other people can be 'heavenly' but it can also be 'hellish' as is evident in violence taking place in many countries. There is need for the elements represented by Christianity. John Donne said that no man is an island. We are not self sufficient; we need others plus the unifying factor of love as embodied in Jesus Christ.

Wise men seek Christ

I was at a centre for people who were intellectually limited but who had the opportunity of organising their own Christmas play.In the event the wise men appeared in mortar boards! At first I thought it funny and then realised that the dear people were doing their best to represent the event at the heart of Christmas and felt that God would have appreciated their offering unusual as it was. We may not be clever but we will be wise if we honour the Christ this Christmas. And God will know the degree of sincerity with which we do so.

Leave some lights on

Edward Young said that we all think all men (and women) mortal but ourselves. But in fact for everyone life on this planet is limited. To say that is not to be morbid but simply factual. The question which arises is what we will leave behind.I heard of a young lout who made himself objectionable in a railway cariage. When he was alighting a fellow passenger called him back saying 'You have left something behind'. He asked what he might have left and was told, 'A very bad impression'.
Most people would want to do better than that. Hopefully, when we go, we will leave a few lights on for those who come in later and perhaps save them from some of the stumbles we have made.

Starting and finishing

What counts is not so much how we start in life but how we finish, not the raw material with which we bigin but what we manage to do with it. I spoke with a fine Christian man who has lived an effective life and he confided that he was conceived as a result of his mother being raped. He could have spent his life bemoaning the beginning of his life but instead he can rejoice over what he has been able to make of what he received at birth.I salute him.

Whinging

When I first came to Australia 30 years ago I heard the term 'whinging'. I had not heard it before. It is not in my dictionary from England, only in the one from Australia!! In fact it is not only 'poms' or English men who are given to whinging. It is a universal tendency and finds expression in the phrase 'Why me?'We may sometimes feel that we do not get what we deserve. But think of all the good things we have done nothing to deserve like beautiful sunsets, the sound of music and much else. And think of some of the dire experiences we have been spared through no merit on our part.So we should stop whinging and just be grateful!

Greed

The global financial crisis is complicated and it is not easy to understand all the factors involved but there is evidence of irresponsibility and naked greed in some quarters. Not only 'fat cats' but many 'little people' are suffering and paying the price for what has gone wrong. It is a fact that there is enough in the world for every one's need but not enough for everyone's greed.That is a fundamental problem which everyone needs to address,