In Melbourne, the white candle of our Advent wreath symbolises the peace and unity we hope for, even yet. The candle will sit beside the Nativity scene. We will light it at the Christmas Eve Crib Service, especially for children. Year after year, one observes the enchantment this gives to young and old as Carols are sung and people are calmed.
The Christmas message is that the ‘peace and unity’ of our human family is the divine intent in our creation. Hence, God comes amongst us, humbly and vulnerably, baby Jesus in that Bethlehem manger. Because true love never coerces, our Creator leaves us completely free to choose whether we make peace or war.
As time goes by, in a life of sustained spiritual practice, one comes to know more fully the truth of what is written in the First Letter of John: ‘God is love and those who abide in love, abide in God and God abides in them.’[1 John 4.16]. This is truth as discovery, beyond mere ideology and religious propaganda. In the gift of each new day, we are thus invited to be as loving as we can imagine might be possible.
The context is our awareness that this life is only for so long. As those before us, who have abided well in the divine have conveyed, beyond here, “in the evening of life we will be judged on love alone” [St. John of the Cross]. As one tries to live with this wisdom, the things one might do are made clearer in the divine presence. It’s all very wonderfully mysterious and challenging.
The Christmas after Ukraine was invaded, we invited young people to colour Nativity scenes and write a message. We sent these as comfort to the children through meditating friends in Kyiv. Two years on, our prayers are for those Ukraine children as well as for children in the other war zones in Gaza and across the Middle East, in Africa and Asia.
I think of them and of the little girl who insisted her parents bring her to Church for the Carols Service last Sunday. In her innocence and safety, her quality of spiritual sensitivity was vivid. She feels ‘God is love’. The other time she brought her parents to Church, she had made large white stars which we placed in front of the altar. In the divine love, one aches for those in homes and war zones who are robbed of what this little girl has in abundance – childhood’s innocence and enchantment. Lighting the Christmas candle, we renew our hope and our commitment to making the world safe for all God’s children.
Likewise too, seeking to step lightly around the politics of this in the Federal Election campaign already underway, there is the loving we can give to all planetary life.
The loving intent must be to stop carbon emissions as soon as possible. The transition to renewables is obviously complex but ‘loving our neighbours as ourselves’ includes those on islands in the Pacific who know the consequences of global warming and need us to focus unambiguously on cutting emissions. They and our own endangered species, need us to honestly interrogate the necessity for every action that adds further emissions.
For myself, along with the love of family and friends, in 2025 I will keep trying to foster social cohesion in the wonderful company of interfaith friends. To this end, we are planning another ‘Meditation and Peacebuilding’ gathering. We hope to create an opportunity to hear the learnings, thus far, of the Ambassador’s for Anti Semitism and Islamophobia, in order to enhance our cooperation. And we plan to gather Senior Secondary students, including from faith-based schools, so as to foster their leadership as builders of a sustainable peace.
So, lighting the Christmas candle, contemplating the Nativity scene, singing with the angels ‘from the realms of glory’, we thus renew our hope for a sublime era of peace and unity.
May this be so. Amen. Amen. Amen.
