evil at christmas

I’ve struggled to be happy this Christmas.
It was the Friday before Christmas that did it to me.

In the morning I try to absorb the news that an enduring and close friend has a brain tumour. Cancer is sinister, evil. At midday I attend a funeral for the father of my brother-in-law. A simple, small, short – and moving service. Hovering over the event is the reality of the way World War II so damaged a life. War is sinister, evil. The texts and conversation which flow through the afternoon cover just the one topic – more earthquakes in Christchurch. It is hard to fathom. Earthquakes are sinister, evil. In the evening it is news time and a leisurely read of the newspaper. Two horrendous stories of child abuse nudge into the headlines alongside the earthquakes. Violence and abuse, particularly towards children, is sinister, evil.

‘Happy’ is such a silly, superficial word. My Dad taught me to avoid the ‘happy’ in ‘happy christmas’ for this reason. He also taught me to avoid the ‘merry’ in ‘merry christmas’ as it carries overtones of the drunken excesses, another sinister evil, which so easily inhabit Christmas. He turned and tuned me towards joy at Christmas, that quality so deep and so secure that it moves up through life and transforms everything it touches. This Christmas I even struggle with joy – thanks to Friday.

The darkness feels more gloomy this year. My little mind has always been drawn to the verses about Napthali and Zebulun (reminding me of New and Zealand) in Isaiah 9. ‘There will be no more gloom for those who were in distress’ (9.1) … ‘The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the shadow of death a light has dawned.’ (9.2)

Oh God, please, please have mercy.
Make those words real this Christmas.

May the son who has been given truly be a ‘Wonderful Counsellor, a Mighty God, an Everlasting Father, and a Prince of Peace’ (9.6) to those who need him most in the midst of the sinister evil in this world in which we live.

Paul 

Archive

Receive new posts to your inbox

I’d love to keep you updated with my latest news and posts.

We don’t spam! Read our privacy policy for more info.

About Me

paul06.16

the art of unpacking

After a childhood in India, a theological training in the USA and a pastoral ministry in Southland (New Zealand), I spent twenty years in theological education in New Zealand — first at Laidlaw College and then at Carey Baptist College, where I served as principal. In 2009 I began working with Langham Partnership and since 2013 I have been the Programme Director (Langham Preaching). Through it all I've cherished the experience of the 'gracious hand of God upon me' and I've relished the opportunity to 'unpack', or exegete, all that I encounter in my walk through life with Jesus.

5 Comments

  1. robk on December 25, 2011 at 8:21 am

    deoAlthough not having the same problems with the words happy and merry for Christmas Paul, I do think they are very superficial. For me the overwhelming sense of Christmas has always been awe – awe that God should bother in such a wonderful way but also awe at all the wonder and beauty of creation, of people, of the earth the stars the sea and the sky. While evil also inhabits the neighbourhood I remember that God says time and again that creation was good. Christmas needs to be lived in that light I think.

  2. Josh Irving on December 26, 2011 at 12:38 pm

    Thank you for this, Paul. You've done well to put the last few days in perspective.

  3. Barry Pearman on December 27, 2011 at 8:22 pm

    Thanks Paul. I have been very aware of just how much 'evil, sinister evil' has come to the surface this past year. It's more in our face, dictatorships toppled, economic greed bringing superpowers to a whimper, a child abused in a caravan in Tuarangi. It sickens me.

    Increasingly battle lines are being drawn, people having to make choices whether to 'Come let us adore him' or to walk on by and follow the evil intent of their hearts.

    I too have someone close to me on verge of death through the sinister evil of cancer. They love Jesus and I whisper to them that Christ has open welcoming arms for them. They find peace in this.

    Perhaps this is the returning point for me in Christmas. I spoke at River Valley Baptist on Christmas day about looking into the eyes of the Babe of Bethlehem and having everything else melt away. What the baby gives to us and what it receives from us.

    May you have a blessed 2012.

  4. the art of unpacking on January 2, 2012 at 6:54 pm

    Not sure I can quite agree with you, robk! It seems a bit of an escapist perspective to me. Creation 'was' good and it got messed up by sin and evil, sinister evil. Now it is all hands-on deck working with God to see its restoration.

    Isaiah 9 is fabulous with its darkness and light and I find 'the hopes and fears of all the years are met in Thee tonight' also to capture something precious.

    Thanks for your comments, Josh and Barry, as well!

    Paul

  5. robk on January 2, 2012 at 10:01 pm

    Well I'm delighted to be called escapist Paul. Given my rather well defined views on much current evangelical eschatology I would have thought the opposite was rather more likely and given that I believe in the resurrection, the restoration of creation and a rather more physical eternity its not as if I'm looking for some kind of nirvanic wonderland in the sky. Its rather more about an attitude to the material world, the physical spirituality which God has invested in us and put around us. Yes of course there is physical evil but I think we need to be careful that evil and physical event don't drift towards a kind of synonymous status which tends to be the case with the kinds of eschatology that floats around in the church. The earth was made very good and while it has been infected by sin its still good. Life is to be celebrated and enjoyed too. Wine and laughter as well as tears and mourning.

Leave a Comment





This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Recent Posts

true, but not true enough

February 5, 2025

“What is a Christian?” A ‘follower of Jesus’ is the standard response. And it is true, but it is not true enough. Let’s think about this for a minute. So I have this encounter with Jesus. Maybe at a camp of some kind. In the singing and the speaking he becomes so real. It is…

yay! it’s you

January 27, 2025

We had been on holiday in Queenstown. Barby had to come back early to go to work. I stayed on for a couple more days with our daughter, Alyssa, and her family. When I did fly back, Barby had the car and so the easiest thing for me was to get an Uber home—and so…

expect an exception

January 24, 2025

I know I’ve mentioned this one before, but I am not really a flag-in-church kinda guy. All those years ago, as a student in the USA, it was a shock to see the flag up there in the same neighbourhood as the pulpit, the Lord’s Table and the baptistry. “What is going on?” “Have I…

transforming friendship

January 15, 2025

Just when I thought that it could not be possible to have another first-hand account of the impact of John Stott’s life (d. 2011), along comes this book by his close friend, John Wyatt. I am always ready to learn more about John Stott, but also about friendship. It fascinates me. It keeps coming up…

handa leads the way

December 29, 2024

Reading stories to grandchildren over Christmas reminded me again of how powerful they can be. They are so compact and simple in presentation, and yet so clever in construction. There are just so many features at work in an effective story. It is some years since I taught narrative preaching, but when I did I’d…

elchristo, elmina—and beyond

December 19, 2024

Today is Day 56—and on Day 57 we board a flight for home. There has been so much to absorb as Barby and I have encountered the people of God in different places. el-christo, in bolivia A few days before we left NZ, I discovered that I had five sessions to give in Pakistan. Yikes.…

cadeca art

November 20, 2024

The little chapel at Cadeca Casa del Catequista, a retreat centre on the fringes of Cochabamba (Bolivia), caught my eye on an earlier visit in 2017. Lots of photos… I was thrilled to learn that there would be a return visit, this time with Barby—and with lots of video. Enjoy. A 360 view Some Old…

the emus

October 19, 2024

Apart from the eight years in which we were based overseas, Barby has been working at the Refugee Resettlement Center in Auckland since 2002. This year she is a ‘release teacher’, spending one day each week in three different classrooms, with three different age groups. Impressive—and demanding. One day is spent with 11-13 year olds—from…