As we approach Christmas, what does one write about in the shadow of the young cricketer Phillip Hughes’ tragic accident, and the very recent loss of young lives at two Sydney schools? Recently, we have been confronted with two obvious truths; life is indeed both fragile and finite. One considers how many millions of times bouncers have been bowled over the years and how small the chance of such a thing happening actually is, and then this happens to one of Australia’s greatest rising cricketing talents. Phillip Hughes was a young man who to most would appear to be just about “bulletproof” – but that’s just the thing isn’t it – we never know when these things are going to happen, and we are reminded of how fragile we are as human beings, even as strong, fit young men.

Such sudden loss, and the gut-wrenching grief that follows, also remind us of how precious and wonderful life is, and often we only appreciate it when a life is lost and a personality is gone.

As we approach another Christmas my prayer and hope for us is that we will see afresh the reality of what happened at the first Christmas. When all the fuss and flare and flashing lights are stripped away, you have a very earthy, real event that breaks into the cold, hard reality of life and death.

The Loving Creator saying to creation, to us: “here is my reaching out to you in all the mess and joy and anguish and pain and hope of your world”. The gifts of the Wise Men from the East, brought to the Christ-child were no accident – these were gifts of great worth but they were also gifts symbolic of burial (anointing oils for a dead body). They are pointing ahead to the climax of this Christ-child’s life – and that was to be a crucifixion and a resurrection.

This is our Loving God saying to us “this is not all there is” – this mortal life is just the beginning, just the foretaste of what is to come. At Christmas we are reminded that beyond the blood and gore of life there is hope and an eternal reality that goes beyond the realms of mortality itself. When everything goes wrong, and even when tragedy strikes, and life comes to an end – this is not the end of it all – God’s eternal plan is there for each one of us. As Christians we don’t believe in a dead Saviour but a risen Messiah.

May you all have a truly blessed Christmas season (see you at Carols this Saturday, 6 December 2014).

Rev David Williams
College Chaplain