22.12.2014
Christmas Message from Archbishop Michael Jackson
At Christmas we pray for peace as we herald the coming of Jesus Christ the Prince of Peace. Peace, of course, makes us yearn for the end of war but it also makes us think of dignity. And I mean the dignity withheld and the dignity destroyed by those who have taken to themselves the entitlement to deprive others of their personal dignity and peace. And so the word peace enables us to tunnel right down to the dignity that defines the human person. In this way, the Prince of Peace both gives dignity to those who follow him and restores dignity to those who are touched by him today through the power of the incarnation, the crucifixion and the resurrection; life, death and new life.
A few weeks ago, I was in the company of a Christian from the Middle East. As well as listening to his story and the stories of others that he told us, the group of which I was part was able to hear from him what he understood as a theology of martyrdom. He began by telling us that those who write in the Western theological tradition do not now have the building blocks of a theology to address the problem of suffering. When pressed on the point, he gave us three words that for him epitomize a theology of martyrdom: obedience to the Lord in that he suffered and asked us to carry our crosses; hope in such a way that the world should see the hope that is in us and wonder at its source; blessing in being persecuted for righteousness and, in such a way as this, being a blessing to others in society.
As never before the Christians in the Middle East are looking open–eyed at their own invisibility. Their numbers on the ground have shrunk to no more than a trace. Jesus Christ came for their peace and dignity as well as for the peace and dignity of you and me and for the peace and dignity of their oppressors. There is no peace that is not shared. This is the double–edged message of Christmas in 2014.
+Michael