I originally posted this on Christmas Eve... Now on New Year's Eve I've done a slight re-edit, as it seems an appropriate epitaph to an inauspicious old year, and a rallying cry for the new. It is also a year where I have blogged even less than before, not because it has become unfashionable (though it clearly has - supplanted by the 140 character tweet as the means of conveying opinion - not a format I was ever likely to excel in) but because I'm not sure I had much to say in the face of the momentous events of the last year - it seemed too much like Lear shouting at the storm on the heath... and I suppose there is a degree of that in this post... But I'm simply putting down a marker of how I feel, and at the end of the day that is what this blog has largely been about...
I'm making no promises about blogging in the new year, but thank you to those who pay attention when I do...
A year of untruth
A year of grieving for the famous
And a year of infamy,
Of public grief, but little else
For the poor and the powerless,
The vulnerable victims
Crushed between a callous dictator
and ruthless rebels
Both backed by chess-playing super-powers
Dealing death by remote control.
Another year of mass migration
Young men fleeing fighting and hunger
Pathfinders seeking peace and hope
For their families back home,
If they still have homes, or families,
Finding their way onto posters
Promoting dread and division,
A year of stark choices
Yes, No, In, Out…
More of the same or who knows what.
A year of democracy dragged through the dirt
Power to the people
Lies to the people
Contempt for the people
From those seekers after power
And those who want to hold on to it
At all costs.
And those who want to hold on to it
At all costs.
Brexit Means What?
More money for the NHS?
Let’s make America great again
By building a wall, or a fence, or a line in the sand
By locking her up
Or giving free reign to grope her
Whoever she may be.
Another year of terror
Terrorists doing what it says on the tin
Delivering death by the truckload
And many other means
And political parties completing their job
By spreading the fear far and wide
Divide and be conquered by animosity and anxiety,
While the biggest threat to our existence
And all life on this wonderful world
Is downplayed or denied
As “a Chinese plot” or “Green guff”
While we burn money to heat empty sheds
And more and more homeless sleep rough
On cold streets,
Although the streets are strangely
Unseasonably warm.
We need good news for bad
A new year for the old
Grace and truth
Needs to take on flesh again.
Although the streets are strangely
Unseasonably warm.
We need good news for bad
A new year for the old
Grace and truth
Needs to take on flesh again.
the angel said to them, ‘Do not be
afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is the
Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths
and lying in a manger.’
Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the
angel, praising God and saying,
'Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favour rests.’
'Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favour rests.’
Luke 2:10-14 (NIVUK)
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 1:14 (NIVUK)
Shalom
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