Hope In The Midst of Chaos

2011 was a dramatic year for every continent on the earth.

The year started with New Zealand’s South Island being struck by a 6.3 magnitude earthquake. Less than three weeks later, Japan suffered a quake measuring 9.0 on the Richter scale – the worst to hit the region since records began. A massive tsunami followed, killing 16,000 people.

Looking west, the developed world witnessed huge disasters as a series of tornadoes ripped through the heart of America in May and Hurricane Irene struck the Caribbean in August.

Monsoons battered much of Asia throughout the year and heavy flooding left more than a million people homeless.

But it’s not just the weather that has been dramatic.

“Money Makes The World Go Round” 

If such a statement is true, then we can expect to witness the earth being thrown off its axis and plummet into deep space during 2012. The financial crisis is more or less, a global one.

Sadly the Western world – especially America – doesn’t seem to understand the simple principle that you can’t borrow money forever.

If I lent you a million dollars every day for 2000 years, you still wouldn’t be anywhere near the amount of debt the US government is in. The National debt has increased by $3.94 billion per day since 2007.

Natural disasters and unnatural debt. But to top it all off, as 2011 draws to a close, the very people responsible for disseminating these important news stories are corrupt!

The Hacks Have Been Hacking! 

As if to prove to the public that they will sensationalize anything they can get their hands on, the UK press has spent the last 6 months sensationalising the very story they are caught up in. Millie Dowler, Ian Blair, Steve Coogan. The question is not “who’s phone has been hacked?” but “who’s phone hasn’t been hacked?”

So if that great staple of British democracy (newspapers) is under threat and Levison is serious about the government regulating the press, where can we look for inspiration in these dark times?

Arab Spring- Unprecedented Phenomena

When a 23 year old fruit seller by the name of Mohammed Bouazizi had his business shut down by a corrupt Tunisian police force, everything changed.

Inspired by Buddhist monks, Bouazizi set himself on fire. This is surely the most tragic form of protest imaginable, yet it turned out to be the most effective.

Within months, all of Tunisia was in an uproar. The Tunisian’s righteous indignation at an oppressive regime was adopted by their Arab neighbours in Egypt, Libya and now Syria.

The West loves democracy, and Obama and Cameron have been acting like excited kids at Christmas as the news of toppling dictatorships reaches our shores. They loved it so much, they joined in the fun and started taking out dictators, who only a few months ago we were more or less friends with.

Many European politicians worship democracy, and are pleased it is coming to the Middle East. But as the great Winston Churchill once said: “Democracy is the worst form of government, except all the others that have been tried.”

Do We Care?

The situation in Iran is hotting up. The country has been hanging homosexuals and threatening to nuke our only true and dependent ally in the Middle East (Israel) for years – but we didn’t care. Oh no, it wasn’t until the Iranians attacked the British embassy in Tehran that we all started paying attention.

To summarise, there have been wars, rumours of wars, earthquakes, nations rising against nations, an increase in lawlessness (look at the London riots if you don’t believe me) and an all round lack of love and respect.

No wonder Harold Camping decided to pronounce, “the end is nigh”.

Here’s The Hope 

Right now you’re wondering where the hope is, right?

I dare you to spend a few moments thinking about what Christmas means, because ultimately the true message is one of hope.

Jesus was born during similar times to our own. Both then and now, the world had gone totally mad! 2000 years ago, the King was issuing orders to kill all the baby boys in town. Oppression was everywhere. Yet some ordinary and mainly working class Jews discovered the greatest man who had ever lived and had their loves totally transformed for the better. They dedicated the rest of their lives to spreading this “good news” about Jesus.

Now one quarter of the world worships the Jewish messiah. Perhaps it’s fair to say us Christians are able to celebrate Christmas better than any other group of people. Maybe we understand the meaning better than anyone else. But we won’t like to think like that, because the point of the Christian faith is this news about Jesus isn’t just for a select few people…it’s for everyone. And that’s why we’re happy to let the whole earth join in and celebrate Christ-mas with us.

This isn’t dull, meaningless theology. Jesus offers hope now. His message of hope wasn’t just offered to some shepherds and wise men in a stable. The message was never only for a chosen select few. His message is eternal and inclusive. As relevant today as it was then. Hope has come.

While we eagerly await a coming time where there will be no more floods, tsunamis, famines, earthquakes, financial crisis, corrupt politicians and journalists…Oh yes, such a time is coming. But the hope of the Christian message doesn’t start when we die or when the world ends. It’s already here.

What is this message of hope? Click the above picture for more info, or click here for some music. Both should help answer that question.