Christmas Story Challenges World to Right Injustice

In his traditional Christmas morning address delivered in Canterbury Cathedral, Dr Rowan Williams described the stable with the new-born Christ as "the engine room of universe".

"The entire system of the universe, 'the fire in the equations' as someone wonderfully described it, is contained in this small bundle of shivering flesh," he said. "God has given himself away so completely that we meet him here in poverty and weakness, with no trumpeting splendour, no clouds of glory."

Dr Williams added that we should be shocked and troubled by this revelation:
"... it ought to worry us – us, who are so obsessed about being safe and being successful, who worry endlessly about being in control, who cannot believe that power could show itself in any other way than the ways we are used to."

The Archbishop said that, given the terror and violence in the world, it was no surprise that security should  be a priority: "We struggle for a secure world; so we should. But what if our only passion is to be protected, and we lose sight of what we positively and concretely want for ourselves and one another, what we want for the human family? We are not going to be living in the truth if we have no passion for the liberty of God's children, no share in the generosity of God."

Failing to understand what God was telling us, Dr Williams warned, had serious implications for the way we approached global problems:

"The likelihood of a reduction by half of people living in abject poverty by the year 2015 is not noticeably greater than it was four years ago...Some developed nations appear deeply indifferent to the goals agreed."

Dr Williams recalled that the churches had played a major part in promoting the concerns of the Jubilee 2000 campaign which advocated debt relief and urged the churches to go on displaying a 'generous anger about the world's needs'.

"Can the churches of this country do as much again in the coming year in pressing government and financial institutions towards justice – and in motivating their own members get involved in voluntary action, advocacy and giving? If the answer is yes, we shall have taken a step towards living in the truth."