Anglican Church of Papua New Guinea Diocese of Port Moresby

Christmas Message 2007

In England, where I come from, some of the roads are blocked by snow. A heavy snow fall is called a white-out. Here in Papua New Guinea that’s never going to happen, so I guess we will just have to carry on dreaming of the white Christmas we hear about in the famous song.

Christmas happens, whatever the weather, and the weather, of course, is nothing like the most important thing about Christmas. At the heart of Christmas is the birth of a baby, the birth of baby Jesus by the Virgin Mary his mother in the stable at Bethlehem.

We all love to see a new born baby, an amazing tiny bundle of life. The safe delivery of a baby is a great moment of joy for all the family. Friends and relatives rush round to see the new born child and to offer help, for a new baby has to be looked after all the time. A new baby needs our love and care.

As we gather around the cribs in our churches and look at baby Jesus, Christians see the child who was loved and cared for by Mary and Joseph, and who later grew into the man who loves and cares for us all. The baby who was looked after by Mary and Joseph grew into the man who is looking after us all. But Jesus also grew into the man who was physically and mentally abused by others. His body suffered from violence and he was executed. But the man who was judged by others will also be the one who judges us all.

In PNG today there are many stories of physical abuse and violence. Often the victims are women but they are also men and children and even babies. Recently a white ribbon campaign was launched to bring this shameful situation out into the open, so that families and communities can face up to it and tackle it.

The Church teaches that all human life is sacred. Every single human life is important to God. In the birth of Jesus, born of the Virgin Mary, God became man. God shared our human life by taking our flesh and blood. He grew up in an often violent society and suffered violence himself.

As we look at a new born baby we naturally want to show our respect and love for the new child. As we look at the baby Jesus in the Christmas scene we want to give him not only respect and love but also our worship. We cannot do these things and yet take part in any sort of physical or mental abuse of our fellow human beings.

So why not tie a white ribbon to your crib this Christmas or hang a white ribbon on your Christmas tree? This will remind everyone who sees them that as God respects our humanity in the birth of Jesus so we too have to respect every human being, at every stage of human life. As we come to the crib to worship Jesus, the white ribbon will remind us that all human life is special and that violence and abuse, which has no place in the stable of Bethlehem, has no place either in our homes and lives.

I’m not dreaming of a white Christmas, it’s never going to snow like that in Papua New Guinea, but I am praying for a white ribbon Christmas – a Christmas where our gathering around the baby Jesus and our worship of the new born king is not spoilt by physical violence within our family or community. Looking at baby Jesus together not only leads us to respect him as “God with us”, but also to respect each other as men, women and children made in his image and redeemed by his love.

Happy Christmas, everyone. Happy white ribbon Christmas to you all.

+Peter Ramsden.
Bishop of Port Moresby.