THE ARCHBISHOP OF NEW ZEALAND

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 545, 24 December 1928, Page 11

THE ARCHBISHOP OF NEW ZEALAND

(THE MOST REV. DR. A. W. ‘ AVERILL) r PHE serious illness of the King seemed at one time to cast a shadow of gloom over the coming Christmas holidays, but as “things seem to have taken a turn for the better,” and as we are now more hopeful that he will be spared to his devoted family and continue to be the bond uniting the: scattered portions of his vast Empire for many years to come, we are able “to breathe more freely” and to exchange the overhanging gloom for the spirit of thankfulness. The Christmas spirit is the true spirit and the spirit which should

animate individuals and nations not only at one particular period of the year, but at all times. It should be the normal and not the abnormal. There is at this season of thp year a kindly spirit abroad" and a real desire to spread the cheer germ, to the very confines of society. If this Christmassy feeling could only be harnessed and made , permanent we should'at any rate be on the right track for finding the solution of many of our world problems. It is the want of this spirit which leads to misunderstandings, jealousy, hatred and envy, and eventually to war. It is the want of this spirit which is apt to lead to industrial misunderstandings, to class jealousiesand even to religious rivalries. The world to-day would be an infinitely more unsatisfactory place than it is if it was not for the annual return of Christmas and the diffusion of the Christian spirit. We have only to think of the

•world as it -was on the first Christmas day and compare it with the world to-day, in order to realise what the world owes to the advent of the Christ. The leaven of the Christian spirit may seem to us to work slowly, but it is working surely, and there are many evident tokens that in spite of man’s abuse of his free will there is a goal before humanity, and there is a far-off Divine event' tc which the world is being steered. Slavery has gone, the disabilities of woman are going, the brotherhood of man is slowly bringing about new relationships in industry and outlawing war, and the spirit of service has come. “Lo, these are parts of His ways: but how little a portion is,heard of Him?” Are we quite playing the game when we accept all the blessings which the Prince of Peace has brought into the world and forget or ignore Him even on Christmas Day itself? The angelic anthem is not merely “on earth peace to men and good will,” but first and foremost, “Glory to God in the Highest.” How long will the true Christmas spirit survive if we ignore and dethrone Him? If the Christmas festival originally coincided with a heathen festival, are we in the 20th century to “revert to type,” and forget the real source and meaning of the Christmas goodwill? May X wish you all a very happy Christmas and a bright New Year!