From the Archbishop
What’s trending for you
this Christmas?
The Most Revd Kay Goldsworthy AO DD, Archbishop
In the twinkling of an eye – or star – the Christmas season is upon us, and the end of the year is in sight.
Trending gifts this year, I hear, are neck massagers, travel backpacks, perfume, neon signs that put your name in lights, headphones, dashcams, sip bottles and migraine relief caps. That last one should be a red flag, shouldn’t it?
Some of the big global technology trends are hyper-automation, intelligent enterprise, 5G expansion, strategic use of generative AI, neuromorphic computing, the rise of intelligent assistants, and synthetic media.
Australian sociologist Hugh McKay AO says there’s another trend, exacerbated by the global pandemic and still heading upwards (thanks in part to all that technology). It’s loneliness.
Despite being hyper-connected, he tells us, humans are more isolated from each other than ever before. And that means anxiety, depression and a raft of other physical and mental ailments are also trending.
But that doesn’t have to send us spiralling into despair – the antidote he prescribes is simple. It’s kindness. It’s human connection. It’s community.
As Hugh Mackay explains, ‘We can be kind to people we don’t like. We can be kind to people we would never agree with. We can be kind to total strangers.’
‘It is the remarkable human capacity to respond to other people’s needs, to respond in particular to peoples’ need not just for help in an emergency, but their need to be taken seriously, to be listened to, to be acknowledged and appreciated.’
He goes on to talk about his view of kindness as the most remarkable form of human love, in a way the purest form of human love.
The good news about kindness, especially for anyone looking for a way to break out of the Christmas hype, is that it’s free and bound to get a great response, whether you’re giving or receiving.
John 3:16 reminds us of the purest form of divine love. ‘For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.’
In his letter to the Galatians Paul wrote of kindness as one of the fruits of the Spirit. ‘Against which’, he wrote, ‘there is no law.’ (Galatians 5:22-23). What a wonderful and wonderfully freeing promise that is, inviting, encouraging and compelling Christians to live out the fruits that have been growing in us through the Holy Spirit in our lives. Kindness.
The baby Jesus was born in simple surrounds, thanks to the kindness of strangers.
Angels appeared to nearby shepherds (Luke 2:10-14) to bring ‘good tidings of great joy” and singing ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace and goodwill toward people’.
Later, the young parents and newborn fled Bethlehem under the threat of violence from the authorities. They effectively became refugees.
More than 2000 years later, the ongoing war in Gaza, means there is no peace for the modern-day people of Bethlehem. And there is little peace or sense of goodwill for millions of refugees world-wide.
Christmas is exactly the right time to remember that the gift of Jesus’ birth was for all people – not just those of a certain standing or privilege, or those on one side of a geographical, political, ethnic or cultural divide, but for all people. Jesus’ birth is God’s loving kindness towards humanity in action.
What unites us is our humanity – and the love of God gifted to us all.
Christmas is a good time to remember what the research of Hugh McKay and others tells us about our shared human condition – that we are social beings who can achieve a more compassionate, cooperative, respectful and harmonious society by giving the gift of kindness every day.
What an exciting and powerful message of hope. Kindness may be the cheapest and at the same time the most precious gift we could give others this Christmas.
Hold onto and celebrate the things that are simple and matter. Consider how you might give generously in ways that are not extravagant or big. Package the gift of kindness in all sorts of different ways for friends, families, neighbours and strangers this Christmas and all through the new year.
May the loving kindness of God’s peace be yours this Christmas.