The Christian God is not a distant deity, but an eternal force for goodness and justice which stands with our nurses on the picket line and with asylum seekers landing on Channel beaches, said a Welsh Christian leader in his New Year’s Message.
‘In these desperate days for so many people at home and abroad, we believe that God’s eternal plan for us will eventually overcome mankind’s foolishness,’ said the Revd Dyfrig Rees, General Secretary of the Union of Welsh Independent Churches.
‘Meanwhile, the Old Testament story is still a story for our times today. The exodus of refugees from Ukraine is the direct result of a modern day Pharo seeking to extend his empire. Other conflicts and persecution in the Middle East and Africa are driving countless thousands of asylum seekers to cross the English Channel, as the fleeing Israelites crossed the Red Sea. The oceans do not open for the present day refugees, but we can open our country and our hearts to them.
‘And in our communities, it’s heartbreaking that nurses and other dedicated and compassionate NHS staff have been driven to strike as a measure of last resort. It proves that injustice, a condition contrary to God’s nature, can be economic as well as political.
‘In the year 2023, may we turn the page to a New Testament age, where the love of God, as revealed in Jesus Christ, overcomes the endless cycle of injustice, greed, hatred and suffering. Such a resolution would make this world a very different and infinitely better place for us and future generations to live.’
