WCC head sends Christmas message
by Konrad Raiser
General Secretary
World Council of Churches
[12-17-01]
World Council of Churches Christmas message
proclaims divine grace in the face of "a world without
mercy," ruled by competition and money.
GENEVA - 13-December-2001 - We live in a world without
mercy, where more and more people feel trapped. Time and money have
established their merciless rule. The secret of their power is scarcity.
Time is money, they say. Those who have a lot of money never have time,
and the poor perhaps have time but no money. Yet they need money in
order to live, so they borrow, and then they find themselves trapped in
the relentless grip of debt.
We are told that in a world of scarcity, competition
is the best way to achieve more. Competition obeys the merciless rule of
winning and losing. Because time and money are scarce, the one who moves
faster or can offer the better price will win. Those who are too slow or
have little to offer are eliminated from the race - excluded. In a world
of competition, there is little to protect them.
Where money rules, almost everything becomes scarce.
When power and even justice can be bought, there is little left for
those who are poor. Here, too, there are only winners and losers.
When money reigns supreme, even the call for justice
comes to be counted as a cost factor. The powerful will be careful not
to apologize for acts of injustice for fear of claims for monetary
compensation. As for those who have nothing to lose, in extreme cases
some of them may turn to violence in order to command attention and
assert their rights - only to be met with relentless retaliation.
It is in this merciless world that the "grace of
God has appeared, bringing salvation to all" (Titus 2:11). This is
the same God whom Moses encountered as "a God merciful and
gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and
faithfulness" (Ex. 34:6) and whom the psalmist praises as the one
who "does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us
according to our iniquities" (Psalm 103:10). God has come into our
world to live among us and to liberate us from the merciless rule of
winning and losing, from the yoke of competition and scarcity.
This is the message of Christmas: "And the word
became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory
as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth... From his fullness
we have all received, grace upon grace" (John 1:14,16).
Our world will not be saved by increased
competitiveness in face of scarcity, but by grace and mercy. The grace
of God which is God's true being has taken on human form in Jesus
Christ. God's grace overrules the law of scarcity and breaks the
relentless dynamic of retaliation. God does not treat us on the basis of
achievement, worth or power. God gives and forgives generously, without
counting the cost, and offers life in its fullness (John 10:10),
particularly to those who are the losers in our merciless world.
May we therefore, this Christmas, receive from his
fullness "grace upon grace"!
