My country has been rocked by tragedy in the past week. The Martin Place siege in Sydney where a hostage situation ended in the death of two innocent lives, then hearing of 140 or so children killed in Pakistan by the Taliban and most recently the death of 8 children in Cairns at the hands of their mother.
All of this leading up to the Christmas period. A time when we are meant to celebrate the hope that is in the world. How?
I think my prayer for this Christmas is that there will be peace on earth. Each of these tragedies reminds us that as humans, we need each other. In times of grief, healing is helped when people support each other. When communities come together in grief, then in comfort and then eventually in remembering that there is still hope and good in the world, peace comes.
Peace is a rare occurrence in all senses of the word today. We live in busy times, we live in turbulent times and we live in tragic times. But there is hope.
May you and your family and your friends and your country wherever you are have peace this Christmas.
