Editorial: The hope of Christmas endures across the world

Editor’s note: We publish this editorial, with small variations, each Christmas.

Today, as the Christian world marks another Christmas, we pause and remember the sons and daughters, husbands and wives, brothers and sisters who cannot be with us today because they are serving in our military far from home. 

The world’s strife is no longer distant from us. A grinding war in Europe has cost thousands of lives as it approaches the three-year mark. Conflict in the Middle East has stretched on more than a year now, leaving destruction, death and crisis in its wake. The world appears to be teetering on the brink of a violent future.

Peace remains elusive, but every Christmas give us reason to hope. That first Christmas, the one recorded in the New Testament, must not have looked very promising at first. It involved the story of a poor Jewish child born into a world dominated by a ruthless Roman Empire that often treated human life quite cheaply. A later chapter of the story, which chronicled a cruel crucifixion, is testament to that.

But what endures is the message of that first Christmas and the teachings the small boy born in a manger would offer as he grew to manhood. Those teachings, which affirm the value of love and charity, still resonate with Christians and those of other faiths, and even with many of those who claim no faith at all.

We embrace hope today because the Christmas story encourages us to look for hope in unlikely places.

The Bethlehem described in the Gospel of Luke seemed just such a place:

“And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, unto the city of David, Bethlehem … to be taxed with Mary his espoused wife being great with child.

“And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her first-born son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

“And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, ‘Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people … And this shall be a sign to you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, and lying in a manger.’ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.’ ”

Today, we renew our hope for peace and good will, and we wish our readers a merry Christmas.