This cartoon was published in the Independent in December 2004 and really spoke to me.  Each year since then  at some point during Advent I have fished it out and reflected on it again.  Hopefully the nice people at the Independent will not sue me for posting this scanned image.

December 2004 was my first Christmas in Dibley.  I gave photocpoies of the cartoon to my congregation members to ponder in the morning service of (I think) 19th December (either that or 12th) and it was quite well received.  Someone just on the very periphery of church (now and then) who has severe mental health issues told me she found the image helpful; friends visiting over the Christmas period who never darken the door of the church seeing it on my office noticeboard said 'wow, that's powerful.'  It is.

Four years on it is no less relevant as a source for reflection.  In this country, people affected by spring/summer floods are still in temporary accommodation, farmers have once more lost their livestock and face an uncertain future, violent crmie seems to increase (or become more widely reported) and drunken behaviour and ASBOs are seen as badges of honour.  Across the world poverty, disease, corruption, human trafficking etc blight the lives of countless millions...

What do you dream of this Christmas?

Yet with the woes of sin and strife

The world has suffered long

Beneath the angel strain have rolled

Two thousand years of wrong

And man, at war with man, hears not

The love-song which they bring:

So hush your noise, you men of strife,

And hear the angels sing.