Owing to the complexities of printing schedules and Christmas holidays, it’s just over a week before Christmas as we put the finishing touches on this February Briefing. In fact, as I write this, I am still recovering from a lunchtime commando raid on the local shopping centre. It was supposed to be like the war in Iraq— go in, do the business and get out again—but ended up feeling just as futile and almost as protracted.
One thing I didn’t see at the shopping centre (apart from WMDs) was poor people. Christmas is a celebration of wealth—of gifts and consumption and food in abundance. If we identify with anyone in the original Christmas story, it’s the magi, who travel for long distances and bring expensive gifts.
Do we remember the poor at Christmas? Come to that, do we think much about them the rest of the year? Brian Rosner thinks we should. More than that, he’s convinced that active compassion for the poor is integral to Christian faith. See his thought-provoking article on page 11.
We also look at a different kind of disadvantage in this Briefing—disability. What does God think of disabled people? How should we care for them? And how do we cope with the anguish of having a disabled child? Peter Avery and Kate Hurley offer biblical and personal insights into these important questions.
