News - Regional bishop: Use Christmas as a time-out
Before the holidays, the churches in Lower Saxony focused on the hope for peace in their Christmas messages. State Bishop Christoph Meyns called for the holidays to be used as a conscious time-out in view of the current news situation. The Catholic Bishop of Hildesheim, Heiner Wilmer, described the "message of the nativity scene" as "a message of cohesion and solidarity". Everyone can "contribute to this in their own environment, regardless of whether they are particularly religious or not". Humanity is "universal", wrote Wilmer.
"If we do not allow ourselves to be interrupted in the maelstrom of bad news, there is a great danger that we will slip into fatalism," emphasized Meyns, the Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Braunschweig.
"Almost all the news coming from the Holy Land, as Palestine is called in the Bible, is bad news at the moment. They are more present than we would like. But the Christian Christmas message of peace on earth also comes from the Holy Land," explained Meyns. This coexistence is "almost unbearable" and "like a tear through the soul".
The hope for peace can "grow against the trend if we cultivate it together in our church services; if we read and perform the Christmas story, sing and pray - as if there were no today in the news," wrote Meyns.
In his message for the festive season, Bishop Thomas Adomeit of Oldenburg described "peace on earth" as "one of the most important statements in the Christmas story of all". The words carry particular weight this year "because we long so much for peace - for the people in the wars in this world and also for ourselves", emphasized Adomeit.
In Germany, too, there is "great uncertainty when we look at the challenges of recent months: Corona, inflation, refugee issues, social tensions, political polarization". The longing for peace will remain as long as there is war. "And this longing is important. Because it gives rise to action," said Adomeit, who is Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Oldenburg.
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Source: www.stern.de
