Message from Tim

Mr. President…

Apart from staunch supporters of Donald Trump, the rest of the world seems to have breathed a collective sigh of relief at the accession of Joe Biden to the White House. On his first day in office he signed no less than 17 executive orders, some of which look like good news for the rest of the world: staying in the World Health Organisation, signing up again to the Paris Accord on climate change halting the building of the infamous border wall between the USA and Mexico, and lifting travel bans imposed on mainly Muslim countries - news that has been greeted with hope and joy by many African countries. His inauguration has raised hopes of a new beginning among other world leaders, and he has been hailed as the bringer of peace and (more implausibly) the saviour of Brexit.

Some of the language used to herald his coming to power may resonate with the message delivered by the angels on the hills outside Bethlehem when they proclaimed good news that would bring joy to everyone – the birth of a Saviour and Lord, a ruler anointed by God to bring peace on earth. When Jesus was born, this was political language: the Roman world was governed by Caesar Augustus, who was heralded as the saviour who fulfilled all the hopes of earlier times by putting an end to war and ruling as lord in a new era of peace, the god whose birthday was celebrated as good news for the whole world. I suspect that if Caesar Augustus had been up on that hillside with the shepherds he would have been as disturbed as Herod in Jerusalem was when the wise men came looking for a new-born king. Christians were playing a dangerous game when they took titles reserved for the emperor and applied them to Jesus, but many of them showed that they meant business when they suffered martyrdom rather than acknowledge Caesar as Lord and offer sacrifice to him.

So let’s pray for Christians who live today in parts of the world where to say, ‘Jesus is Lord’ makes you and your family liable to persecution. For those of us in the UK at the moment It does not cost us much to say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ which is why it is dangerously easy for us to say it or sing it without meaning it – but Jesus reminds us that if we call him Lord, then each of us needs to fulfil God’s purpose for our lives (Matthew 7:21). Joe Biden recognises that his Catholic faith needs to find practical expression in how he lives: the man who once said, ‘Jesus Christ is the human embodiment of what God wanted us to do,’ needs our prayers as he figures out what it means for him to serve God as the 46th President of the United States.