We have surrounded Christmas with escapes and jollifications, and in the process, even for some of Christians, the very central heart and core of Christmas, the over-powering mystery of God made Man and come among us, slips from our grasp and becomes—though we hardly dare acknowledge it—just one of the things we tell ourselves at Christmas time, and honestly wish we believed in more than we do.

A subject much under discussion, not only in a theological but in a practical way, is that of Christian hope. It is not difficult to see why this should be so. The general gloom of the times is enough to account for a return to a much neglected aspect of Christianity.

The disease of civilization is radical. We have come under the tyranny of a false scale of values. It is a true insight which recognizes that in these conditions the real values of life cannot be regained by merely talking about religion, but only by living it, and in particular by a return to the simplicities of life in contact with nature and in direct relations with other persons. It is as true of spiritual as military warfare that it cannot be waged successfully with untrained and undisciplined troops. Those who have gained through contact with fundamental realities a new strength of soul will be in the days to come the seed-plots of a new social order.

I suggest that the values which we most ignore, the recognition of which we most seldom find in writings on education, are those of Wisdom and Holiness, the values of the sage and of the saint.

If we want a Christian society we must make up our minds about the relation between Christianity and politics…The foundations of society are being shaken and have to be rebuilt… But those who believe in God must be ready to see in the conflicts and strifes of our time an unmasking of the evils which are destroying society – a judgment on what is false and a mercy which is calling us back to an understanding of the true values of life. If the Christian salvation means anything at all it ought to mean deliverance from fear. If a new world is to be born out of the ruins of the old it will be created by those who are able to take risks. There is a bond which unites those who, however much they may agree or disagree about a particular policy, are ready for a large venture of faith.