Christmas Day 2011

Welcome to my blog. Today is Christmas Day and, now that all the presents are unwrapped and put away I have some time. This is the first time we are having Christmas away - my wife and I are at our son's house with his in-law's, wife Cindy, and son Carter (age one and a half).


My intention is to write in this blog at least once a week. I will copy my editorial column which I wrote last week for our church newsletter (you can read the whole issue  at www.hebroncrc.ca) as my first blog. Here it is.

                                                  Are YOU NUMBER 7,000,000,000?

Were you born on or before October 31, 2011? If not then according to the United Nations you are not that number. Apparently baby number 7 billion was just born a couple of months ago, in the Philippines. This according to the United Nations estimates… and I emphasize estimate because,really, how are they going to know for sure? They suggest an error margin of plus or minus 1 to 2 %. (That’s anywhere from 70 to 140 million people – more or less).Their point, I suppose, is that this 7 billion mark is a milestone and we need to be aware of it. A quote from the National Geographic magazine gives us some interesting information:
" On a planet of seven billion people, who is the most typical human? According to statistics it’s a 28 year oldHan Chinese male. The world’s largest age bracket is 28,the largest ethnic group is Han and the most populous nation is China with 1.3 billion people. But the typical human is male only by a whisker: there are 1.01 men in the world for every woman. By 2030, China will lose its top population status, and the most typical human will be a person from India.” 

So: you and I, according to the United Nations estimate, can be seen as: 1 over 7,000,000,000! We are pretty insignificant if you put it that way. Chances are you do not see yourself in that light. Here in Canada we are relatively affluent… insulated from any real poverty and the hordes and hordes of people such a number conjures up. Other than getting stuck in traffic while sitting in our automobiles or shopping in a mall a couple of days before Christmas, we don’t really feel the effects of such a number. Indeed, the world is changing in other ways as well: witness the explosion in knowledge. I suppose I should qualify that... I am referring to technological knowledge. Recent ‘techo’advances are the stuff of science fiction: computers now drive cars in traffic, can translate between human languages effectively, and beat the best human Jeopardy players and chess players. The rate of change is mind-boggling. Where will it all end? 

I am not saying the earth is over-populated. I am not so much concerned with over-population which is a relative term… I mean who says when and what constitutes overpopulation... as I am concerned with the sheer insignificance of the individual such a number might suggest and how that number plus the extreme speed of technological advance is affecting us.
All this makes me think of Advent and how the whole earth is groaning in anticipation. The theme of readings and teachings during Advent is meant to prepare for the Second Coming while commemorating the First Coming. And it’s the Second Coming that this business of 7 billion world population puts me in mind of. 


The apostle Paul writes in Romans 8: 22- 25:  “We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to son-ship, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no  hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently."

Millions of us, maybe not 7 billion, but millions nonetheless, are waiting for the promise to be fulfilled. In the meantime both my wife and I wish all 7 billion of you a happy, blessed and safe Christmas.