For some time an emphasis within the churches has been on how best to enter on a new millennium with Jesus and the Christian faith foremost or at least prominent. Dr George Carey, the Archbishop of Canterbury, meets the need in Jesus-2000 (Harper Collins, 55pp, £2.99). Other church leaders might well follow the archbishop's example.
Commenting that it is a curious thing (but a truism) that although we are celebrating the 2,000th anniversary of the birth of Jesus, many people in Western society would admit that they know next to nothing about Him, Dr Carey adds that his small book is his attempt to bring to life, as it were, this extraordinary person, Jesus, who is in fact the only reason for the millennium celebrations.
Christians make claims about Jesus, writes the archbishop, which accord to him potentially far greater significance than anyone else in history. Alas, far too many reject these claims today, but, cautions Dr Carey, they should at least have knowledge of what they are rejecting. Careless dismissal or simple apathy cannot form the basis of an alternative creed or none. We owe it, he writes, to a faith which has survived 2,000 years to consider these claims thoughtfully.
Dr Carey provides an opportunity in his charming booklet. It is succinct, scholarly, pellucid and in style will meet the criteria of the most acerbic literary critic. Together with the traditional Christian evidences is the faith of Dr Carey. "The faith I have," he writes, "has been gained through much questioning, through doubt and struggle, through life's experiences of good and ill. Through all these struggles my understanding of the person of Jesus Christ has grown, has deepened, has been refined and absorbed. I believe I can be a true and loyal guide to honest questioners."
Dr Carey meets common objections to the faith; he claims the trustworthiness of the New Testament; he expounds the teaching of Jesus; he comments on Jesus's "mighty works"; he comments on commandments and prayer and especially extols the Lord's Prayer as a spiritual bastion for life, to be inculcated in families where at all possible. He writes of Jesus's death and the church's resurrection faith.
This little booklet is a millennium must, and the great evangelical task will be served and Jesus and the faith become paramount in the millennium celebrations if the committed can see it finds its way into the hands of as many as possible.
The Jubilee 2000 Campaign was launched in September 1997 as an initiative of the Debt and Development Coalition (DDC). Since then events have been organised in many parts of Ireland and always greeted with enthusiasm, and the endorsement of the aims of DDC through Jubilee 2000. These are to call to the attention of world leaders (the G8 Group), the crippling effects on the people of Africa, Asia and Latin America of unpayable debts, and to ask them to cancel them by the year 2000, so that repayments might be used to reduce poverty.
So successful has been the Campaign that 800,000 signatures in support were gained in Ireland (17 million worldwide) and presented at Cologne recently, resulting in this "debt issue" appearing on the agenda of G8, and meeting with a "G8 debt package", albeit one falling short of what was asked.
Jubilee 2000 (DDC) announces an 18-hour vigil to mark the 100th day before the millennium from September 2nd at 4 p.m. to 10 a.m. on September 23rd, outside Government Buildings, Upper Merrion Street, Dublin. Supporters may come for an hour or two and may bring lights, candles, torches, lamps, food, musical instruments, banners, and warm clothes.
Frontiers is a magazine which was founded in 1996 and invites articles addressing issues facing the churches in Ireland, North and South. Articles appearing in recent issues were "Evangelicals and Catholics Together in Ireland" by J.I. Packer and Evangelical Worship by Tim Keller. The magazine is published quarterly (£3.25); by subscription, £12 including pp) and is available from most bookshops or Frontiers, c/o 14 Laurelhill Road, Lisburn, Co Antrim.