Bishop Ken Good has shared his New Years message this afternoon, saying that in an era where people feel “anxious, disenfranchised, fearful or lost”, people must reject the notion of post-truth, and make “2017 a year of truth-exploration and of truth-discovery”.
Bishop Good has been the Bishop of Derry and Raphoe since his consecration in 2002.
Speaking of the past twelve months, he says; “2016 has certainly been a memorable year on the global stage. Brexit and Trump have confounded the pollsters and wrong-footed the so-called experts. They have also polarised opinion, with few people being ambivalent about either.
“Oxford Dictionaries have chosen the compound word ‘post-truth’ as their international word of the year for 2016. ‘Post-truth’, they state, is the term which best captures the ethos, mood or pre-occupations of the past year.
“Disturbingly Oxford Dictionaries also say the prefix ‘post’ has, in this context, a meaning more like ‘belonging to a time in which the specified concept has become unimportant or irrelevant’. Truth – unimportant? Irrelevant?
“For Christians, truth is never unimportant or irrelevant. It is paramount.
“We live in an era when many people feel anxious, disenfranchised, fearful or lost. There is a longing for answers, as people are desperately in need of truth, urgently seeking peace in their lives.
“In John 14, Jesus says: ‘I am the way and the truth and the life’. Discovering the truth we need for a life built on solid foundations and finding the peace we yearn for can only come as we entrust ourselves completely to Christ. He is the source of truth who can transform our lives.
“In Christ, we have the opportunity to make 2017 a year of truth-exploration and of truth-discovery. As we commit ourselves to him and are found by him, he can change us forever.”
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