Bishop warns 'Merry Xmas' hollow greeting

Christians shouldn't "simply make a cocoon of happiness for ourselves and our loved ones" at Christmas, the Right Rev. Humphrey Southern, bishop of Repton, wrote in his monthly newsletter.

To those who are suffering, it can be an empty greeting, The Daily Telegraph reported Friday.

"This is the 'Happy Christmas' month. Yet to many that greeting will be hollow, coming as an insult, or even an obscenity," he said.

Some of the points he made were these:

"What can 'Happy Christmas' mean in a family whose father has been killed in a military operation in Afghanistan that fewer and fewer people understand (still less support)?

"What could it possibly mean to the victim of bullying, ostracism or racial intimidation in your workplace or neighborhoods or community?"

While Advent is for preparation, it is not for cocooning in happiness or comfort. "It's about judgment and what's wrong with the world," the bishop said.

Those who ignore the suffering around them are "like the people who took their ease in the inn, missing entirely what was happening in the stable just around the corner," Southern said.

Copyright 2009 by United Press International.