I wish

Predictions are not my cup of tea, so I'll willingly leave that business to genuine prophets, or, as a second choice, to political and other pundits with a certified knack for auguring - that which does come to pass.

So, instead of vainly trying to transcend my human limitations, I'll settle for the safer option and present my hopes and yearnings for the coming year.

THINGS I WOULD LIKE TO SEE HAPPEN

1. The Al-Qaeda terrorist network cornered and brought out of business for good

This is very likely not going to happen, but it would do the world at large a tremendeous weight of good if it were to transpire. This network of twisted minds and frozen hearts have inspired or carried out acts of atrocity that have probably no parallel in world history; acts that have caused indescribable material damage, but - above that, acts that have engendered still more hostility and fear in the minds of westerners towards their minority Muslim populations.

And with Muslim populations on the rise in most western countries, we really do not want to see the likes of Al-Qaeda making scores of converts to their cause of destruction and destabilization. Young alienated and angry Muslim males really need other role models and other, far more tranquil pursuits to blossom in their communities.

I pray for and will welcome the emergence of Muslim male and female role models in every field of human activity. Because our communities will be made to experience the full force of pent-up dismay and frustration from youths who are continuously being excluded from and made to feel unwanted by the societies they have grown up in.

2. The world-wide movement of Holy Spirit-filled people entering their world

During Christmas we celebrated the invasion of divine life, love and justice. But, still, as believers we have yet in many ways to make that final step that brings us into head-on. real-life contact with the pain, the bereavement and the ugliness of oppression that characterize quite a lot of our neighbourhoods. Whereas Christians have a mixed past of mostly glorious traditions in charitable deeds, we still have the tragically unfulfilled divine injunctive to leave our comfort zones to care for the needs that our welfare state programmes will never be able to encompass in their massive caring embraces..

Our liberal dosage of benefits may provide some of the basic material needs, but it won't spell the end of the horrific growth in homeless people, drug addicts, alcoholics, mentally ill, or one-parent households to name but a few social problems more threatening than any swine flu pandemic.

GETTING YOUR HANDS DIRTY!

Jesus was never afraid of dirtying his hands when visiting his fallen creatures. He graciously visited the lowest of the low, the socially ostracized (the HIV-positive of his day, the leprous), turning misery into mirth - simply by being there where the need was. And with resounding finality he made it impossible to claim any degree of outward piety without visible acts of charity accompanying it. Love got a very winning argument in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ.

We have, tragically, pulled back from these trouble zones, not from being terminally injured or decimated in numbers, but because we have chosen instead to retract into our own fortresses; being far too busy to indulge our own materialstic cravings. I belong to the camp of the guilty, too. I hope and pray and prepare to make my small contributions in the year to come to lift some out of misery and neglect.

3. That the discouraged and broken in spirit will embrace the audacity of hope

Hopelessness and a lack of purpose in life breaks the human spirit, and postmodern Europe is littered with the tragedies and tales of trauma of particularly the young who chose suicide over survival. And while psychiatric wardens fill up to capacity, troubled parents and concerned politicians struggle both with budget cuts and the troublesome fact that daring endeavours within the field of psychiatric care figure low on the list of 'things to do to ensure lasting fame (and a statue in a public place) in society'.

Hope can come from many sources, but enduring, conquering hope is a quality that is best induced and maintained by the gospel message. I have seen the dismal valleys where the depressed reside, and I know first-hand how hard it is to retain the will to cling on to life when everything you do fails to bring satisfaction; fails to repair your shattered self-esteem and restore the necessary passion for life.

Change never comes easily, and in the life of those suffering mentally change is often that fata morgana that only hammers you into deeper and deeper despair. But being assured of the continued love and care from a father in the skies will most likely resuscitate hope in the formerly hopeless, and ensure them a place among the truly living.