As the year opens we’ve been confronted with a volcanic eruption which has significantly impacted the home islands of our largest constituency as a church – Tonga. While communications have been difficult, it appears that the damage has been extensive. Rebuilding, particularly while trying to keep Covid out, will be challenging and take some time.

At this point we can be grateful that there appears to have been little loss of life. Miraculously so. Yet Tonga, and its people among us, face significant challenges over the coming years. It seems in the Pacific it’s just one thing (e.g. cyclones, floods) after another. No sooner are they starting to get back on their feet than something else happens. In Tonga’s case, the economy has been hit particularly hard as it is already significantly indebted to China who have been generous in providing assistance following former crises. The situation in Tonga affects us all, as ultimately we are our brothers and sisters keepers. Please keep our Tongan family generously in our hearts.

And it gets better/worse. As anticipated, Aotearoa is currently at ‘red’ in the traffic light Covid response system. Although we have a high vaccination rate the evidence is that Omicron is extremely infectious. Not only will this likely stretch our health services, a large part of the challenge is that a significant section of the population could find itself isolating at home at the same time. This means that our healthcare services and all industries will be affected. Supply chains will be reduced, and supermarket shelves may carry less for a while. My encouragement is to quietly stock up on essentials as you are able. This will mean that we are likely to be less of a burden on others when the pressure comes on, and may be in a position to help those in need.

And wait, there’s more. At the risk of sounding like a doom merchant, internationally the planet faces new challenges. As well as the ongoing threats posed by climate change, there is the possibility of wars – one close to home and another further away. Both Russia/Ukraine and China/Taiwan have real potential to be significant war zones this year. And it’s not just about their cross-border relationships, it’s also about the other nations that may be drawn into any conflict.

And finally, one more place to watch in 2022 is the USA as internal pressures build in a country increasingly polarised as a significant proportion of the population seem more than willing to embrace a form of strong-man authoritarianism in order to protect what they imagine to be their privileged way of life. I fear for their future as a nation. Given their current place of influence, the aphorism “When America sneezes, the rest of the world catches a cold” is particularly apt. In spite of deserved criticisms about American hegemony, I’m not sure many of us recognise how dependent we are upon the USA for stability across the planet.

So there it is. 2022 stretched ahead of us. What will it bring as we lead up to our Bi-centennial Conference, 200 years in Aotearoa? We cannot be sure. It may be that by November this year we will have emerged into a new period of calm and peace.

This is God’s world. It’s easy to forget that – particularly when it looks like the wheels are coming off.

I think it was Martyn Lloyd-Jones who wrote in 1955, as the Cold War was at its strength, that God ultimately did not allow evil to prosper. That the sweep of history consistently told that story. Even the Thousand Year Reich, fresh in his memory at the time of writing, had lasted a mere 12 years – while a cause of much grief, it failed.

Let us step with courage and confidence into 2022. This is still God’s world.