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On the one hand we have Christmas carols, everywhere the last few days, especially today, Christmas day.  Listen to them carefully.  Pretty unrealistic. On the other hand, we have the real world of today, a world of confusion and fear, of error and suffering.  It is hard to imagine a greater difference. The Christmas carol world of peace and joy will be soon gone for another year, and who can guess  what the real world will turn out to be like? For what it's worth, I am not optimistic. We do, though, have some choices.

We can try our best to bring about the world described in the Sermon on the Mountain, (Matt. 5, 6, 7.) That would be the Kingdom of God. It is a whole lot more—a whole lot other—than Christmas carols. We can read the Gospels. They tell us about the Kingdom of this world and the Kingdom of God.  And we can pray "Thy Will be done" all of the time.