Mixed Christmas messages

Tucked deep among other presents at the bottom of the Christmas tree is a gift which arrives every year but whose contents are often forgotten between times.

Rip back the wrapping paper — or undo it gently if you are into saving it — and there’s a sudden flash of glass and a glint of gold. It’s a compass — a moral compass.

In these days of fake news, rampant commercialism and self-absorption, this is probably one of the most useful presents anyone could get. Anything that induces a little introspection about the reason for the season, regardless of anyone’s personal religious beliefs, needs to be embraced.

Just for a few moments, forget about the annoyance of Boxing Day sale advertisements before it is even Christmas Day, the criminally exorbitant price of raspberries and the unwanted advice about how to cook the turkey.

Instead, hold up the moral compass and study it. You will see it consists of many faces, each bringing their own personal messages.

There is the Queen, sitting next to the most perfectly decorated Christmas tree you could imagine. Over here is Pope Francis on the Vatican balcony, talking to thousands in St Peters Square.

Closer to home, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison stands awkwardly by the tree with his wife Jenny, having returned suddenly from a Hawaiian holiday to his parched and burning country. And over here is our very own Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, taking a break from running New Zealand and reading Lynley Dodds’ Hairy Maclary from Donaldson’s Dairy.

Look carefully at the moral compass and you may also catch glimpses of other world leaders spreading optimism, goodwill and the need to do the right thing, including United States President Donald Trump and Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby.

What motivates these people to step on to their soapboxes and proselytise at this time of year? Should we listen to what they are saying? Why?

Social media has made it easier for anyone with an opinion or with persuasive abilities to find and talk to an audience. Many thousands of Christmas messages will have been posted on Twitter and Facebook.

But it is political, spiritual and monarchical leaders who, through their fame, grab our attention and whose words resonate the loudest.

It is they who have the ability to talk to millions of people, to influence many of them, and by that make their messages meaningful.

It would be easy to turn a deaf ear to world leaders exhortations for goodwill and succour, and mutter something about them getting their houses in order first before telling others what to do. But it is their very fallibility that attracts us to them because, even with their different lives and circumstances, we recognise them as still very human.

The Pope would be the first to admit his large Catholic family is hardly lily-white. Similarly, the Queen is well aware her family is not perfect.

The Queen seemed a bit flat in her Christmas message this year. She talked about the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings in World War 2, the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing and the importance of reconciliation and forgiveness among nations. She praised young people for their increasingly vital environmental and climate change work.

But she skirted around the schism in her family caused by the unsavoury friendship between Prince Andrew and deceased child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, instead hinting that at times this year the path may have felt "quite bumpy".

The Pope warned against self-centred actions and the perils of turning a blind eye to the plight of those looking for a better life because of natural disasters, conflict and disease in their homelands. He prayed for a softening of "stony" hearts and comfort for those persecuted or killed for their beliefs.

The fashion of sending Christmas cards may be dying out but, for those who choose to listen, there are still plenty of inspirational messages at this time of year to pursue goodness.