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Letter from AmericaGood news among the badThe Statue of Liberty has opened for visitors for the first time since 9/11. Perhaps the flaming torch on the old lady of democracy provides a glimmer of hope to American sensibilities. Mind you, nowadays while you can again go into the Statue of Liberty you can no longer go up to the crown for security reasons. A glimmer of hope, perhaps, but the flaming torch appears to some jaundiced eyes to be something of a smoking flax in need of Jesus's gentle mercy. You can go as high as the statue's feet - enjoying the indignity of a new anti-bomb device that blasts air into your clothing to detect particles of explosive residue. Not quite what the original framers of the Constitution had in mind to gild their well worn evocative phrases in praise of Liberty. Terrorism remains the news in America, as in much of the rest of the world as well. While recently in Manchester airport I was little surprised to notice machine-gun-carrying bobbies, it is surprising that a local railway station in our New Haven in Connecticut (albeit near Yale University) has recently become patrolled by the National Guard, rifles and all. Political paintingIn these dark days, politicians facing national elections muscle up their much vaunted prose to win the hearts and minds of everyday folk longing for the economic good times to continue and their safety to be assured. John Kerry is painted as the dithering indecisive liberal, unable to stand up for what's right without glancing at what's expedient. George Bush is caricatured as having made America more dangerous by his foreign policy and less prosperous by his economic. Meanwhile, in statistics land, the candidates are neck and neck. What is the good news among the bad? Is it the determined march of the security apparatus that now allows the Statute of Liberty to reopen (though only to her feet, and then only after passing through an array of anti-terrorism technological marvels)? Is it the economic prosperity that continues heartily in Europe and America, that keeps the airplanes aloft (though only to be greeted on landing in America with electronic fingerprint and retina scans)? Is it this politician or that politician? No, it is a king. A king not of inherited monarchy, or of national identity, but a Royal Divine Son who bears with him a regal proclamation of good news even among the bad. Yes, there is this and that crisis. Yes, this is the world in which we live. Yes, people are dying, and normal everyday living is tantamount to terrifying in its long grisly march to the grave. Yes, indeed, but in Christ the 'Yes and Amen' are to all of God's promises. And to this we, whether facing good times or bad, have reasons to be cheerful that can warm the coldest heart, and cheer the longest face. None could put it better than the divine Word: 'Good news brings health to the bones' (Proverbs 15.30). Josh Moody,
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