We think our loss of wonder comes from a growth in realism. The more we see of life the more we see the flaws and the vulnerability in every human achievement. In a more profound sense, however, it is the child's sense of wonder which is the truer vision of our world. The Word of God by whom all things were made does not simply speak to us. He becomes one of us.
Christian realism goes deeper than our disappointment and pain to recognise that great truth.
It reawakens a sense of wonder. It knows that our real problem is not that we are unrealistically hopeful and trusting but that we are not overwhelmed with hope as we ponder the birth of Christ. Christmas 1999 marks the beginning of the Jubilee Year. The end of a year, a century, a millennium is a time for reflecting about what we have taken for granted. We have often spoken or heard words like Christian, Bethlehem, Incarnation without feeling the joy and the newness and the promise that they should arouse.