Child of joy and peace

Child of Joy and Peace. Shirley Erena Murray* (1931-2020).  Shirley Murray wrote this text in 1987. It was entitled ‘Hunger Carol’. She described it as ‘a protest at our consumer society’. It was first published in the Asian hymnal Sound the Bamboo (1990) and the author’s American collection In Every Corner, Sing (1992) before reaching New Zealand publication in Alleluia Aotearoa (1993) and Carol our Christmas (1996). Fired by indignation, the text steadily extends its assault on the secular Christmas carnival of lavish spending and commercial greed, moving from an acknowledgement of the universal homage given to the Christ child and the social values of joy and peace associated with his...