The Anglican Archbishop of Sydney has described Jesus as the world’s greatest inspiration and says its right that our dating system reflects his birth.

Dr Jensen has delivered his 10th Christmas message as Archbishop. The message includes reference to the recent controversy over the BC/AD dating system as well as the international financial crisis.

“Christmas is our big annual reminder of the generous love of God. When Jesus was born, it was God himself entering our story to rescue us from sin” Dr Jensen said.

“Some people just can’t stand the fact that he is the most important person in history and our whole dating system revolves around his birth. They even want to change the language to write him out.”

Dr Jensen described such moves as ‘sad’.

“Sad, because Jesus Christ is the world’s greatest inspiration. We need him in our lives and in our history and in our community” he said.

The Archbishop also spoke of the signs of financial difficulty in many parts of the world.

“For some countries it is not just a downturn, they will need to grapple with a breakdown in their economic systems. Already, many people go hungry each day. If times get worse, it will be the poor and disadvantaged who suffer most.”

Dr Jensen said the situation calls for generosity.

“We are going to need to be generous, and the greatest inspiration to generosity that the world has ever known is Jesus. When we celebrate Christmas we are celebrating the generosity of Jesus, who left his heavenly home to live amongst us and to die for us on a Roman cross to reconcile us to God” Dr Jensen said.