What does Christmas mean for Christians, or Christ’s ones? Is the celebration of Christ’s birth central to our faith or can we do without it?
Two of our four Gospels do not include the story of Jesus’ birth and Matthew and Luke – which do – tell the story from significantly different perspectives. It seems that the celebration of the birth of Christ in a special day or season only commenced two or three hundred years after the time of Christ and the earliest church.
While Christmas is a time of joy and celebration, almost one third of West Australians feel the stress of disadvantage and isolation during the festive season.
Many people will seek help from charities for their basic needs such as food, or for assistance paying bills. Many more feel lonely and disconnected from family, friends and their community.
This Christmas, UnitingCare West expect to see more than 2 000 people at their hubs in Perth, Fremantle and Merriwa. For the first time, UnitingCare West’s Tranby Centre in Aberdeen Street will be open every day during the Christmas and New Year period, from 7.00am to 7.00pm.
1300 churches spanning 15 denominations across Australia have come together to stand-up to injustice and respond to the urgent needs of men, women and children who are fleeing conflict and disaster worldwide.
“It is heart-warming to see that in an age of increasing division, churches in Australia from a wide range of faiths and traditions have pledged to take action together in order to share God’s love with our brothers and sisters in urgent need around the world,” said Hannah Montgomery, Act for Peace, the International aid agency of the National Council of Churches in Australia.
The pledge has been made to support the 70th anniversary of the annual Christmas Bowl appeal – a pioneering fundraiser launched in Australia in 1949 to provide support for the millions of refugees suffering after WWII.
As we head into the New Year, the team at UnitingCare West would like to thank everyone in the Uniting Church community for the generous support shown during its 2018 Christmas Appeal.
Amanda Hunt, CEO of UnitingCare West, said demand from families for food and gifts over the festive season was unprecedented, with hundreds of hampers delivered from each of their three Service Hubs in Perth City, Merriwa and Fremantle.
“The love of Christ can be made more vivid through Australian Christian concern, on Christmas day, the one great day of sharing.” Rev Frank Byatt, founder of the Christmas Bowl c. 1956
As Christians, we are called respond to, and faithfully live out, the Gospel call to be generous in our love, and to participate in God’s mission to bring healing, wholeness and hope to those facing hardship and injustice. It sounds like an overwhelming task, but in fact we can reach people in need with the humblest of actions.
Heather Dowling, Revive editor, shares some useful tips for surviving the Christmas and New Year season.
Sarah* is a single mother of two children aged six and three. She lives below the poverty line on a government allowance and often doesn’t have enough money left at the end of each fortnight to buy medicine, pay bills, or put a proper meal on the table.
While many of us are planning holidays, shopping for gifts, or deciding what size turkey we need for Christmas Day, all Sarah wants are the basics – to know the rent will be paid and her kids won’t go hungry. Anything else is a bonus.
Mother Teresa of Kolkata is quoted as saying: “None of us, including me, ever do great things. But we can all do small things, with great love, and together we can something wonderful.”
Although we often think it’s the bigger stuff that makes the real difference, the evidence indicates it’s the small things that together make up the substance of all we hope for. With this in mind ‘A light on every street’ has been developed to enable us to step out in a small but significant way to share something of the Good News of the hope our faith has to offer.
As we move towards Christmas we think about the coming of Jesus. The baby Jesus was born in Bethlehem in a
stable. Many people and churches have nativity scenes, which goes back to a practice started by Francis of Assisi in the thirteenth century to help people recognise the significance of God becoming a baby born among us in Jesus.
In theological terms we speak of the incarnation; God became human in Jesus. John’s gospel puts it in lofty terms, “the Word became flesh and lived among us.” God’s Word, the logos, became a person in Jesus. Theologian John Macquarrie suggests the incarnation is ‘inhumanisation’ meaning the same thing, namely God taking on being a human in Jesus, God’s Son.
Jesus is the central figure of Christmas.
Christmas is such a busy time that many church goers don’t always stick around after the Christmas Day service. It’s understandable, especially if you have family and friends coming round for lunch and there’s a meal to be prepared.
But Christmas Day can also be a busy one for churches; congregations often have visitors who want to celebrate the true meaning of Christmas with their local church. This is a great time to welcome newcomers and to share church life. This edition, Revive has put together some tips for how to effectively engage with Christmas Day visitors at your congregation.