Category: Advent

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Christmas 2019

Every Christmas and Easter, one of my duties as State Leader for Tasmanian Baptists is to write a short reflection for the Mercury Newspaper.

There is much to like about Christmas —the office parties and gift giving; the decorations and carol singing; the good cheer and even the family gatherings if we are fortunate enough.

Some people today would be surprised to know that most of this comes from our Judeo-Christian past. Even though many have moved away from church and belief, and there are increasing numbers of people calling themselves non-religious, Christmas remains a deeply religious season. It seems that while our minds can’t make sense of it rationally, and we would be quick to deny it, there are times when we experience something resembling faith. It may not be belief, so much, but something deep and profound. Maybe there is something spiritual about Christmas after all? Continue reading “Christmas 2019”

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Christmas 2018

Every Christmas and Easter, one of my duties as State Leader for Tasmanian Baptists is to write a short reflection for the Mercury Newspaper.

$1,000,000,000!

That’s a lot to spend on Christmas decorations. Sadly, it’s the estimate Australians will spend on decorations this Christmas. In contrast, tens of millions of children around the world will spend Christmas sleeping on the streets with empty stomachs exposed to all types of exploitation and abuse. Something is wrong don’t you think?

Continue reading “Christmas 2018”

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Christmas 2017

Every Christmas and Easter, one of my duties as State Leader for Tasmanian Baptists is to write a short reflection for the Mercury Newspaper.

My earliest memories of Christmas are a jumble of excitement, carol singing, presents, meals with the extended family and trotting off to church. My grandfather led the choir there and his baritone solos had won him many a competition.

Aged about five, I was taken to hear Handel’s Messiah because Dad was singing in it. I remember going to sleep half way through only to be woken for the Hallelujah chorus. I promptly went back to sleep again! Despite this, or perhaps because of it, I’m deeply moved by the chorus and the carols.

Continue reading “Christmas 2017”

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Merry (Clayton’s) Christmas!

Have you ever heard of a Clayton’s Christmas? It’s a Christmas you have without having a real Christmas.
Seasons greetings
Back in the 1970s and 80s Clayton’s was a heavily marketed non-alcoholic, non-carbonated Australian beverage that looked a bit like whisky. Its boast was it is “the drink you have when you’re not having a drink”. It was aimed at reducing drinking among those who drank to excess.
Although it hasn’t been advertised for years, the idea of having a “Clayton’s” has entered into Australian vernacular. Today you can have a Clayton’s anything – a Clayton’s Tax: a tax that doesn’t raise any revenue; a Clayton’s marriage; a Clayton’s football team; even a Clayton’s Cake Stall! This is a fundraiser where you ask people to donate what they would have spent on baking the cake rather than baking it.

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Living IN the World (but not OF it)

In his longest recorded prayer in John 17, Jesus prays for his disciples and notes how we are “not of the world” but are “sent into the world” (John 17:15-16). His expectation is that we will continue his mission by remaining in the world although we will live differently from the world and be his transforming agents within it.
Ever since that prayer, Jesus’ followers have struggled to maintain the tension of living ‘in’ the world yet not being ‘of’ the world. It is not as easy as it sounds and so Paul reminds us, “Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mould” (Romans 12:2 Phillips), suggesting we need to be on guard or else it will happen.

Christmas Rush
“For many, Christmas is little more than time off work and an opportunity to over-spend, over-eat, and over-celebrate”

This is perhaps never as true as with Christmas. For most of our community Christmas is little more than time off work and an opportunity to over-spend, over-eat, and over-celebrate. It’s a time to party with colleagues and mates and for the vast majority a time to catch up with their birth family.
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Great [Christmas] Expectations

Even though Christmas is still a way off the retail season is in full swing. Whether we are ready or not, decorations are in our shops, parades are in our streets, and carols ring out in our shopping malls.

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“For most, it is nothing more than a holiday, a time to catch up with family and an excuse to part”
The Christmas frenzy descends on us again. Sadly many have little or no appreciation of the deep mystery lying within it and no expectation of its profound implications. For most, it is nothing more than a holiday, a time to catch up with family and an excuse to party. There is a huge gap in expectations between our community and our Christian viewpoint, and even we Christians get caught in the sweep of our community celebrations and struggle to stand against the tide of shallow expectations.
Expectations are perhaps one of the biggest challenges in our lives. We all live with them every day whether they are realistic or idealistic, positive or negative. These unspoken yet personal assumptions of how things will, or could, work out are projected upon events, people, ourselves and God as well. In a myriad of ways, in every facet of life, they dictate how we approach the future ranging from exhilarating delight, debilitating fear and everything in between.
Christmas too is full of expectations.      Read More >>>

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God Is Waiting

God is patient if nothing else. Although it had been a long and painful nine months for Joseph and Mary, God had been waiting since before the creation of the world.

nativity
“It had been a long and painful nine months for Joseph and Mary”

It was in the fullness of time that he came. The Creator born a creature; eternity inhabited time; God arrived as a fragile, small, helpless and dependent baby. The destiny of the entire human race implanted in the uterine wall of young virgin girl. As Victorian poet Gerard Manley Hopkins wrote, “God’s infinity, dwindled to infancy.”
God went from everything to nothing (2 Cor 8:9) and emptied himself (Phil 2:7) in the process. He had lived in eternity and had created all things, now he was part his own creation.
“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us,” John writes (1:14). Though he was the designer of the Universe he came incognito as a baby – God in human flesh; God with skin on.
Here lies a mystery at the heart of our faith.  Read More >>>

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