Bringing Clarity to Christmas – The Path of Sapphire

First I’d like to thank FaceLift for his dedication in posting up the ‘Twelve Days of Christmas’ special.

After such beautiful and inspiring messages for the ‘Twelve Days Of Christmas’ from the top church honcho’s, I’d like to encourage those who have authorship to blog and add their own little speech about Christmas if they want too.

To start,  I read a few lines from a fantastic carol by William C. Dix (1867) called ‘The Manger Throne’.

Faith sees no longer the stable floor
The pavement of sapphire is there
The clear light of heaven streams out to the world
And the angels of God are crowding the air
And heaven and earth
Through the spotless birth
Are at peace on this night so fair

This road of sapphire that Dix refers to in his carol is from Exodus 24:9-11.

Exodus 24:9-11 Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up and saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was something like a pavement made of sapphire, clear as the sky itself. But God did not raise his hand against these leaders of the Israelites; they saw God, and they ate and drank.

Unfortunately, Christmas has been stolen. It’s not about giving, it’s about greed.

What Christmas has turned into is a sad commodity, where we have capitalised on the poverty-stricken family of Jesus Christ. The West, with so much gold, perfume and food, celebrate the empty tradition. We waste money on entertainment, celebrities prancing across the stage, bright colours luring us, a big red fat guy that glorifies the rich and neglects the poor, all some how relating and glorifying the poorest of the poor coming into being, Jesus Christ.

Christ was born into the world in shockingly poor circumstances. Not in a way that we’d like to be delivered. Nor the way a member of a royal family would like to give birth or be born. While we complain about our hospital conditions in this fine country, Jesus was born in a parking lot. (Consider that Mary was on the donkey in the stable while Joseph ran desperately around to find a room!)

When the child was delivered, it was placed in a food trough, wrapped in dirty, sandy garments or stable sackcloth to keep the baby warm at all costs. We’re talking about a baby child being looked after in a freezing desert night with unclean domestic animals. Not to mention He was approached by a bunch of homeless poor people who live with sheep which probably made Mary leap out of her skin. And then these homeless poor then worshipped a very ordinary looking child. They may have made their own music while a horse farted and while the cold winds flapped their headdresses, sand still stinging them in the face.

The shepherds were sung too by angels about Israel’s king being born on earth that night. This was him? Born to this poor woman in a parking lot, clothed in rags and placed in a food trough where he slept?

Unlike how the carols portray the romantic story of the nativity, God didn’t live a romantic life but a life of reality, a sober one at that. The greatest way God the Father could reveal Jesus Christ His Son, the third member of the God-head as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, is through a poor and exhausted woman, rejected from town who now is asleep on the outskirts in an ancient parking lot, surrounded by dirty animals and asleep in their food basins. What glory is this? Why so insignificant and not triumphant?

Maybe it’s to remind us each Christmas that God is always with the poor, not just in Africa. This could be financial, physical, emotional and spiritual poverty, Maybe it’s to remind us that He knows our fears and weaknesses and what it means to be a nobody.

And we think we’ve had it tough this Christmas? The last thing we want to be this Christmas is to be alone or seen as an angry or depressed anti-socialite. (You must smile and be merry at all costs?)

We also think it unjust when people bump us away to grab the last turkey from the shelf. (Not to mention we didn’t get what we wanted for Christmas.)

But consider Mary.

Mary was probably pretty miserable that night praying “Why this way God?”

How often does the world think like that?

Without a doubt, the answer lies on the ‘sapphire road’. He wants His message to be clear: “It’s all about me and you. NOTHING else.” The nativity story climax seems to say ‘When there is nothing else between you and God, it’s simply you and God and that’s all you need’.

From Exodus to the Nativity to the Life Lived, He came to dwell and dine with us. He wants us to eat with Him, to eat of Him and to be in commune with Him and even in community with Him. Through the Exodus experience, He didn’t condemn or even really serve, He dwelt, He dined and He loved. How humbling!

When we are in our lowest of lows, how much more does His star shine? When we wallow in confusion and consider His mysterious nature, how much more does He reveal Himself? When it simply comes down to poverty, sickness and desperation, how much more does He impart His life into ours?

We get to this place either by through His divine coordination or through the world’s chaos. When everything is stripped away, it’s simply us and Him. And in that is foundation, impartation and salvation. I can only speculate that Mary that night may have received such a divine revelation of God as she asked God to explain these series of unfortunate events. She probably doubted the angels words. Even the shepherds as they explained to her what they saw. Her blood may still have been present when they arrived and was thinking ‘This is not how I managed God was going to do this’ (I’m looking at the reality of the situation here in how we think things similarly).

This Christmas, or the next, I hope you look past the presents, the events and the façade. Don’t let Christmas get in the way. I encourage you to value the mystery of humility and genuine love, compassion and companionship. See friends and family. Look beyond the poverty of the stable or riches of the world and value God and His family before you.

Look beyond the image of Christmas and be reminded that it’s all about Him and His human family. He may want you to be His miracle and gift to someone at Christmas. Someone really may see you as the gift rather then what comes from your hand.

Live IN His image.

Shalom this Christmas!

Have a very wise and starry Christmas time with your eyes fixed on the Saviour – still the sign of our times!

FaceLift

Twelve days of Christmas 12

The Uniting Church end this series for us on Christmas 2008:

Uniting Church in Australia

How different Christmas feels this year!  Twelve months ago the economy was steaming along, it felt like the new government was doing all the right things, our prosperity and security seemed assured.

 

But since the middle of this year it’s all changed.  Now we feel vulnerable.  Unemployment is on the rise, a recession may hit, the Aussie dollar has plummeted, living standards may drop.  Terrorism is in the news again, the war in Afghanistan goes badly, ice caps are melting, and Africans are still dying from disease and poverty.

 

Wars, disasters, poverty and vulnerability were part of Jesus’ world too.  The Roman Empire had a firm grip on Jesus’ world – they taxed heavily, they ruled with brutality, and they dealt ruthlessly with every insurgency.

 

Jesus came into this world, teaching God’s love and modelling a life of self-giving service and peace.

 

True security lies in knowing you’re loved, no matter what.  That’s what the birth of Jesus means for us.  No matter who we are or what our circumstances, God’s love and God’s guidance are there for us.

 

Receive God’s love afresh this Christmas, and thus find true security in life.

Revd Gregor Henderson, President
Uniting Church in Australia

Twelve days of Christmas 11

The Presbyterians chip in:

Presbyterian Church of Australia

Our youngest daughter has just had her first child.  Tiny.  Helpless.  Utterly dependent.  Profoundly loved.  They called him Sebastian, because they liked the name.

 

2000 years ago, another little one was born.  In Bethlehem.  They certainly didn’t have the facilities our daughter enjoyed.  Did they even have a midwife?

 

They called him Jesus.  They knew why too.  Not just because they liked the name.  His name means “The LORD God saves!”  They actually called him that.  Jesus.

 

They also knew their own Scriptures.  How a Messiah would come.  A Deliverer.  They knew that his other names were Wonderful.  Counsellor.  Almighty God.

 

And there he lay.  Being nurtured at his mother’s breast.  Jesus.  God!

 

The apostle Paul would later say of Him, “He is before all things.  All things were created by Him and for Him.  God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through Him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross!”

 

Amazing.  Then a tiny human being.  Jesus.  Now, exalted above all. 

 

If we are not amazed, frankly we’re not thinking!!

 

We’ve been asked to contribute to a CHRISTMAS MESSAGE and GREETING.

 

What’s best?  Merry Christmas?  Seasons Greetings?

 

I’d rather say, give Jesus the honour that is his due.  Thank Him for Who He is.  Worship Him.  Ask Him for all you need for life and godliness. 

 

THEN, you’ll have a HAPPY CHRISTMAS.

 

Robert Benn, Moderator General

Presbyterian Church of Australia

Twelve days of Christmas 10

A brief message from the Lutherans:

Lutheran Church of Australia

Among the things being said to us this Christmas, for many, the financial market crash across the globe may well be telling us not to take our many blessings for granted.  Even more than that.  Our blessings only reach their potential when they are used to benefit those around us and those who need us.

 

It is a scriptural principal that ‘moth and rust’ can quickly erode earthly investment and security.

 

Our current financial crisis is a reminder we do not live in isolation.  We are all members of the human family with one economy.

 

It is significant that God’s gift of his son Jesus the Christ at Christmas is to be offered to all.

 

When fear takes over and blame is directed at big business, governments and banks, what the world needs is for all of us to admit to our own part in this financial dilemma in which we too have been idolaters placing earthly gifts in front of the heavenly gifts.

 

God’s gift of his son in the child of Bethlehem is the treasure that is eternal.

 

Let Christmas be for all of us a celebration that God is not abandoning us, but giving us new starts and a new hope with a Saviour who is Christ the Lord.

Revd Dr Mike Semmler, President
Lutheran Church of Australia

Twelve days of Christmas 9

The Coptic Church says a few things about Christmas time:

Coptic Orthodox Church

The Feast of the Nativity 2008

 

It is my pleasure to wish all of you a blessed Feast of the Nativity in which we celebrate the Incarnation of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

 

Today we rejoice because of the birth of Emmanuel our God.  St. Matthew the Evangelist wrote that the name Emmanuel means God is with us, as a fulfilment of Isaiah’s prophecy, “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel, which is translated, God with us.”  (Matthew 1:23; Isaiah 7:14).  Today, we rejoice because God is with us.

 

God wishes to be with man, because He loves him and said, “My delight was with the sons of men.”  (Proverbs 8:31).  In His love for man God created him out of nothing and gave him the grace of being.  Furthermore, He created man in His image and likeness.

 

The entire history of humanity revolves around God’s presence with man; it is the story of God’s love for man, as well as the story of eternal life, as it is written in the Holy Bible regarding the Heavenly Jerusalem, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people.  God Himself will be with them and be their God.”  (Revelation 21:3).

 

Our feeling that Emmanuel is with us, that is to say God is with us, is what gives us courage, so we can say with the Psalmist, “The Lord is on my side; I will not fear.  What can man do to me?”  (Psalm 118:6).

 

Let us rejoice today, because our God Emmanuel is with us.  Our joy will be even greater when we are with Him.

 

Let us joyfully present to God repentant hearts, so He can dwell within us and we can be confirmed in Him and He in us.

 

Let us pray that the Lord may grant us to feel that we are always in His presence, leading us to a life of holiness and righteousness.

 

May God bless Australia, its government and its people.  Wishing you and your families a blessed Christmas and a joyful 2009.

 

 

Bishop Daniel

Bishop of the Coptic Orthodox Diocese of NSW, QLD & NT

Twelve days of Christmas 8

The Church of Christ makes a few observations about Christmas time:

Churches of Christ in Australia

Over many years, many Christmas sermons and homilies have focused on the need to “put Christ back into Christmas”.  And, as we have listened to such sermons, we mark the tide of materialism that reaches a flood at Christmas.  There is an overwhelming sense that we, as disciples of Jesus, are fighting an “Empire of materialism”.  Against such an Empire, our attitude is often one of resignation.

We need to look back in order to have hope for the future.

During the 1st century, as the Roman Empire reached dizzying heights of power and prestige, there came into the world a child born of a virgin in a small village named Bethlehem.  Long foretold but still unlooked for, the world seemed to spin unmoved by His birth.  Empires appeared to be intact.  Yet the child grew.  A man developed.  The Messiah, the incarnation of God, walked amongst us.  Life by life he replaced a transitory Empire with an unshakeable Kingdom. Then, through His death and resurrection, He opened the door for all to have eternal citizenship in His Kingdom.

When we ponder the Empires we find ourselves in at Christmas, let us remember Jesus.  His presence is sometimes only birthed in small, unnoticed actions.  It is our part as citizens of His Kingdom to perform such actions, His to transform Empires with them.

Craig Brown, Federal Coordinator

Churches of Christ in Australia

Once were Pentes

Saved!

 

I have been reading a book called “Beyond Born Again: Towards Evangelical Maturity” by Robert M Price.  By Evangelical, Price means “Born Again” Christianity in general, including Evangelicalism, Fundamentalism and Pentecostalism.

 Coming from an Evangelical history and perspective, Price points out the contradictions and difficulties in both the culture and theology of born-again Christianity.  He does not believe that Evangelicalism can honestly go on in the same way it has for the past century and so in the final chapter he gives some suggested ways to go forward.

While I do not agree with all of the viewpoints expressed, I particularly liked Chapter 2 on the “The Evangelical Subculture”.  Price shows how Born-Again Christians separate themselves from others by various social prohibitions and conventions.  The “Saved/Damned” simple dichotomy allows them to see themselves as a small persecuted elite with a unified body of thought, compared to a vast secular agnostic world in total decline and despair.

I think he is right in identifying this attitude as immature, and that there is a need for a maturing particularly in Pentecostal thought in this area.  What are your thoughts?

Chapter 2 of the book is here: 

http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/robert_price/beyond_born_again/chap2.html

Twelve days of Christmas 7

The Catholics have a say:

Catholic Church in Australia

One of the interesting aspects of the world economic crisis is how it seems to have surprised so many people, including the economic experts, in its size and scale.  Day after day, pages of newsprint and hours of broadcast time are devoted to analysis of what went wrong and how it can be rectified.  All of us, from the Chairman of the US Federal Reserve to the person on the street, are trying to make sense of it all.

 

One thing we do know about this crisis is that it affects us all in varying ways.  As stocks crash, businesses and industries fail, governments seek to respond and individuals and families tighten the purse strings to prepare for what looks like a bumpy road ahead.  Many people have watched the bottom fall out of their retirement nest-egg, others have had savings locked up by financial institutions and, even as interest rates fall, families are keeping a wary eye on their job security and their mortgage commitments.

 

Charities and social service providers are also feeling it.  A recent report from Access Economics for Catholic Social Services Australia, Anglicare Australia, the Salvation Army and UnitingCare Australia examined the impact of the global financial crisis on social services.  It found that the crisis will have an acute impact on the most disadvantaged members of society, as well as pushing increasing numbers of low and middle income earners to seek the services of already stretched welfare agencies.  The report says that with unemployment expected to rise next year, the services most immediately affected by the deteriorating economic conditions include: employment, housing, financial and general counselling and emergency relief.

 

And so this Christmas, a general feeling of uncertainty prevails.  Perhaps more than ever, we are all seeking the traditional blessings of the Christmas season – joy, peace and goodwill to all people.  Much of the anxiety we might feel about the global economic crisis comes about because we know we cannot control it.  The decisions that will be made to deal with this global situation will be made by others, but they will affect our lives.  This Christmas, Christians all over the world will draw strength from knowing that far from being an anonymous cog in the economic machinery, each human being is precious beyond understanding, having been individually created, known, and loved by God.  Indeed, God loves us so much that he became human.  And when God became human he was not born into a situation of wealth or prestige.  He didn’t earn multi-million dollar bonuses in the sub-prime mortgage or hedge fund industry of his day.  Jesus Christ was born of a lowly maiden in a stable and raised by a carpenter.  And yet despite these humble beginnings, Jesus Christ had a profound impact on the world and continues to be present in people’s lives today.

 

This Christmas, I pray that all people of goodwill will take a fresh look at the face of the Christ-child.  When we welcome Jesus into our hearts and into our lives, we begin to make sense of the things happening around us.  Hope, joy and peace begin to take the edges off our anxiety and fear, and goodwill and generosity to our neighbour in need will surely flow.

 

May the hope, peace and joy of Christmas be with you all.

Archbishop Philip Wilson, President, Australian Catholic Bishops Conference
Catholic Church

Twelve days of Christmas 6

The Baptist Union actually have a double portion – two thoughts for Christmas:

Baptist Union of Australia

It’s time to claim back Christmas!  Once a solemn Christian memorial to the birth of Jesus, for many Australians it’s devolved into a retail festival that misses the point.  Cheer and good will give way to frenzied activity, congested traffic, endless queues and financial worry.

 

Many approach Christmas like Tattoo, the basset hound, inadvertently taken for a ride by his owners when his leash was caught in their car door.  Fortunately a policeman saw it and pulled the car over, but not before Tattoo reached speeds of 30kph, rolling over several times!  Maybe our ‘leash’ is caught in the door of Christmas commercialism and hype.

 

It doesn’t have to be this way.  We can reclaim Christmas.

 

Maybe this Christmas we focus less on food and self-indulgence and more on recalibrating our lives with the God who loved the world so much that he sent his son to save us.  Let’s decide to make the main thing the main thing this Christmas; less presents, more wonder and worship.

 

And as we focus more on Jesus this Christmas let’s allow his values to shape our own.  Perhaps the best gifts to give this year are less expensive, but worth a whole lot: showing hospitality to a homeless person, or a donation to a charity, or maybe something as simple as repairing a rift with an estranged family member.  Christmas need not be expensive for it to be profound.

 

The Baptist Churches of Australia pray this Christmas will be our best ever as we capture again its true meaning.  “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believed in him might not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)

 

Rev Dr Brian Winslade, National Director

Baptist Union of Australia