Any such fantasy was quickly lost by the group of Church leaders who recently visited the people of the Holy Land. Daily violence and frequent deaths do little to instill hope that peace is about to break out. Good news would be an end to their troubles and a peaceful settlement in a place that has known little peace for a very long time.
The Good News of Christmas continues to be that Jesus is the Son of God, as Mark the Evangelist says. God is in the world, and that is the context of our hope. God is in the world, not to condemn, but to save. Jesus is the gift of eternal love that never surrenders – even when we experience the worst kind of trouble.
The National Council of Churches in Australia is pleased to be able to send out these Christmas messages from Australian Church leaders. We hope that, to some small extent, they might plant a seed of hope and point us to Jesus, the Son of God, who is still Good News for the world.
Revd John Henderson, General Secretary
National Council of Churches in Australia
(NB. In the Western Church, Christmas is celebrated on December 25. Most Orthodox Churches will celebrate Christmas on January 7, 2008.)
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Uniting Church in Australia
Surely it's time for peace in the Holy Land
When Jesus was born, Bethlehem was under Roman occupation. Two thousand years later Bethlehem is still an occupied territory.
To travel between Jerusalem and Bethlehem today means negotiating a military checkpoint and passing through the huge Barrier Wall. Bethlehem residents require a special permit to visit Jerusalem. Their movements are strictly limited, with 90 military checkpoints and 562 other obstacles such as trenches and road blocks throughout the West Bank.
The world Jesus was born into was much the same. The people then were oppressed by the Romans, their rights were strictly limited, they lived in poverty. Poverty levels today are 50% in the West Bank, 79% in Gaza, unemployment is rife.
Jesus was born into a world such as this. And the message from God accompanying his birth was, extraordinarily, a message of peace. The angels sang "Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace, good will among people". The Jewish priest Zechariah spoke of Jesus as coming "to guide our feet into the way of peace".
As the post-Annapolis negotiations commence in earnest this month, may peace for the people of Bethlehem and Jerusalem be more than a remote hope. Surely it's an aspiration whose time has come.
May this Christmas remind people everywhere that God's will is for peace throughout the world. May your Christmas be holy, joyful, and full of peace.
Revd Gregor Henderson, President
Uniting Church in Australia
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Syrian Orthodox Church
As the Christmas season approaches, we invariably find ourselves struggling to maintain a 'holiday' composure: the long queues and bustle at shopping malls; the last minute rush to buy gifts or hang up those Christmas decorations; and the late nights at work in the weeks leading into Christmas. By the time the holidays do arrive, we well and truly need them to recover from the lead into them.
Christ was born in similar circumstances: His mother and Joseph had to travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem to partake in a census; when they arrived, there was no room at the inn; the young family slept in a stable because in their 'last minute rush' they could find no other accommodation. Yet in the hectic circumstances of Jesus' birth are the beginnings of God's message of peace and goodwill to mankind. Peace and goodwill between mankind and his Maker and then with each other.
The message of Christmas is as relevant and appropriate today as one songstress described "2000 Decembers Ago". Its message is an unchangeable and eternal as the God who moved history to bring Christ to us all.
Archbishop Mor Malatius Malki Malki
Syrian Orthodox Church
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Seventh-day Adventist Church
To best understand the Christian story about Jesus who died on the cross of Calvary, it is good to look in on an unpretentious detached room in Bethlehem over thirty years before. It was here that Jesus was born. It was here that God came to humanity in the most extraordinary way. He became one of us! This is the Christmas story.
There are various stories that are told of the prince and the pauper, where one exchanges places with the other for a while. But this is different. Real different. God chooses to become a man, really and truly human. He understands what it means to grow, to learn, to laugh and to cry. Our Creator made a choice to become one with His creation. And He went all the way – to death.
And that death was for us. We humans had gotten ourselves into such a serious mess called sin. The only outcome possible was eternal annihilation, unless… unless God did something that only He could do. If we were to be saved, God would have to become one of us, get it right and then, taking our sins on Himself, die for us. Those who believe in Jesus are assured of eternal life!
This is the story of a Creator God who loves His creation – loves us… loves you… loves me. It is the story of belonging and hope. That is why Christmas is a time of joy!
Pastor Ken Vogel, General Secretary
Seventh-day Adventist Church
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Lutheran Church of Australia
If what we see and how we see things reveals something about us, it is timely to ask ourselves how we view Christmas.
A picture taking mobile phone at the birth of Jesus might well shake the image we have which has helped form our understanding of this event.
A holy photo it would not be. This child birth was not such a dignified process and in a public place it became even less so. But that is how it was.
A somewhat distressed mother, perhaps considered to be immodest, and a worried husband, as dishevelled as his wife, making the best of an outdoor animal shelter for a delivery room. A digital image of this situation would give little hint of anything divine.
If we are not able to see in the person of this infant an act of God himself- the beginning of God's new arrangement with the world- then there is little for us to contemplate.
Most of us would surely agree that if this time of the year produces charitable acts and kind gestures as well as an opportunity for family get togethers even reconciliation within fractured families, then something has been achieved.
Cataracts, however, remain over our eyes if that is the extent of our sight and insights.
Human goodness is little substitute for the presence of God with us. The picture remains unclear until the love of God for us in whatever predicament we find ourselves awakens us to a new hope, a new beginning and a new life.
Human love and a day spent with a lonely person might save a day for someone. But that will soon pass away. We need an end to passing away. We need to pass on to lasting peace and life which is eternal.
Look again more closely for here in a manger in the person of God's own son we have the Saviour. The joy of Christmas is the joy of forgiveness and salvation. It is the gift of life.
Revd Dr Mike Semmler, President
Lutheran Church of Australia
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Congregational Federation of Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand
As we again enter this exciting and joyful time of year we are reminded that God's Son came to us in the same form that all of us enter this world, as a baby, and that what followed was a life saturated and overflowing with love through which we discern meaning for our own lives and begin to chart a course through life's heights and deepest valleys.
May God grant that we encounter the Christ in a new and personal way either for the first time or in the renewal of our faith. May we approach this event with all the fervour that would attend the birth of our own first-born and may that joy remain with us through all the dark hours until the first light of dawn. Pax Christi.
Revd Allan Filipaina, Moderator
Congregational Federation of Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand
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Catholic Church in Australia
On Christmas Day in 1939, King George VI reminded the world it was facing a terrible war.
Although we're not in exactly the same position now, the fact of the matter is we are at war, and there are Australians confronting the seemingly insurmountable challenges of conflict.
There is war all over the world, and it is in such times that we do need, as the King said, a message of hope.
The celebration of Christmas is about real hope. We hope that the Lord will be true to his promises and will grant us the gift of peace.
We have to work with all our strength towards that and choose to find peaceful ways to settle our problems rather than using violence.
What the King said was quite correct then and still is today, that if we go out into the darkness and put our hand into the hand of God, "that shall be better to you than light, and safer than a known way".
Archbishop Philip Wilson, President, Australian Catholic Bishops Conference
Catholic Church
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Baptist Union of Australia
Christmas heralds a new beginning for all Australians
Christmas offers an opportunity to take stock of the world around us, and determine to work together to make it better. I hope the Rudd Government will make rapid progress on policy issues of significance to Australian Baptists.
These include a compassionate and consultative approach to Indigenous affairs; decisive leadership on new global climate change initiatives; increasing overseas development aid to 0.7 per cent of Gross National Income; and promoting strong economic growth while maintaining a just and equitable safety net for the less fortunate.
In addition, it is important for the Federal Government to examine ways to reduce state government reliance on poker machines for revenue.
It is shocking that a report released by the Australian National University's Centre for Gambling Research has found the states collected about $4 billion in gaming taxes in 2005. This is misery money and governments need to do more to reform the gambling industry and state reliance on gambling.
But it is a mistake to look only to the material and temporal. In the birth of Jesus Christ, we find that our significance and dignity as human persons is so profound that God sent his only Son to give us new life. A living and personal faith in Jesus brings forgiveness, reconciliation and hope to our lives.
Let us accept the new beginning that God offered through Jesus, and as disciples of Jesus to help make Australia a better place to live for all.
Revd Dr Ross Clifford, President
Baptist Union of Australia
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Assyrian Church of the East
To our beloved brothers and sisters in Christ:
On the occasion of the Holy Feast of the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ we take this opportunity to extend our Episcopal greetings to the faithful sons and daughters of the National Council of Churches in Australia's member churches, all Christians in Australia and around the world and to convey upon them our blessings.
Importantly this Holy season should for Christians be a time of intense prayer and meditation on the teaching and message of the Holy Scriptures. As Christians we rejoice that through Christ's birth, peace, hope and good will are brought to humankind. The Holy Church offers thanksgiving and worship to our Heavenly Father for his paternal love and kindness toward humankind by the act of sending His Only Son to earth. Christians are compelled to reflect on the message emanating from the Messiah's birth and the ensuing covenant created between humanity and the Lord God. Indeed God incarnate comes to earth and dwells amongst His creations attesting to His love for humankind. This act paves the path for the Lord Jesus Christ's ensuing death and resurrection.
The Christmas season should also be a time to remember the persecuted Church universally and to beseech the Lord God to provide comfort and flight to those Christians who continue to remain victimized, persecuted and martyred for their unwavering Christian faith in spite of heinous oppression. Particularly we call upon our fellow Christians in Australia and worldwide to remember in their thoughts and prayers the Assyrian Christians of Iraq who continue to endure the brunt of immense persecution in their historical homeland at the hands of those intent on advancing evil. The Assyrian Christians however remain steadfast in their faith, zeal and commitment to our life-giving Creator and in the face of persecution become living martyrs for the Holy Church.
May the grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all, forever and ever: Amen.
Bishop Mar Meelis Zaia
Diocese of Australia and New Zealand Assyrian Church of the East
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AOG in Australia/Australian Christian Churches
Last week I was talking to a man who appears to have all the attributes of success, yet he describes his desperate loneliness as an ache or a grief on the inside. Clearly crowds or people do not calm the feelings of emptiness and loneliness that grip him, as he has a big family, attends our big church, and lives in a huge city. He is dealing with hollowness which external factors and material things have failed to alleviate. He is not seeking more company or friends; he just would like the internal ache to stop.
Our cities are filled with people who, although surrounded by others, are overwhelmed by powerful feelings of loneliness, separation, disconnection and isolation from the world.
Mother Teresa once said, "The most terrible poverty is loneliness, and the feeling of being unloved."
This from a woman confronted each day by people living in the most abject of poverty. She knew that physical poverty could be comforted by a warm meal, medical attention or bed at night, but emotional poverty required a different cure.
This cure comes in the form of Jesus Christ. In Him humanity was sent a friend. He came to forgive, embrace, accept and love each of us unconditionally. Through Him we can find hope for today and for our future.
This Christmas as we celebrate the birth of Christ the Saviour, my prayer is that each and every person would know the love and inner peace that comes in and through a relationship with Him.
Wishing you and your family a wonderful Christmas and New Year.
Pastor Brian Houston, Senior Pastor – Hillsong Church &
National President, AOG in Australia/Australian Christian Churches
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Anglican Church of Australia
Plenty of room in the inn
Two weeks ago I was in Bethlehem where Jesus and Christmas were born. A Palestinian man said to me '2000 years ago we made a mistake saying "There is no room at the inn". Today there's plenty of room.'
It was a sad comment on the devastating effects on the Palestinian economy of the long-running conflict with Israel. Hotel occupancy has actually improved from 10% a few years ago to 50% today. But with unemployment running at about the same rate and a segregated road system, road blocks and checkpoints making movement of people and goods difficult at best and impossible at worst things are grim. Christmas is not such a happy time in Bethlehem these days.
A few days earlier I had stood on the Mount of Olives and looked across the valley to Jerusalem. I had stood in roughly the same place Jesus stood 2000 years ago. Then he wept for the city saying, 'If only you recognised the things that make for peace.' As I stood there these words echoed in my ears.
At his birth the angels announced 'peace on earth'. 2000 years later there is trouble and conflict as far as the eye can see.
Yet Christmas remains a festival of hope because the life lived by the Christmas child revealed the things that make for peace: respect for all human beings, acceptance, neighbourliness, kindness, gentleness, humility, forgiveness, wisdom. These things make for peace in our own hearts, in our families, in our neighbourhoods and workplaces, in our nation and in our world.
Let us recognise the things that make for peace and grasp the hope held out to us by this birth.