Christmas 2017

There is often a contrast, a difference between words spoken, ideas expressed and the experience each of us feel and see in the world around us. The message of Christmas is no exception. Expressions of hope to be found in words of ‘peace and goodwill to all’ are too often blemished by acts of war, terrorism, abuse of power, ignorance, self-interest and greed. The words we express at Christmas of peace and goodwill do not necessarily reflect our actions, policies or lives day by day. Our highest ideals of a safe, secure and compassionate community often destroyed by acts of vandalism, aggression and greed. Once again we have seen the tragedy of innocent lives injured with the act of a delusional and drug affected driver on Thursday evening in the city centre. The drowning of a father rescuing his two children from the sea at Skynes creek is another reminder of tragedy at Christmas time. Then there are the road accidents that change the lives of families and individuals forever and the over consumption of alcohol that brings other tragedies.

Families under siege or persecution are unlikely to experience Christmas as a happy and joyous occasion if their very life, their identity and sense of belonging is under threat, and their homes or place are being vilified or destroyed. Others for whom life is an ongoing struggle are pressured into purchasing gifts for their children and others they cannot afford out of guilt. We can only ponder on how asylum seekers and refuges across the Globe are experiencing the season if any, with a sense of joy and peace at this time. The plight of the women of Sudan living in refugee camps in Uganda with the murder of their husbands, and new born children is a chilling reminder to us all of the fragility of the global human family. Of course this is a reflection not only of others but the Church also. Over and over again I have been told stories of people hurt by the actions and words of the church and who see little substance to words of love and forgiveness.

The starkness of this statement will be seen this year in the celebrations of Christmas in Bethlehem the birthplace of Jesus, where the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine shatters the message of hope proclaimed in the Christ child.

Likewise a parent who has lost a child or who has experienced personal hurt during the year may feel apprehensive or ambivalent about the Christmas season.

At home here in Australia, as in many other parts of the world Christmas celebrations this year will be muted by the threats of war, and unrest in many parts of the globe. Some municipal Councils have decided to ignore Christmas, although still have parties for their staff. Others will experience little joy due to homelessness, family violence and loneliness. During my time at Anglicare Foster children who went home at Christmas often returned early, and were distressed by what they experienced and saw at home.

Christmas however has the capacity and the potential to be a change experience and to be a time for the celebration of the potential of the human family to live in harmony and to pursue justice. This claim is at the heart of the religious message of Christmas, but it equally applies to a multicultural celebration of the season. Luke reminds us that the God of the universe snuck into world as a baby, not arriving in power and beauty but in poverty. He came for the life of all not just the religious and compliant.

Christmas condemns all acts of terrorism. Christmas denounces all misuse of power and greed. Christmas is more than family celebrations and the buy at all costs marketing we have experienced over the past few weeks. It is not only about giving but also receiving. Christmas seeks to offer a way forward, a challenging and radical way forward that acknowledges our capacity for evil and yet abounds in hope.

In the birth of the Christ child God enters fully into the created world and challenges the powers that seek to destroy and exploit. To acknowledge such a faith commitment is to commit all of us to the discovery of God in human lives often in the places we least expect to find him.

This Christmas the question each of us should ask ourselves is ‘who is the victim and who the perpetrator of poverty, hunger and homelessness’? How have we as Christians contributed to people turning their back on God and faith? How may we make amends? A close examination of the answers is likely to be both disturbing and challenging. The answers are likely to challenge our talk, our judgements, and moralising about others.

Christmas is more than tinsel, parties and family gatherings. Christmas seeks to restore hope and proclaims peace as possible. The infant child of Bethlehem symbolises the potential of every new child to act and live according to the words of the prophet Micah, “to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God”.

So be it this Christmas.

 

 

  Locum Vicar’s Christmas letter 2017

 

I know it is a cliché, but Christmas seems to roll around more quickly each year. Perhaps age has something to do with it, or the fact that our lives are so busy that we feel this way. Christmas is also so familiar to us that it hard to imagine our world without it, even though the religious observance in many parts of the Western world appears on the decline. Last Sunday evening the Service of Nine Lessons and Carols was a welcome pause for all who came, to rekindle the true meaning of Christmas and void of the sentimentality and commercialization so evident on TV and radio at this time.

 

Christmas as we know it began with the appropriation of a 3rd century pagan mid-winter solstice festival celebrating “the sun”, whereas the Christian celebration is of “the son”. This suggest that perhaps we should not be too surprised that now we see other philosophies or religious expressions of the Christmas season. In our postmodern and secular society, the Christian celebration of Christmas is not the only way our society celebrates the season.

 

In fact, we must jostle for a place to be heard at times alongside the worship of the commercial gurus, the celebrities of the day, sport, family and in Australia the Boxing Day Test and the holidays to follow. In many parts of Europe and in some Orthodox traditions the twelve days of Christmas are observed ending with the three wise men visiting the Christ Child on the 6th January the Feast of the Epiphany. They acknowledge him as the promised Messiah, as foretold by the prophets.  I think it is sad that we cram Christmas into one day here in Australia and do not appreciate that Christmas has a deeper meaning than family and gift giving.

 

Christians at Christmas time do not just commemorate an historical event but rather an eternal life changing mystery. In the birth of the Christ Child God enters the fullness of human life and calls us to a new way of being human. Humanity that is generous, open, hospitable, forgiving and offered liberation from the shackles of sin and brokenness.  The child who was born for our redemption continues to challenge those who seek naked political power, exploit or abuse their neighbour and reject the call to become God bearers.

 

At Christmas we pray that the light of Christ will shine into the dark places of our troubled and broken world and in our own lives, homes, city and nation.

 

Blessings and peace to all for this Christmas.                             Ray

 

 

Prophets disturb us. They are often described as agitators and rabble rouses.  In past years environmentalist were often given this tag, although in recent years with the threat of climate change, whether human made or not, they have become in some places the heroes of our time. Increasingly we find that prophets have become more mainstream as we say, with farmers, scientists, even corporation challenging governments on matters such as climate change and a range of other ethical and social issues.

Mary is a prophet. We see and hear her in today’s Song of Mary sung in place of the Psalm.

     “The Magnificat, or Mary’s Protest Song is the longest recorded words of a woman spoken in the New Testament   and is Mary’s announcement about the subservice nature of Jesus Kingdom and ministry to come. It is inspired by God and comes out of the mouth of a pregnant unwed teenage mother to be, uncertain about her own future on the edge of the powerful Roman Empire.”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer the German Theologian killed 10 days before the end of the Nazi regime, spoke these words in a sermon on the 17th December 1933.

“The song of Mary is the oldest Advent hymn. It is at once the most passionate, the wildest, one might even say the most revolutionary Advent hymn ever sung. This is not the gentle, tender, dreamy Mary whom we sometimes see in paintings…This song has none of the sweet, nostalgic, or even playful tones of some of our Christmas carols”.

  Prophets challenge our priorities and prejudice when they question the status quo, or those in authority, or raise issues that we would rather not think about or confront. Last weeks Gospel from Mark portrays John the Baptist in such a light.  He is present as an advocate, stranger, outsider and dresses in unconventional clothing.  Both Luke and Mark source their presentation of John from the prophet Isaiah. John as I said is not presented as an angelic voice from heaven, announcing the coming of the Lord, but rather as a hermit, Wildman, an asectic, dressed in camel’s hair with a loincloth around his waist proclaiming, “Repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand. Perhaps those old enough to remember, see him as a swinging hippy of the 60s.

 

Some commentators suggest that John was a member of one of the many radical groups of his time, expressing frustration, anger and rebellion against the ruling elites of their time. Both Luke and Mark’s narrative has John engaging with the religious establishments who have their ideas about the coming messiah, as a mighty warrior out to conquer the Roman authorities.  John rejects their understanding that he is that person.

 

In today’s Gospel, the story continues from last week although from John’s Gospel.  John the Baptist speaks to the impatient crowd who are looking for a messiah. John declares himself to be the voice that Isaiah speaks about, a voice crying in the wilderness. John refuses to accept anything that the leaders of Israel wish to make of him. He is not Elijah, nor the prophet of the day but only a voice crying. The power brokers of the day, both the religious and political leaders are bewildered and afraid of the increasing agitation growing around them, and with John’s encouragement of the crowd, raising their hopes and expectations as one coming out of the wilderness, proclaiming the coming of the Lord, seems odd and confusing. Who is this man one can hear they ask each other? Who is he referring to? John is saying that the enemies that have made Israel’s life a misery is coming to an end. The lame and the outcast will find themselves healed in the coming of Jesus. The current political and religious elites will find their time at an end. Here it is clear that God’s Kingdom challenges the Kingdom of the world.

Herod ruler at the time was a sham, an adulterer in John’s eye one who failed to inspire and lead the people in righteousness before God.

We are moving fast through the season of Advent. Christmas, or at least the commercial Christmas is rushing in upon us with frenzy. For the profiteers and the commercial gurus of the day Christmas is already here, and be quick because it will be over and then the Boxing Day test, the beach holiday, and the sales.

 

 For Christians as I wrote in the pew bulletin starts on the 25th December and conclude with the feast of the Epiphany the arrival of the three wise men.  In Europe the season of Christmas survives while here at home the weather and holiday season have reduced it too often to just one day.

 Advent in the church’s liturgical calendar is a time for reflection and preparation for the celebration for the birth of Christ. In the early life of the Church it was also much more closely aligned with the second coming of Christ.  As I have said on more than one occasion Advent is more than shopping or even family gatherings, although both certainly have their place in our celebrations.  Christian Faith is much more than this. Faith is the grounding of our humanity, care for the other and an intimate relationship and knowledge of God. Faith is more than a deity we shape in our own image, which is precisely what the religious leaders were hoping for at the time of John the Baptist.

Today’s Gospel reminds us that the one to come will come not in our image but of God. He is the one as Luke reminds us who will bring good news to the poor, the broken and the down trodden. He will set the captive free and give sight to the blind. His message continues to challenge the power brokers and the subverters of the Common Good.

The life story of Jesus is one who stands with the different, the difficult and the dissident. At first when he stands in the synagogue and reads from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah people are astounded. Some surprised, others even skeptical and cynical that such words could come from the son of an unmarried mother and from Nazareth. All goes well till he reminds the gathered assembly of those in their own midst, the widows and the lepers who need help, and declares himself as the fulfillment of the promise of Isaiah. They are threatened and challenged by his words. It is not what they wanted to hear.

 

As I reflected on today’s readings, as we move closer to Christmas, I recalled words of the playwright David Williamson when commenting on the state of the global community of which we are part. He says,  

 

“do unto others as you would have them do unto you, was without doubt the most threatening moral maxim, the powerful, the messianic, the corrupt and the indifferent had ever been confronted with.”

The Powerful always work on the rule: Do unto others what your military might allows you to do.”

“The fanatics and haters of the world; Do unto others the things that would cause most grief and devastation, irrespective of the devastation done to oneself.”

The corrupt; “Do unto others everything you can possibly get away with.

 

The self satisfied and indifferent: Do unto others absolutely nothing’.

 

To live as one called to live in the footsteps of Jesus will mean we will struggle as he did to bring in the new order for our times. We will be misunderstood and chastised, ridiculed and abused for entering the world from our safe temples into the wilderness of life as did Jesus and John.

The hope of Advent is not only about the future but also equally about the present. It is the realization, as did the gathered congregation in the synagogue that Luke recalls, that the future is the present, and as we wait, we are called to show the unconditional love and hospitality of God with others.

Today we need a church renewed in prayer and engagement with the needs of the world. We need a clergy working with and alongside the Laos of all. Hope is central to the meaning of Advent. It is a time to celebrate the God given potential of each of us and to be the light that shines in the darkness.

In the midst of all the craziness of our times I still take great comfort in the Gospel message of Jesus Christ. The future is ultimately in God’s hands and God’s alone. This is not a time for despair but hope. May this be yours also?

May we continue to embrace the challenge confident that God is with us and not despair or give up?

 

Amen

 

Last Saturday we had a very enjoyable evening at the shared meal. The food was great and the company stimulating. The occasion is also an opportunity to invite guests and build our community of faith. Thanks to all who came and shared.

The presence of the Christmas tree in church reminds us, if we need to be reminded, that Christmas is fast approaching. Our televisions, newspapers and invitations to meet with family and friends at this time for Christmas drinks and gatherings of all sorts tell us that Christmas has already arrived. Others will be travelling to family and visiting relatives, leaving before the celebrations here at St George’s before Christmas begin. The purest among us in the church will remind us that Christmas begins on the 25^th December for 12 days till the feast of the Epiphany, and the arrival of the three wise men on the 6^th January. A colleague of mine still refuses to open his Christmas presents until that day. Whatever your own circumstance at home or away, may the Christmas season bring you peace and hope.

On another matter like me I am sure you have received in the mail numerous requests for financial support to a variety of charities including our Anglican ones, such as Anglicare, The Brotherhood of St Laurence, Anglican Overseas Aid, Anglican Board of Missions, The Church Missionary Society and others like the Christmas Bowl. How one decides how to give and how much can be a challenge. Some of us will give an amount to each organization, or if you are like me I have chosen to give a larger amount to a smaller number of agencies. Whatever method you may chose consider how much you will spend on your own Christmas celebrations when making your decision.

Since 1949 the Christmas Bowl appeal has brought compassion Christians together to help bring hope and safety to the world’s most vulnerable communities. Of all the appeals at Christmas this one is worthy of your support and encouragement. . Details of the work of the Christmas Bowl can be found on the brochures available in the church.

I hope you enjoy our Carol service this evening and the Christmas events to come.

Shalom Ray

Click link below to view

Bulletin for December 17th 2017

Click link below to view

Bulletin for December 10th 2017

This time two years ago I had the privilege of leading the Ordination Retreat for 7 people, {2 deacons and 5 priests} in the Diocese of Newcastle. The retreat was held at a Holiday Park on the shore of lake Myall about 120 kilometers north of Newcastle. It is a beautiful location with much bird life and sanctuary for a wide variety of animals. Although I was a little apprehensive about a holiday as avenue for a retreat the location was ideal and provided the space for the candidates to spend time in;

• Reading the scriptures
• Prayer and worship
• Silent refection
• Walking and swimming
• Discussion

I was reminded of the retreat experience when reflecting on our readings for the day that centre on the wilderness, places that allow us to explore, reflect and engage with the divine in places like Myall Shore national park, but also deserts and mountains that are in abundance here in Australia.

Speaking with family friends last week, once very regular church attenders, they spoke about how with the business of their lives Church has become less important and they seek and find God on their weekend travels into the mountains of Gippsland, walking and experiencing profound moments of faith on their journey. Others of my friends express similar sentiments, less committed to the Church as an institution but committed to the Christian narrative, although as I point out to them that does not equal belief.

I love camping in the desert. I could be called an outback junkie. Camped at night along the road to Birdsville or the Onadattta track, under the stars with a roaring fire and a good bottle of red or port is heavenly for me. Here I solve the problems of the world and my dreams for our country, for the children of the future, take shape. I say to myself if I was in charge there would be no more of this or that and we would love one another in true Christian spirit. Romanticism you may say. This is my idea of heaven-a place of hope, a space for reflection and inspiration. As I look up at the Milky Way, the magnitude and wonder of the universe is awe-inspiring and the place of we humans put into perspective. To suggest that all this has no meaning and that there is no meaning in life, other than to live for the day, or that we are all simply a freak outcome, seems to me to lack imagination and a sense of mystery and wonder. To even contemplate that humanity has it alone in the universe or is in charge, is I believe an affront to the universe and the world as we experience it.

The wilderness experience runs deep in the lives of the people of Israel, through the desert to the Promised Land. In the writings of the prophets God leads the people into the wilderness so he can speak tenderly with them. The spirit led Jesus, at the beginning of his ministry into the wilderness, where he was tempted by the devil to aspire to status, wealth and power

How do you approach a wilderness experience? Sometimes they can be unwelcome and unexpected sparked by;

• The death of a loved one
• The onset of an illness
• A troubled marriage or relationship
• The resignation of staff person
• Hurt inflicted when least expected.

There are other times when we are called to explore the dark and difficult times in our lives where God may seem absent or at best less than helpful. In those times the space of wilderness may be challenging as we grapple with the issues at hand. A wilderness space is not only a physical place to be experienced but also one of the mind. Wilderness, going into a space unknown or unchartered can be illuminating and enriching as well as disturbing or frightening. The latter is very common I am told for those men and women returning from active service and for members of the police, fire services and paramedics who are often the first on the scene for road accidents or other tragedies.

There is another experience of wilderness that many Christians feel in today’s world, with the marginalization and even the mocking of faith, and the trials we often experience of seeking to hold fast to our faith in these challenging times. Often in spite of all our best efforts results seem minuscule and we wonder about the future. Old Testament scholar Walter Bruggerman speaks about these times, as in part, the exile experience travelling in the wilderness of being the faithful remnant of God’s people. He goes onto say that being in exile also brings hope.

The season of Advent symbolizes the end of God’s absence and the period of expecting and waiting in hope. There is no doubt that we need more wilderness opportunities as we begin the journey to Bethlehem. We need at a practical level, wilderness to restore our tiredness and urban living and busy life. We need wilderness to find the hope that is within us and to encourage us amidst the challenges of our times.

In the wilderness John the Baptist, the Wildman of the desert, announces the coming of the Lord. The power brokers who are both bewildered and afraid challenge him. Out of the wilderness comes the bearer of Good news. A new story is to unfold. He is the pointer to the one who is to follow, Jesus. John’s announcement, “Repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand “ is a reference to a new order. John spoke plain and people believed him.

As we move forward this Advent may we use this time to reflect wisely and to prepare our lives for the building of God’s Kingdom, to share afresh the news of salvation, to be the prophets of our times even a modern John or Jill the Baptist. Perhaps even as I suggested last Sunday evening we could become wild men and women of faith, so passionate, that what we say and do stands out as counter culture to the commercialization and crassness of so much of Christmas celebrations in out times.

Our mission this Advent is to embrace what God says is possible, and to believe that what God says is possible and to believe that what God says will be so. The call is to focus our lives on the essentials, to follow in the footsteps of Jesus and to find him in the places we least expect.

God has assured us that he loves the world despite our brokenness and behavior towards each other and the whole of creation, by sending his presence in the person of Jesus so that we can be reconciled to God and to each other. God shares in our wilderness with his presence among us. As we continue our journey this Advent may we be a people of hope and joy as we celebrate the birth of the Christ child, God with us in our times.

Amen