Christian leaders say Christmas means hope and joy amid uncertainty

With many anxious over the uncertainty of the world at the moment, church leaders from different denominations have spoken about just what Christmas can give us this year. Catholic Archbishop Mark Coleridge

Catholic Archbishop of Brisbane Mark Coleridge said there was a mood of uncertainty and anxiety as the world moves into the new year, including the rise of populist and nationalist ideologies which “build walls not bridges”.

But Archbishop Coleridge, referring to the Bible, said it was only at the heart of darkness that light was born – “the light of the child which the darkness has not overcome”.

Archbishop Phillip Aspinall, of the Anglican Diocese of Brisbane, also used the theme of light to illustrate the spiritual aspect of Christmas.

“Candles are one of the most common and enduring symbols of Christmas carols by candlelight haven’t lost their magic for young and old alike,’’ he said.

“Somehow, candles speak to us.’’

Archbishop Aspinall said thousands of years ago, the prophet Isaiah wrote that the people who walked in darkness saw a great light.

“He was talking about the darkness of an occupying foreign military power that was oppressive, harsh and cruel,” he said.

“But he predicted that a child would be born who might one day become king and that his birth would give new hope to the nation.’’

Christmas Day Mass at The Cathedral of St Stephen in Brisbane. Picture: Liam Kidston.

The Rev David Baker, Moderator of the Uniting Church in Australia, Queensland Synod, said each birth brings change to the world.

“Christmas celebrates a birth that brings both deep joy and deep challenge,” he said.

Elder Carl R. Maurer of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said for almost everyone he met, life was taking its toll whether in homelessness, poverty, mental health, depression, physical health, anxiety or financial obligations.

“Although delivered over two thousand years ago, there has perhaps never been more need of the angelic message delivered to shepherds at the time of His birth to fear not:

“For, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.’’

Archbishop Mark Coleridge, Catholic Archbishop of Brisbane

In Australia and around the world there is an air of uncertainty and anxiety as we move to the end of this year.

The preference for death over life in many forms; political instability and the travails of democracy; the rise of populist and nationalist ideologies, which build walls not bridges; the inhuman treatment of migrants and refugees at a time of vast movement of peoples around the globe; the lack of will to move on climate change, which brings droughts and fires here but floods elsewhere.

Archbishop Mark Coleridge. Picture: Tara Croser.

All this and more shows how shadowed the planet is at this time.

Christmas always takes us into the shadows.

It is for “those who live in darkness and the shadow of death” (Luke 1:79). It takes us there because Christmas knows the truth spoken by the prophet Isaiah:

“The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light; on those who live in a land of deep shadow a light has shone” (9:14).

“Only at the heart of darkness is the light born, the light of the child which “the darkness has not overcome” (John 1:5).

That is why Easter is the key to Christmas.

In Europe the feast of Christ’s birth replaced the pagan celebration of the sol invictus, the unconquered sun.

At the winter solstice, the pagan feast celebrated the triumph of light over darkness; and Christianity baptised the pagan celebration because, with the eye of faith, it saw the birth of Jesus as that kind of triumph, foreshadowing the victory of Easter.

To the newborn child, we bring not gold, frankincense or myrrh but the gifts of our faith and the hope to which it gives birth and the joy to which hope gives birth.

The star leads us to the light, and at his feet we lay what we bring.

The God who becomes one of us is delighted by our gifts and gives us forever the gift of the Word-made-flesh.

Archbishop Phillip Aspinall, Anglican Diocese of Brisbane

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light (Isaiah 9.2-7).

Candles are one of the most common and enduring symbols of Christmas carols by candlelight haven’t lost their magic for young and old alike. Somehow, candles speak to us.

Thousands of years ago, the prophet Isaiah wrote that the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.

Archbishop Phillip Aspinall. Picture: Annette Dew

He was talking about the darkness of an occupying foreign military power that was oppressive, harsh and cruel. But he predicted that a child would be born who might one day become king and that his birth would give new hope to the nation.

The darkness didn’t disappear immediately but now there was something else. A light had dawned. There was something that resisted the darkness, something that gave people hope.

We don’t have to look far to find darkness today. It doesn’t take exactly the same shape as in Isaiah’s day, but there is darkness.

The darkness of drought is threatening lives and livelihoods and causing great suffering for families on the land.

There’s the darkness of institutions that are failing us including banks. Royal Commissions of recent years have shown us that Australians haven’t really cared properly for children, for elderly people and for those living with disabilities.

No matter how hard we try, we can’t seem to root out the darkness of corruption. And there is the darkness of natural disasters like the eruption on White Island in New Zealand just weeks ago.

But the people who walk in darkness have seen a great light.

The light isn’t fully and completely here yet, but it points to a new and different kind of future. It holds out hope. We’ve seen the breaking dawn of a new future.

The child born in Bethlehem promises a new future for us all and fills us with hope.

This Christmas, as you light candles and sing Christmas carols, I hope you sense the deep joy and hope that no darkness can overcome.

Have a happy and hope-filled Christmas.

Elder Carl R. Maurer, Area Seventy – Pacific Area, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

When I look around at Christmas time, I can’t help but be filled with a renewed sense of hope and enduring joy.

Elder Carl R. Maurer.

It’s not so much the packed shopping malls or busy city with shoppers searching out that special gift for a loved one.

I suspect that for some time now, the annual overindulgences of food and drink, as well as the strange, socially acceptable practice of going into debt to acquire material possessions in the name of Christmas has been leaving many Queenslanders with a feeling of emptiness not only in the wallet, but also in the soul.

For almost everyone I meet, life is taking its toll in one way, shape or form. Homelessness, poverty, mental health, depression, physical health, anxiety, financial obligations, and many more, mean that very few of us can say that we are not genuinely struggling to some degree or other with the demands that modern life places upon us.

Although delivered over two thousand years ago, there has perhaps never been more need of the angelic message delivered to shepherds at the time of His birth to “Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:10-11)

So, my invitation to you this Christmas is to follow the wise words of the Psalmist to “Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things” (Psalm 123:1-2).

Pause, step back from the routines of the season and reflect on the great promise given that whatever adversity we might currently be facing, it can be swallowed up in the enduring joy of Christ.

The Rev David Baker, Moderator of the Uniting Church in Australia, Queensland Synod

“This changes everything.”

A couple of days after the birth of our first child, it really dawned upon me that as parents, we were going to be, for the rest of our lives, almost, the target of relentless marketing from a myriad of sources.

Reverend David Baker.

It would never stop – it would first be directed at us as parents, then at us through the child. I felt like I was caught; my deep hopes for my child making me a target exposed to the commercial world.

A birth certainly changes everything. For many of us, it’s a wonderful experience of seeing new life grow and flourish in a way that at least in some measure, is planned and according to expectations.

That’s not true for all births; some bring profound challenges; challenges that test people to the uttermost.

Christmas celebrates a birth that brings both deep joy and deep challenge. As the story is told, it’s a birth that’s highly irregular – out of wedlock, disconnected from the ritual and support of the traditions of birthing in that time and place.

If this is God present among us, as the story tells us, then it’s not according to the rule book.

But that’s just it.

The life of Jesus Christ is lived in all the joys, hopes, and challenges of every human life; his life is in solidarity with ours.

God does not come as wholly other, with coercive power; God comes in the vulnerability of the babe of Bethlehem; in the vision of world renewed as Jesus taught; in the hope of the resurrection.

Christmas will always be about a God who comes to us in a way that repudiates all our justifications of the coercive use of power. Such justifications have been a dominant paradigm for human community. From Jesus’ lowly birth, with its invitation to trust and wonder, to his death on the cross, in solidarity with us all, and his resurrection, this life says, God is with us; “Emmanuel”.

This life changes everything.