Aussie spirit shone through as we celebrated Christmas apart but together

The leaders of Australia’s major Christian churches have sent a message of hope and solidarity in their annual Christmas missives.

Midnight Mass at Sydney’s St Mary’s Cathedral. Picture: Nikki Short

The leaders of Australia’s major Christian churches have sent a message of hope and solidarity in their annual Christmas missives following a heartbreaking year of devastation and loss.

As coronavirus restrictions tightened, many religious services in Sydney have gone online for Christmas this year after religious venues were asked to restrict their previous rule of one person per 4sq m to one per 2sq m.

Catholic Archbishop of Sydney Anthony Fisher said the year had been like no other, punctuated with periods of isolation and desolation. “Many want to put this year behind them, but we mustn’t block out the questions it has posed about what matters most to us or the lessons we have learnt about human vulnerability and interconnectedness,” he said.

“This Christmas, let us take a few moments to reflect upon what we’ve learnt through the year of COVID.”

Sydney Anglican Archbishop Glenn Davies, who addressed parishioners in an online service on Christmas Eve, said Australians desperately needed the joy of Christmas this year and that the festive season represented “the great unmasking of God”.

Archbishop Anthony Fisher. Picture: Nikki Short

“In the coming of Jesus, we see God’s face. The Bible tells us ‘the Word became flesh and dwelt among us’. God took off his mask and revealed himself in such an ­extraordinary way as a human being,” Dr Davies said.

“When lockdown stripped away so many things that used to fill our lives, we learned what was important to us. Relationships. From Christmas we learn that the most important relationship we can ever have is with Jesus — God unmasked.”

The NSW moderator of the Presbyterian Church, Andrew Campbell, said the birth of Jesus showed God “offers forgiveness and eternal life so there is a future, and there is hope”.

NSW and ACT Uniting Church Moderator Reverend Simon Hansford said that “after a year of so much isolation, loneliness, pain and even death”, Christmas “assures us that God is never distant”.

“Jesus is the promise of the not-too-distant God,” he said. “Our faith declares God has drawn near to us in Jesus Christ, in a year when proximity has been prohibited.”

Wesley Mission chief executive Reverend Keith Garner said the COVID-19 crisis had brought to the forefront some of the biggest challenges Australia has faced.

“The pandemic has highlighted the potential inequities that persist in our so-called lucky country — and we must face the reality that well over 100,000 Australians still experience homelessness each night,” he said.

“So as promising vaccines may bring ‘the beginning of the end’ of the pandemic, this Christmas let’s commit as Australians to supporting those hardest hit this year, as they will be experiencing the pain of the pandemic for far longer.”

Hillsong pastor Brian Houston said this Christmas God offered a sense of joy, deep comfort and peace that extended beyond emotional happiness in a pre-recorded message after two weeks of live services following months of online services.

A young worshipper way past her bedtime. Picture: Nikki Short

“The message of Christmas is Jesus, and he came with a message ‘joy to the world’,” he said. “Can we find joy in a season like this? Well joy is not just happiness, like an emotion. Joy is a deep comfort. Something God can do — and only God can do — on the inside to bring a sustaining peace.”

Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne Peter Comensoli delivered a message of hope, saying: “When you gather this Christmas, in whatever way that is, don’t labour on the darkness of this year; recall the wonder of Jesus’s birth and the light by which we can see ahead.”

Pope Francis, who delivered his Christmas message from inside the Vatican instead of from the outdoor central balcony of St Peter’s Basilica because of new coronavirus restrictions in Italy, said that the birth of Jesus “is the ‘newness’ that enables us to be reborn each year, and to find, in Him, the strength needed to face every trial”.

In his message, Scott Morrison thanked and honoured older Australians as well as all essential workers. Anthony Albanese also thanked frontline workers, as well as teachers.