Christmas messages from around Oz, 2012

Posted on December 20, 2012 
Filed under Australia

We’ll post Christmas messages from Anglican leaders around the country, as we discover them.

Please pray that all who speak in the name of the Lord Jesus this Christmas will do so with great clarity and faithfulness to his gospel.

Here are the messages so far –

Archbishop of Melbourne, Philip Freier. (video)
Bishop of Tasmania, John Harrower. (video)
Bishop of Canberra-Goulburn, Stuart Robinson. (video)
Dean of Riverina, Robert Harris. (text)
Bishop of Wangaratta, John Parkes. (2.5MB PDF – page 3 of The Advocate.)
Bishop of Gippsland, John McIntyre. (14.5MB PDF – page 3 of The Gippsland Anglican.)
Bishop of Ballarat, Garry Weatherill. (video)
Bishop of Willochra, John Stead. (PDF)
Bishop to the Australian Defence Force, Len Eacott.

And from the leaders of other denominations (via the National Council of Churches in Australia), messages are mixed – but that from David Jones, Moderator General Presbyterian Church of Australia, stands out:

Cry of a Tiny Baby

Bruce Cockburn the Canadian singer and songwriter describes the birth of Jesus beautifully in the chorus of one of his Christmas songs

“Like a stone on the surface of a still river
driving the ripples on forever
Redemption rips through the surface of time
In the cry of a tiny babe”

Something happened at Bethlehem that has sent ripples throughout the history of the human race.

If you have ever been robbed of something precious, you will want the culprit caught and punished and you will want your property returned to you. God has been robbed. He made us in his image and likeness but that has been defaced by sin.

Jesus has come to right the wrong done to God by his creatures, to pay the price of our sin and rebellion. But God wants back what is rightfully His. He wants his picture back. He wants his image and likeness restored. That is why Jesus came among us. That is the meaning of Redemption. That is the message of Christmas.

“Redemption rips through the surface of time”
“And the message is clear if you’ve got ears to hear
That forgiveness is given for your guilt and your fear
It’s a Christmas gift you don’t have to buy
There’s a future shining in a baby’s eyes”

(Second photo: Pilgrim Hill.)