Bishop John

My Christmas message for The Mercury, Examiner and Advocate newspapers:

The Christmas story is a love story, one which speaks to our hearts.

In that stable we sense the warmth of human love shared between Mary and the infant Jesus, with Joseph, with all present there. But at a deeper level, Christmas is a story of God’s love, God entering our world, reaching out to us, speaking to us.

And we honour one another when we in turn reflect that same love in the way we choose to live our lives, in our speech with another.

As I move around Tasmania I see God’s love and grace in simple yet rich traditions – baptisms and confirmations, weddings and funerals. I see Christian people reaching out to their communities. All year I am reminded of God’s Christmas love.

But in those same communities when we’ve had difficult matters to speak about this year, we so often have struggled to speak with each other in ways which reflect love, care and courtesy. We struggle to speak as God has spoken to us.

This is a shared struggle, one in which the Church shares responsibility. We all need, in working together through the issues of our time, to learn to speak words of life to one another, to eschew words which bludgeon, belittle and condemn.

The infant became the man Jesus, master of the searching question which opens up conversation, which values the hearer. Can we learn to ask one another good but gentle questions, and to respond ourselves with care, with courtesy, with love? Can we nurture community in Tasmania built on mutual respect, on love?

Hope lies in the example of this infant who was born among us, this infant who is God’s ultimate word to us. God speaks life to us; may God enable us to speak life to one another.

Christmas blessings, Tasmania.

Shalom, +John 🙂

Anglican Bishop of Tasmania

See also my YouTube Christmas message 2012.

Christmas from Revd Canon Matt Gray, the Chaplain of The Hutchins School, Hobart:

Lately we have been talking about our technology strategies a lot so I thought we might follow the BYOD theme. I have been showing a clever clip telling the Christmas story using social media.  It goes like this:

• Google Earth locates Nazareth for us
• Gabriel sends an SMS text to Mary for the annunciation which she passes to Joseph in a panicky highlighted email: “Joseph we need to talk”
• Google maps looks for directions to Bethlehem – ticking the “avoid Romans” box
• Joseph books a donkey online with Hertz and searches limited accommodation eventually settling on “stable”
• Joseph twitters the birth of Jesus with a picture – it gets ‘000s of Likes.
• The wise men book an event on Facebook called “meet the baby” – twittering #worshipthebaby
• The wise men buy their gifts from Amazon.
• Finally the video of the event is uploaded onto YouTube.

View the clip here if you are interested.

The events surrounding Jesus’ birth are such a strange mixture of the mundane and the extraordinary. The clip emphasises this by illustrating the way God breaks in to our experience. We plod through the daily grind or the busyness of the moment.

We are often encouraged to take hold of the moment – to seize the day – carpe diem. The movie Dead Poets’ Society gave immense popularity to this phrase as a banner for life. The original phrase is from Horace – he did not trust the gods of his age, erratic and unknowable gods who could not be relied upon or understood in any way. Therefore, seize the day meant trusting as little as possible in the future.

But what a change came over that landscape in just one century! The Incarnation – the story of Christmas – is that God came down to us. He became one of us and experienced all the limitations, sufferings and humiliations, as well as the joys and triumphs of a human life.

The message was that God has a plan for us: the future is not to be feared or ignored, but embraced as a gift of God. As is the day. Rather than seizing the day like it is some wild animal in need of taming, the chaos and futility of the future has been rejected. There is now meaning in every moment. God has an ultimate purpose and a plan for us. We will not always get it or understand it but we can know that the future is guided by an all-powerful presence, both loving and good. How can we know? Is this just ‘pie in the sky when you die’ optimism.

The answer is in the Christmas story – God did not just give us a greeting card sentiment but a man who lived and died and defeated death that we might see and know that a future has been won for us. There is no need to fear, whether it is the past, the present or the future. God has assured it if we will just trust him. So rather than seize the day I want to offer some alternatives.

• Transform the day – transfigurare die
• Enjoy the day – frui die
• Receive the day – diem recipere
• Trust the day – confidere die
• Have a wonderful Christmas day – glorious Dei

Reverend Canon Matthew Gray, Chaplain

Yesterday, I prayed for the leaders of our children’s and youth summer camps. Today, I prayed for our elderly folk at Glenview.

Prompted by the phrase “through every stage of life” in today’s Glenview prayer, I was struck by the similarity in the ethos of the two prayers. Yet the prayers were dealing with opposite ends of life’s journey: young people and elderly people.

Prayer is truly “through every stage of life” and our prayers are shaped by the same truths and ever present need for strengthening and care.

The two prayers:

A. Commissioning Prayer for Anglican Camping Tasmania leaders for our children’s and young people’s camps over the summer holidays, written by Kristina Kettleton.

Father, we give you thanks for each of these leaders here. For their faithfulness to you and the unique gifts you have given them. Thank you that you have given them a passion to serve young people. Thank you that you have called them into this ministry.

Strengthen them for this camping ministry we pray.

Give them a fresh understanding of your grace, your love, and a deep joy in the good news of your salvation.

Give them patience, wisdom, peace, energy and joy both in their preparation, and on camp.

Empower them by your Holy Spirit to be ambassadors for Christ in thought, word and speech. Increase their godliness and their self-control so that all who see them – on camp and in their lives – might know that they are your disciples.

Please use each of these people in your service on the camps they are leading on. Through them, draw many to know Christ and help more to go deeper in their knowledge and love of your Son.

We pray this in the name of Jesus our Lord and Saviour. Amen.

B. At today’s Christmas Service at Glenview I prayed for the elderly residents. The Glenview Prayer:

Heavenly Father, you have laid on all your people a duty of love and care for one another, through every stage of life.

We ask you to bless and strengthen the special ministry of Glenview and all who are involved in it.

Keep in good heart all those for whom Glenview is home.

Free them from anxiety and surround them with your love, your peace, and your joy;

through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

In response to Jennifer Crawley of the Mercury newspaper I made the following comment, published yesterday. Jennifer wrote,

Tasmanians are looking for hope after the recent tragic shootings and economic hard times.

Anglican Bishop John Harrower said,

The church was a good place to think and pray about these events.

We welcome anyone who is looking for hope to come along this Christmas time.

Hope was the most important thing the church has to offer people.

Whether it is Australians going through tough economic times or Tasmanians and Americans mourning, Christmas is about God giving us a sign of hope.

The world can sometimes seem like a dark place, but God has sent a light into the world in a baby born at Christmas.

I encourage Tasmanians to go to a church near them this Christmas and find the hope that Jesus offers freely to everyone.

See also my YouTube and print Bishop’s Christmas message, God speaks life.

View my Christmas message:

Also available on this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZgyklvt0M8
or please keep reading below: 

The Christmas story is a love story, one which speaks to our hearts.

In that stable we sense the warmth of human love shared between Mary and the infant Jesus, with Joseph, with all present there. But at a deeper level, Christmas is a story of God’s love, God entering our world, reaching out to us, speaking to us.

And we honour one another when we in turn reflect that same love in the way we choose to live our lives, in our speech with another.

As I move around Tasmania I see God’s love and grace in simple yet rich traditions – baptisms and confirmations, weddings and funerals. I see Christian people reaching out to their communities.  All year I am reminded of God’s Christmas love.

But in those same communities when we’ve had difficult matters to speak about this year, we so often have struggled to speak with each other in ways which reflect love, care and courtesy. We struggle to speak as God has spoken to us.

This is a shared struggle, one in which the Church shares responsibility.  We all need, in working together through the issues of our time, to learn to speak words of life to one another, to eschew words which bludgeon, belittle and condemn.

The infant became the man Jesus, master of the searching question which opens up conversation, which values the hearer. Can we learn to ask one another good but gentle questions, and to respond ourselves with care, with courtesy, with love? Can we nurture community in Tasmania built on mutual respect, on love?

Hope lies in the example of this infant who was born among us, this infant who is God’s ultimate word to us.  God speaks life to us; may God enable us to speak life to one another.

Christmas blessings, Tasmania.

Shalom,  John

FOR FURTHER THOUGHT:

A. Bishop John mentions how at Christmas we recall that God “speaks to us.”  Jesus Christ is God’s presence with us, and is therefore God’s ultimate word of life and love.

1) Reflect on this part of the Christmas message.  In what way do you hear God speaking to you through the infant Jesus?

2) Read the following passages the make a similar reflection on the birth of Christ: Hebrews 1:1-4, Colossians 1:15-20, John 1:1-14, Mark 9:2-8

3) God chose Mary and Joseph and the particular circumstances of Bethlehem as the means by which he spoke into history.  What does this say about the character of God?

B. Bishop John reflects on how he has seen the love and life of God at work throughout 2012.

1) Where have you seen God’s life and love at work in 2012?

2) Was there a moment where God’s life and love seemed absent? In reflection, can you identify how he may have been speaking to you or through you in those circumstances?

3) How does your 2012 inform your prayer?  God speaks to us in our real lives, how would you like to respond?

C. Bishop John looks ahead to 2013 and is concerned that we might reflect God more closely in how we speak in society and to each other.  Tasmania and Australia have faced and will continue to face a number of social and political issues.

1) How have you thought about some of these issues in 2012?  How have you spoken about them?  What has been the character of your conversation and the motivation of your heart?  Are there relationships you need to restore?

2) What things are burdening you as you look ahead to 2013?  What is God saying to you about these things?

Please be praying for our church and for our State as we head into 2013.  Come, Lord Jesus, Come.  John