Dear sisters and brothers in Christ,
    2020 has certainly been a year with challenges; starting with bushfires and continuing with COVID 19, with still such risk at large until vaccines come into play and the threatened effects of the virus reduced from our community.
      As I think about Christmas this year (and sometimes other years too) it is helpful to realize that just as we face our own challenges as individuals and communities, so too the Holy Family (Mary, Joseph and the infant Jesus when born). Mary as a young, unmarried, pregnant mother, Joseph amidst all the uncertainty still wanting to keep safe his betrothed. Their travel to Bethlehem, a birthing in less than ideal circumstances and sometime after, their flight to Egypt in order to avoid a jealous and narcissistic ruler.              What hope their courage and determination can give us. Just as the love of God was made incarnate in the ‘Word made flesh dwelling among us,’ so may we too face our continued challenges (which always continue in one form or another).
​        I pray that Christmas 2020, whilst still perhaps not ideal will continue to inspire us in faith and open our eyes, hearts and hands to whatever needs we find around us. May God continue to be incarnate in us and let us celebrate this Christmas still with much joy.

Yours on the journey,

Dear sisters and brothers in Christ,
Welcome as we come for worship on this Fourth Sunday of Advent with only 5 more sleeps left until Christmas Day.
    This brings to mind the Christmas song ‘It’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas.’ Yet this year does have in many ways a different feel about it. With still high amounts of COVID cases in the US, the UK, Europe and other places and a growing cluster on the Northern Beaches of Sydney causes uneasiness and disruption inn the lead up to this Christmas. There are many families who will have lost loved ones during this year, or who are seriously ill this Christmas. I say this not to be negative and morose, but to recall the reality of life into which the true spirit of Christmas can still break through.
       This true spirit is about God making a home amongst the people and life of the world. Our passage today from 2 Samuel helps to give us hope that this is truly the case: “The Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house. Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure for ever before me; your throne shall be established for ever.” The Lord’s house is not so much a building, but a place in the human heart. Such a place has come among us in the presence of Jesus, whose birth into the world we celebrate in just a few days.
       A question posed by ‘The Living Word’ in relation to this is well worth pondering: “How can we be more fully the house of God as we go forth to love and serve the Lord this Christmas? We remember that the first house of Jesus was a stable and that he had to rely on the shelter offered by strangers. Are we able to take this as our model for the Christian life? How might we welcome others this Christmas into the home of our hearts?”

May you journey well with Christ’s coming among us this week.