Message for Christmas Eve

The following message has been prepared to appear on my behalf in the Adaelaide Advertiser on Christmas Eve. While I realise that it may only appear in South Australia I am sharing it with all of you in the hope it might be useful:

Christmas Eve: it could be our most stressful day of the year. One eye is on the clock ticking down; the other is on the credit-card balance clocking up.

Getting ready for Christmas should be a happy time, yet it creates the highest rates of anxiety and depression of the year. Christmas is a family time, but we might be grieving because someone close has died this year, or lonely because we are separated from loved ones, or even worse, nobody wants to be with us; or we are anxious and afraid. Will I have a job next year? Will my health hold up? How will I pay the mortgage and feed our family?

We Christians make a big fuss over the birth of Jesus - and for good reason. God's Son being born into our world to live with us, love us, die for us, to free us from death, is a big deal. Jesus is alive, and he shares his life with us. This changes lives so it's worth a huge birthday party. But on Christmas Eve what about those in our neighbourhood, our nation, and our world, who are without the joy, the peace, and the hope that Christmas brings? Where is Christ for the Syrian refugee, the homeless Filipino, or a worker at GMH?

Many of us think that God, even if such a being exists, is 'out there" somewhere, cold and remote. Yet Christians say the opposite. God is right here, at Christmas and every other day, in a warm loving human person, Jesus. Sometimes we call him 'Immanuel', God is with us. Jesus is God sitting with me in the rubble of my life, not to say 'I told you so', but simply to hold me in his arms, and forgive.

We Lutherans in Australia and New Zealand say this in our church's motto, 'where love comes to life'. It's our way of saying that God is right here, in our world, He is up close and personal. Jesus is God's love come to life, right here with us, in us and through us.

I hope that Christmas Day brings a glimpse of peace and joy for you. If not, I pray that you may still know the love of the baby of Christmas, Jesus. We believe he is here for you, listens to your story, shares your joy and your pain, and will nevere abandon you. He is with us, always.

Notes from recent meetings of General Church Council

1. Principal of Australian Lutheran College - the much anticipated call to the position of Principal at the LCA's theological and training college is taking a little longer than planned and there is no news to announce as yet. This is a pivotal position in the life and ministry of the LCA and I invite your prayers for everyone involved in considering this call.
2. Governance and Administration Review - Dr Maureen Cleary OAM, of Governance and Management, has been engaged to conduct the Governance and Administration Review decided on by the 2014 General Convention of Synod. Maureen is well known to many as editor of Board Matters. She is highly skilled and has long experience working with Christian churches, including Lutherans.
3. North Adelaide property redevelopment - in a kind of 'no news is good news' way substantial work continues to be done behind the scenes by a range of professionals and church leaders on this large scale project. There are no new announcements to be made at this stage.

Thank you

As your new bishop I would like to thank you, the members of the LCA, for your continued prayers, support, and encouragement during these last 5 months. From a human perspective the issues before the church can seem insurmountable, but with Christ all things are possible.

I have continued to be impressed, over-awed, amazed - whatever the the right word is - by the quality of the saints who serve the church in so many ways - in direct ministry and mission, on boards, councils, and committees, through working groups, reference groups, as project officers, or whatever it is that needs doing. The LCA is a wonderful community of people to be part of, and we have so much to offer each other and the world we inhabit.

Christ's work, while complete on the cross, is still being enacted in the lives and witness of believers who call themselves Lutheran. Through the Confessions and our confession of faith we witness to Him, the centre and source of our faith and salvation. Through worship we praise Him, joining with angels and archangels. Through our daily work and service we contribute to the wholeness of life, the bringing of hope, and the healing of the world.

No, we're not perfect, far from it. There is still so much we need to do, so much that needs to be addressed about ourselves and our actions. But we are alive, no longer dead, and that keeps us going.

May you receive strength to keep going forward with Christ in the power of the Spirit, through this Christmas season and the New Year that follows so closely.

Your brother in Christ,
Pastor John Henderson
Bishop