Glocal Christianity

Sydney Anabaptist Gathering

Here's a photo from the Sydney Anabaptist gathering yesterday in Parramatta Park. Special guests were Michael and Lorri Harding from Preaching Peace. 

Aboriginal Art: Jesus and Adam

This example of Aboriginal Christian art is something I ripped out of a magazine eight or more years ago, or thereabouts, only to gather dust in my old art folders for years, largely forgotten. I suspect it may be the first piece of Aboriginal Christian art I ever collected.

Unfortunately, as it was way before I ever heard of blogging, I lacked the foresight to write down the artist details. I think it is however reasonably easy to interpret. It features Jesus and Adam under the Trinity. Those who live under Adam are in disharmony and darkness, facing different directions. Those who live under Jesus, the second Adam, are in harmonyand light. This harmony is entered through the waters of baptism. I hope you find it interesting.

Christmas Art - Australian Style

This painting is an interpretation of the Nativity by Australian artist Nathan Simpson.

You'll find more of his art at Nathan Simpson Paintings.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Survey finds Christmas is about family

Found an interesting article on Australian attitudes to Christmas via atheist blogger Sean the Blogonaut. When 800 Australians were polled about Christmas:

• 75 per cent said it was about good times with family and friends
• 20 per cent said the day was about the birth of Christ
• 3 per cent said it was about giving and receiving presents

So, while consumerism is often critiqued at this time, it would seem that our most powerfully distracting idols are a lot closer to home. I am reminded of what that baby we celebrate at Christmas said when he grew up:

"If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple."

Hyperbole it may be, but the essential teaching is that family allegiance comes second to messianic allegience, if you're an authentic disciple of the Messiah. So I ask myself, how does my schedule reflect my allegiences?

Christmas through Aussie eyes

"Bruce Goold’s artwork captures the essence of the Christmas story. He depicts the baby Jesus wrapped in swaddling cloth laying in a manger, normally used for feeding animals, surrounded by his parents, Mary and Joseph. The artwork also shows the angel announcing to the shepherds the good news that Christ the Lord has been born in Bethlehem."

 Pictures from here.

Gay marriage: what your neighbours think

How do your neighbours feel about gay marriage? News.com.au has launched an interactive tool that will show Australians, postcode by postcode.

Interestingly, it shows "while most Australians are in favour, there is a wall of opposition to gay marriage running through western Sydney, one of the nation's key election battlegrounds which both major parties must win over to win government."

The results for Greenway, our electorate, would seem to bear this out. I find that doubly interesting given that, far from being a Christian stronghold, the southern end of Greenway is hot spot of religious and cultural diversity. Raises all sorts of questions about what we mean by "secularization" when some of the more de-Christianized suburbs are found to be amongst the more ethically conservative.

Australian multiculturalism

Yesterday we heard that "the AMP-NATSEM Income and Wealth Report shows Australia is one of the most multicultural nations in the world, second only to Luxembourg and tying with Switzerland. One-quarter of our population was born overseas, almost twice the proportion of the United States and more than twice that of Britain."

Meditation on the land

The uncreated God who created the land of Israel created this ancient land as well. That he sent it no prophet left the land YHWH-unknowing (Acts 17:23) but not YHWH-less (John 1:3). God was here before us.

Priests and Prostitues Brawl in full swing in Parramatta

In an article entitled, When sleaze and God collide, the Parramatta Advertiser this week reported, "Brothels and places of worship developments are now on Parramatta Council’s hit-list after Monday night’s amazing council meeting ... To some councillors, both houses of ill-repute and future houses of God fall into the same category they need to be tightly controlled."

Okay, possibly a bit of a beat up. The writer later went on to say, "The Advertiser believes intertwining these two issues was a way to sway anti-brothel campaigner Cr McDermott and Cr Issa who, two weeks ago, had said he 'could not being able to sleep’ if he rejected churches from R2 zones."

Personally I think the interesting subtext here is the hint of Hillsong hysteria, as "Cr Lloyd said residents feared places of public worship would buy up blocks of land in suburban areas to build large establishments." You may recall the Dancing banned in church ... By the Government incident I reported back in April. Could the rise of the megachurches be backfiring, legislation wise, on microchurches? Could the loudness of contemporary worship spell the end of residential worship?

Help your council to rediscover Christmas this year

Parramatta Councillor Michael McDermott emailed me earlier today with the news that Parramatta City Council yesterday approved new banners for Christmas that actually reference Christmas! He's now asking you and me for help in sharing the news.

It demonstrates that reverse discrimination against Christianity, in the name of political correctness, can be successfully challenged if we're reasonable in the way we go about it. McDermott says he wants to encourage other cities "to look long and hard at how they are celebrating Christmas."

Have a look for yourselves.

These are the banners from previous years

These are the banners for this year

Spot the difference? The first lot remind me of the "Mr Hankie" episode from Southpark crossed with War of the Worlds. Are the second lot really so horrible in comparison?

McDermott says, "No one is offended by you doing this and your residents will love it." Even if they don't, I say, if we can celebrate Dwali as a community why not Christmas?

For more articles on Parramatta and Christmas

PDF article - Parramatta the First City of Christmas

Easter in Parramatta

Parramatta Council dumps Seasons Greetings signs