Glad tidings of joy to arrive with Christmas are needed more than ever in a year of Covid-19. Photo / Alan Gibson
Christmas can't come early enough — at least for some this year. The desire for joy and laughter, regathering with family and friends, not to mention putting 2020 behind us.
For others, there is fatigue from the emotional cost of a year that will be remembered in the history books.
Christmas is a season that evokes mixed emotions for many whānau in Aotearoa. For some, it's a season where families eat together and wait with anticipation to open gifts under a Christmas tree. It can also be another reminder of the passing of a loved one, the pressure of unemployment, the uncertainties of business, loneliness, and a closed border keeping family and friends in far-away lands.
In addition to this, there are financial difficulties that many feel. City Missioner Chris Farrelly has said that in previous years, 10 per cent of families in Aotearoa experienced food insecurity on a day-to-day basis. However, due to Covid-19, this percentage is likely to double to 20 per cent. This is a huge figure! It's a confronting truth for our nation. While some join the queue of consumerism, others join the queue for food, many for the first time.
In a season that evokes mixed emotions, where do we find hope for Aotearoa?
Christians of all backgrounds find their hope in Jesus Christ. For Christians, the main event that takes centre-stage on Christmas Day is the acknowledgement and belief that Jesus the Son of God, made His presence known by being born into the world as one of us. Christians celebrate that the Creator didn't leave our country, or this world, stranded and alone in chaos. Rather, the God who crafted the stars wrapped himself in humanity to become one of us.
The coming of Jesus that first Christmas was to a world longing for renewal, not that dissimilar to today. Herod, a tyrannical political leader, was prepared to do anything in his power to keep his throne. While there was talk of "Pax Romana" (Roman Peace), such peace and prosperity was enjoyed only by the wealthy minority who had citizenship, while over half of the Roman empire were slaves, often facing social and ethnic segregation.
But the coming of Jesus points to another way of life characterised by inclusion, love, peace, and justice. A world where all people are treated with dignity and respect with no more oppression or discrimination, no more poverty or hunger, illness or viruses. Instead, God would make all things new. Jesus's birth allowed for this potential.
Christians believe that in entering into humanness, God knows intimately the hunger, loneliness, oppression and grief that are so present in all human life. Jesus, God's Son, was cradled in a feeding trough for animals. He grew up in a family that experienced poverty. He spent the first years of his life as a refugee, eventually fleeing for his life from a wicked dictatorship. By entering into such experiences, God says to us, "I understand you" and "I weep with you". His arrival signals his work in history to restore broken people and this world — a work that we are invited to join. We here in Aotearoa have had a long legacy of hearing this good news.
Christmas Day can remind us of the historic day on which the Gospel was first preached on our whenua. It was on Christmas Day In 1814 at Rangihoua in the Bay of Islands that Samuel Marsden first preached the good news of Jesus Christ on these shores. Marsden preached from the second chapter of St Luke's Gospel on the tenth verse which says: "Behold, I bring you glad tidings of joy". But Marsden did not preach alone that significant day. Ngāpuhi chief Ruatara translated Marsden's message into te reo Māori. Without the tautoko of Chief Ruatara, Marsden's English words would have been ineffective for his Māori-speaking audience.
The 300-400 Ngāpuhi attendees responded with joy to the message by performing a haka hari called Te Hari a Ngāpuhi. Some of the main themes of this haka are in the phrases — "E! Ka nuku nuku, e! Ka neke neke" — meaning that the ground was moving, shifting and creating space. "Me he Pīpīwharauroa" — speaking of the Pīpīwharauroa, the shining cuckoo. This bird was symbolic of change and transformation. As it spends most of its time flying in the sky, it can symbolise something heavenly that also comes to rest on earth. Reflecting back on this hari haka, Bishop Te Kitohi Pikaahu of Te Hāhi Mihinare says that the participants were declaring that the good news about Jesus was responsible for the movement and shaking of the ground, and that it had the power to create something new. The good news signified the potential of heavenly transformation, and its roots being planted into these lands.
Christmas marks God's arrival, and His offering of hope, which is greater than any gift, and even greater than the joy of gathering with loved ones. It is a transformative message of hari nui (great joy) for the peoples of Aotearoa — that God so loved us, he sent Jesus.
Amid a year of global disruption and disappointment, there is nothing needed more than hearing again the words first proclaimed in our land on that Christmas Day in 1814: "Behold, I bring you glad tidings of joy".
And that's why we'd love to welcome you to our church services this Christmas — in person or online — to share with you this great joy, and the incomparable hope it brings to every person, to every context, to every whānau. May the hope of the good news shake our land and create new space for us all to rejoice alongside each other in peace.
•Rev. Paul and Pam Allen-Baines, Congregational Union of NZ
•Rt. Rev. Ross Bay, Anglican Bishop of Auckland
•Pastor Tak Bhana, Senior Pastor, Church Unlimited
•Pastors Paul and Maree de Jong, Senior Pastor, LIFE
•Pastors Jonathan and Robyn Dove, Senior Pastors, Greenlane Christian Centre
•Ven Dr Lyndon Drake, Anglican Archdeacon of Tāmaki Makaurau
•Most Rev. Patrick Dunn, Catholic Bishop of Auckland
•Majors Ian & Liz Gainsford, Divisional Leaders, The Salvation Army
•Darren and Sharon Gammie, National Secretary AGNZ
•Most Rev Michael Gielen, Auxiliary Catholic Bishop of Auckland
•Rev. Jaron Graham, on behalf of the Church of the Nazarene
•Rev. Jonny Grant, Vicar, St Paul's Church
•Rev. Brett Jones, National Superintendent, Wesleyan Methodist Church
•Pastor Sanjai Kandregula, Executive member, Assemblies of God NZ
•Pastor Brian Kelly, Senior Pastor, Calvary Chapel
•Pastor Nich Kitchen, Mountainside Lutheran Church
•Rev. Dr Stuart Lange, National Director, NZ Christian Network
•Rev. Kok Soon Lee, Auckland Chinese Churches Association
•Pastor David and Lissie MacGregor, National Directors of the NZ Vineyard Churches
•Rev. Andrew Marshall, National Director, Alliance Churches of New Zealand
•Very Rev. Anne Mills, Dean, Auckland Cathedral of the Holy Trinity
•Rev. Steve Millward, Moderator, Northern Presbytery, Presbyterian Church
•Pastor Bruce Monk, International Overseer for Acts Churches & Equippers
•Pastor Sam Monk, Senior Pastor, Equippers Church & Acts National Leader
•Pastors Peter and Bev Mortlock, Senior Pastor, City Impact Church
•Rt. Rev. Te Kitohi Pikaahu, Anglican Bishop of Te Tai Tokerau
•Pastor Lui Ponifasio, on behalf of the Christian Community Churches of NZ
•Pastor Boyd and Sharon Ratnaraja, National Leaders, Elim Churches
•Pastors Dean and Fiona Rush, Senior Leaders, C3 Church Auckland
•Pastor Jim Shaw, New Life Churches Executive team
•Co-pastors, Dan and Gabrielle Sheed & Rob and Alisha Wiseman — Central Vineyard
•Bishop Brian Tamaki, Senior Minister of Destiny Churches International
•Pastor Allan Taylor, Northern Baptist Association
•Pastor Ben Timothy, President, North New Zealand Conference, Seventh-day Adventist Church
•Rev. Graeme R. White, Auckland Synod Superintendent, Methodist Church of NZ
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