God With Us: Christian Leaders Share What Christmas Means

By Ben McEachenFriday 20 Dec 2024Hope MorningsChristmasReading Time: 2 minutes

What does Christmas mean to you?

Key points

• Listen below to the enjoyably diverse yet consistent responses, as they also share what they hope Christmas means for all of us.
• Jesus being “God with us” was a repeated refrain among our leaders this year.
• Beyond Christmas, our Christian leaders want us to embrace and follow Jesus throughout the year.

For the past few years, I have been able to speak with a wide variety of our Christian leaders about Christmas.

Previously, we would talk about a topic (“Cost of Living Christmas”) or themes related to the celebration of Jesus’ birth.

This year, I wanted to get more personal.

My first question was the same: What does Christmas mean to you?

Listen to the enjoyably diverse yet consistent responses, as they also share what they hope Christmas means for all of us.

Listen below to the enjoyably diverse yet consistent responses, as they also share what they hope Christmas means for all of us.

As we talked memories and experiences of Christmas, I was struck by three things:

1. Many of our church leaders have not been Christians all of their lives. After they came to believe in Jesus as Lord and Saviour, their love for Christmas celebrations increased, becoming much deeper and more meaningful.
2. Jesus being “God with us” was a repeated refrain among our leaders this year. You can hear how grateful they are that God would come so close to us in the sacrificial form of his one and only Son, Jesus.
3. Beyond Christmas, our Christian leaders want us to embrace and follow Jesus throughout the year. Not only on December 25.

Anthony Fisher – Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney Archbishop

Faaimata Havea Hiliau – Uniting Church in Australia NSW/ACT Moderator

Phil Dooley, Hillsong Church Global Senior Pastor

Kanishka Raffel – Sydney Anglican Archbishop

Kim Haworth – Salvation Army NSW/ACT Divisional Commander

Lou Antonius – Senior Pastor at Eastcoast Church and ACC Leader

Antoine-Charbel Tarabay – Bishop of Maronite Catholic Diocese of Australia, New Zealand and Oceania

Lyle Sims – Moderator of Presbyterian Church of Australia NSW/ACT

Alex Lee – C3 Sydney Lead Pastor

Richard Schwedes – Lutheran Church Bishop of NSW/ACT

Steve Bartlett – Baptist Churches NSW/ACT Director of Ministries

Feature image: Photo by CanvaPro