A Mantle of Peace
Our CEO, Scott Sanders introduces our "Being Present" Advent series with a reflection from Isaiah on what it means to pursue peace during this season.
Jane Kennedy from UnitingWorld reflects on her recent time in Indonesia and points us to hope and anticipation in the midst of pain and suffering.
One night a few weeks ago, I found myself dancing around a bonfire in the mountains of Bali, with friends from Timor Leste, West Papua and three other provinces in Indonesia. UnitingWorld’s South East Asia partners had come for a week to strengthen their ability to work more closely together.
This night the moves were next-level line dancing, the singing mostly terrible but the laughter full of the kind of joy that comes from deep places. It was a sacred moment. One that for a second gave me a glimpse of the global community as it could be. Accepted, forgiven, genuinely connected through commonalities – the journey to resilience, commitment to the Shalom of God. Wholeness. Generosity of spirit.
The people linking arms and voices had seen genocide and poverty, conflict and despair, sickness and injustice. I felt like an outsider with the unseen heaviness I was carrying that week, real to me, but by comparison, I questioned its legitimacy. Yet I was welcomed in, invited into the conga line, asked to sing.
Advent is a time of anticipation, of hope that things can be different, that God will come into our space and time, into our pain and turn it on its head, shake up power structures, change everything. Redeem it all.
From bloodshed to disappointment, we can dare to hope that True Love will reach in and calm our storm.
In the Isaiah 40 passage Jerusalem hears the announcement: Prepare for this! Clear the roads, make the paths straight, level the hills! Still the people hear it “tenderly” (perhaps it was too much to bear that it could be true) and are promised comfort as they anticipate an end to their suffering.
Love is present in our pain and announces hope, there is no place this hope cannot penetrate, the newness of life found in God becoming like us, breathing, walking, talking – feeling, like us.
This is beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning. A holy exchange, where there is pain, let Me take it and give you joy in its place. Let Me carry your load and give you rest.
That we can dare to hope for this, that we can announce that this is coming, that’s Good News.
Emmanuel, God with us. Present with us, infusing us with lightness and anticipation of a new day, a new kind of world. The space between the now and the not yet. Love sublime.
Jane Kennedy works for UnitingWorld as the Associate Director, Programs – Asia and Africa. Image credit: Kukuh Himawan Samudro
1 Comfort, comfort my people,
says your God.
2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and proclaim to her
that her hard service has been completed,
that her sin has been paid for,
that she has received from the Lord’s hand
double for all her sins.
3 A voice of one calling:
“In the wilderness prepare
the way for the Lord;
make straight in the desert
a highway for our God.
4 Every valley shall be raised up,
every mountain and hill made low;
the rough ground shall become level,
the rugged places a plain.
5 And the glory of the Lord will be revealed,
and all people will see it together.
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
6 A voice says, “Cry out.”
And I said, “What shall I cry?”
“All people are like grass,
and all their faithfulness is like the flowers of the field.
7 The grass withers and the flowers fall,
because the breath of the Lord blows on them.
Surely the people are grass.
8 The grass withers and the flowers fall,
but the word of our God endures forever.”
9 You who bring good news to Zion,
go up on a high mountain.
You who bring good news to Jerusalem,
lift up your voice with a shout,
lift it up, do not be afraid;
say to the towns of Judah,
“Here is your God!”
10 See, the Sovereign Lord comes with power,
and he rules with a mighty arm.
See, his reward is with him,
and his recompense accompanies him.
Our CEO, Scott Sanders introduces our "Being Present" Advent series with a reflection from Isaiah on what it means to pursue peace during this season.
Shane Fenwick, a Case Manager with Mission Australia and postgraduate theological student, reflects on his time in Jerusalem and the importance of making space for others this Christmas.
Bella Beach, a 17 year old student at Pacific Hills Christian School, reminds us in the midst of our Christmas planning to remember God's master plan.
Cass Langton, Creative Pastor at Hillsong Church, reflects on the promise of a Just King and the calling for the Church to creatively reflect God's redemptive plan.
Jane Kennedy from UnitingWorld reflects on her recent time in Indonesia and points us to hope and anticipation in the midst of pain and suffering.
Erin Sessions, writer and lecturer at Morling Theological College, challenges us to break down walls of exclusion this Christmas.
Waka Waka woman and Common Grace's Aboriginal Spokesperson, Brooke Prentis, exchanges the bitterness of 2016 for God's hope and love this Advent, and invites us all to do likewise
Mike Gore, CEO of Open Doors Australia, invites us to be present with the persecuted church and challenges us to share the most precious gift we have.
Jacob Sarkodee from St Jude's, Melbourne and Anglican Overseas Aid reflects on the reality of God's presence during this season.
Tim Costello from World Vision Australia, reflects on how we can learn from John the Baptist, and become non-conforming heralds of an unconventional, gracious and present God.
Byron Smith - Ecological Ethicist and Anglican Assistant Minister - reflects on his battle with cancer, the fear that accompanies living in the shadow of death, and God's peace that breaks with the dawn.
Susan Sohn - Host of GetRealLive Radio and the co-host of Real Talk Radio - reflects on her year of discovering the presence of God in quietness, and the challenges that families face in the Christmas season.
Kristyn Crossfield, Director ACTU Leadership Programs and Common Grace Board Member, reflects on Mary's song from her own perspective as a mother.
Julie McCrossin - journalist, broadcaster and Elder at South Sydney Uniting Church - reflects on the women of Christmas and what we can learn about being open to the incomprehensible; emotionally engaged in the practical; and responsive to our powerful, trinitarian God.
Dr Mick Pope from Ethos explores what a first century Jewish teen girl can teach a 21st century middled aged white male.
Rachel Neary - who works in Community Development and Training at Alice Springs Women's Shelter and is a key member of Common Grace's Domestic and Family Violence Justice Team - writes about being present in the mess of life this Advent.
Good Samaritan Sister Elizabeth Delaney, General Secretary of the National Council of Churches in Australia (NCCA), reflects on witnessing to the love and mercy of Jesus, the Incarnate Word.
Joel Houston, Worship Leader in Hillsong UNITED and Lead Pastor at Hillsong NYC, reflects on Advent, Jesus and Batman.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artist Safina Stewart, together with Brooke Prentis, contemplates the spiritual art of welcome this advent.
River Bennett & Bel Pangburn - birth photographers at 'The First Hello' - reflect on being present to the wonder of the night when Jesus was born.
Jarrod McKenna, the Teaching Pastor at Westcity Church and Co-Founder of First Home Project, reflects on the agony and the holiness of real hope this Christmas.
Father Shenouda Mansour - General Secretary for the NSW Ecumenical Council, and a Priest in the Coptic Orthodox Church - considers our common calling to live a life of grace, as Christ is born in our hearts.
Tamie Davis - a missionary in Tanzania with CMS Australia, partnering with the Tanzanian Fellowship of Evangelical students - reflects on the heartache of being away from her Aussie homeland at Christmas, and determines to be truly present in her Tanzanian community.
Kylie Beach, Common Grace's Communications Director, closes our Advent Series with a celebration of Christ's birth as good news for all. Even animals.