Remembering Christmas with Colin Barnett

ColinBarnett.jpgColin Barnett is the leader of the Western Australian Liberal Party, Member for Cottesloe and Premier of Western Australia. In the past he has been head of the Western Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and a lecturer in economics at Curtin University.

Since entering parliament in 1990 he has held a number of positions including Minister for Resources Development and Energy, Minister for Education and Minister for Tourism. He also served as the Leader of the House in the Legislative Assembly during the Court government.

It was my pleasure to have Colin Barnett as my guest during my Morning Programme on 98.5 Sonshine FM this morning.

We talked about Colin’s early Christmas memories and discussed his hopes for Christmas 2008.

Colin Barnett has been a great supporter of 98.5 Sonshine FM over the years so it was good to be able to show him around our new studios.

You can hear what the Premier had to say along with his Christmas message for Western Australians by clicking the play button on the audio player at the bottom of this post.



Do you think some of your friends would enjoy reading Remembering Christmas with Colin Barnett? Please use the buttons below to share the post. Thanks.

Cancelling Christmas

It’s all too commercialised so let’s just cancel Christmas.

That seems to be the thinking for a growing number of people. They reckon that the true meaning of Christmas has been lost in the grab for gifts and the focus on the fat guy in the red suit.

There are certainly people who feel that Christians should just admit defeat on this one and pull out completely. They figure we should find another day of the year to celebrate the birth of Christ, unencumbered by all the extra baggage that Christmas has aquired. After all, we know that the 25th of December is unlikley to be the actual day that Jesus was born so why not pick another date for a holier celebration.

My regular Wednesday morning guest on 98.5 Sonshine FM is Ross Clifford who is the Principal of Morling College in New South Wales and current President of the Baptist Union of Australia. Each week we chat about a range of issues relating to spirituality and belief.

Yesterday we tackled the question of whether we should cancel Christmas or whether we should redeem the day. Should Christians still buy into all the extras that the season has attracted?

One of the interesting things that Ross reminds us is that the Christians originally chose December the 25th to ‘Christianise’ a pagan festival. We redeemed it from the pagans, should we now redeem it from commercialism?

Has Christmas really moved so far away from its original roots? An evening at one of the many carols evenings in every area would suggest that the true spirit of Christmas isn’t as far away as we might think.

If you’d like to hear what Ross had to say just press play on the audio player at the bottom of this post.

Feel free to comment but can I ask you to consider listening to the audio first to get a really good handle on what we were discussing?



Do you think some of your friends would enjoy reading Cancelling Christmas? Please use the buttons below to share the post. Thanks.

Half a Christmas

We’re half way through December and we’ve already had half a Christmas.

My side of the family won’t be able to get together on Christmas Day so we had our own Christmas lunch yesterday. We talked, we ate, we exchanged gifts. It was a great afternoon.

Splitting Christmas also means that we won’t have to dash between families on Christmas Day so we’ll be able to really enjoy the day without looking at watches wondering if it’s time to head to the next meal. And of course we won’t have to have two enormous meals on the one day.

What are your plans for the big day? A quiet one or rushing from place to place? How do you decide where you spend time on Christmas Day?

My Christmas wish is simply to be able to spend time with those I love and to be able to reflect on the true meaning of Christmas. Looks like wishes will come true this year.



Do you think some of your friends would enjoy reading Half a Christmas? Please use the buttons below to share the post. Thanks.

Why Christmas?

gift_1.jpgWhile you look forward to unwrapping your gifts this Christmas I thought I’d help you unwrap the real Christmas story.

We all enjoy giving and receiving gifts on Christmas Day but it’s important that we take time to remember what Christmas is really all about. It’s more than just the gifts and the jolly man in the red suit. It’s more than a ‘feeling’ or ‘spirit’ that makes us feel warm inside. It’s more than time with family enjoying good food and good times.

While it’s generally accepted that the 25th of December isn’t the actual date that Jesus was born, it’s the day that has been chosen for celebrating Jesus’ birthday. That means Christmas is really a big birthday party.

So why should we be invited to the birthday party? Jesus was born around 2000 years ago. Why do we still celebrate his birth?

Christians believe that Jesus is the Son of God. In fact, and this is where it gets tricky, according to the Bible, Jesus is actually God in human form so this is no ordinary birthday.

Here’s a little bit of the Christmas story from the Bible. This account is from a book of the Bible written by a guy named Luke.

At that time the Roman emperor, Augustus, decreed that a census should be taken throughout the Roman Empire. (This was the first census taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria.) All returned to their own ancestral towns to register for this census. And because Joseph was a descendant of King David, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea, David’s ancient home. He traveled there from the village of Nazareth in Galilee. He took with him Mary, his fiancée, who was now obviously pregnant.

And while they were there, the time came for her baby to be born. She gave birth to her first child, a son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no vacancy for them.

That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, but the angel reassured them. ‘Don’t be afraid!’ he said. ‘I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.’

Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God and saying,
‘Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.’
When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, ‘Let’s go to Bethlehem! Let’s see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.’

They hurried to the village and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the manger. After seeing him, the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child. All who heard the shepherds’ story were astonished, but Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often. The shepherds went back to their flocks, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen. It was just as the angel had told them.

Aha! So that’s where the manger and the shepherds come in.

That’s pretty much the story of Christmas. God living among the people he created. It’s an amazing thought but it’s even more amazing when you thread the whole story of Jesus’ life together. After all, usually when we celebrate someone’s birthday we don’t just remember the day they were born, we celebrate who that person has become and what they’ve brought to the world.

If we’re still celebrating the life of someone born around 2000 years ago, we’ve got to assume that they lived a remarkable life. If you want to find out more about the remarkable life of Jesus, I’d encourage you to grab a Bible in an easy to read translation and then read one of the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke or John) to find out about Jesus’ birth, life, death and resurrection.



Do you think some of your friends would enjoy reading Why Christmas?? Please use the buttons below to share the post. Thanks.

From giving to greed

How can it turn around so quickly? One day we’re buying the line that giving is better than receiving; the next day we’re buying anything we can get our hands on.

How is it that we can talk about how wonderful it is to give to others when we know that just a day later we’ll be spending much, much more on ourselves.

On Christmas Day we celebrate with friends and family and talk about how awful it is that Christmas has been over commercialised, yet 24 hours later we’re lining up at shopping centres ready to send our credit cards into meltdown. It would seem that we’re not so averse to commercialism at this time of year after all, or are we happy to be ‘non-commercialised’ for just one day a year?

Most cities around Australia start their big sales on Boxing Day, the day after Christmas. We wait an extra day and that always seems to be a good reason to grumble. Each year we see people on TV talking about how awful it is that they have to wait an extra 24 hours before they max out their credit cards. They think it would be better all around if those who work in the retail industry only had the one day off for Christmas to recover from the extra stress of last minute Christmas shoppers before they face the barrage of post-Christmas shoppers.

In a first this year, the shops in Fremantle were open on Boxing Day so that people could get their shopping fix. Thousands of people flocked to the port city to grab a bargain.

Have we really become that addicted to consumerism that we can’t relax with our families for an extra few hours? Do we really need to fill our homes with extra ‘stuff’ that much and that soon?

I enjoy getting a bargain as much as anyone but I have no real desire to be crammed in next to thousands of other people, all wanting to be served at once. I have enough self-control and patience to wait a week or two until it all calms down.



Do you think some of your friends would enjoy reading From giving to greed? Please use the buttons below to share the post. Thanks.