Advent 2024: 24 days of Christmas joy!

As we celebrate Advent this year, we hope you’ll be inspired by these quotes about the meaning of Christmas… DAY 1
Sight-Seeing: In a world darkened by war, Christmas provides hope where there seems to be none

NILS VON KALM says the period of Advent forces us to “live in reality, with all its messiness and uncertain promises”…
Sight-Seeing: Advent is schizophrenic

US Catholic commentator THOMAS REESE, in an article first published on Religion News Service, says God does not comfort us so we can simply be comfortable but comforts us so we can comfort others…
Immersive exhibition centring on London cathedral prompts thinking about climate change during the season of Advent

Updated: 10:30pm (AEDT) Norwich, UK Advent is a time of new beginnings and Christians in the UK and around the world are being challenged to focus on climate change via a new immersive exhibition known as the ‘Climate Cathedral‘. ‘Gaia’ at Southwark Cathedral, London. PICTURE: Courtesy of ECLAS Exhibition curator, Rev Prof Charlotte Sleigh, explained that “during […]
In the Holy Land, a Christmas spirit is reborn

Beit Jala, West Bank Reuters In a small distillery just outside Bethlehem in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, a clear liquid drips out of a copper pot still into a stainless steel barrel, ringing like church bells. Every year with the start of Advent, which arrives shortly after the end of the grape harvest, Nader Muaddi […]
Advent: With race in mind, Christians reconsider language of dark and light

EMILY MCFARLAN MILLER, of Religion News Service, reports on the growing number of Christians who are having conversations around Advent imagery of dark and light…
Essay: How US Congress can bring good news to the poor this Advent

In an article first published on Religion News Service, JIM WALLIS, director of Georgetown University’s Center on Faith and Justice, says when something works to solve poverty the way the child tax credit has, it’s immoral to end it…
Advent 2022 – 24 days of inspiring Christmas films
For our Advent special in 2022, we’re reflecting on 24 feel-good films that have inspired us for the Christmas season. We hope you enjoy… DAY 24 The Nativity Story (2006)It is the age of the Roman Empire and God’s people are burdened with heavy consequences if they do not pay their taxes to the soldiers […]
Sight-Seeing: In Advent, we hope and wait. Climate change doesn’t lend itself to either

US Catholic commentator THOMAS REESE – in an article first published on Religion News Service – writes that Advent is supposed to be a time of anticipation and hope, but the threat of global warming brings me anxiety and fear…
Christmas classic ‘In The Bleak Midwinter’ has a renewed life as part of Church of England campaign

UK Almost 150 years after Christina Rossetii wrote In the Bleak Midwinter, it has become a music sensation, heading up the UK iTunes Classical Charts. This well-loved carol forms the centrepiece of the Church of England’s Advent and Christmas campaign #AtTheHeartOfChristmas encouraging people to hear the Christmas story through their local church. The soundtrack is a […]