A matter of faith

The Old Bear

Because of its overwhelming commercialisation, it’s hard not to be very cynical about present-day observance of Christmas. But at times there are also gestures that help restore one’s faith in the true nature of the occasion.

I bear witness to this. There was a knock on the front door of my South Hobart home on a recent weekend morning. Through the glass I could see a man and a young boy outside. Oh no, not another religious tract being offered!

To my surprise when I opened the door I was handed a Christmas plum pudding, Australian-made, with a card attached wishing me the best for Christmas and the New Year – a gift from The Way Christian Church, South Hobart. It was a touching gesture and appreciated, although this is not my church.

I have been a giver to various charities over many years, yet this was the first time I had ever been given something in return. To me it showed the Christian spirit in action.

It also coincided with something I had read that further persuaded me the real message of Christmas has not been entirely swamped by that ever-increasing tide of commercial exploitation.

By now Australians will have received Christmas cards and parcels from the United Kingdom. Many will have stamps issued for the season – of traditional religious images on a set of four stamps, featuring an angel in Renaissance style and others of a classic Madonna and Child painting. The message from the angels, via the Royal Mail, is one representing peace, goodwill, joy and glory.

It was more than 40 years ago that Christmas stamps were first issued in the UK and generally they followed a religious theme, but in 2004 the Church of England complained that there had been none for four years and the Royal Mail has since had a policy of alternating between religious and secular stamps.

The Anglican Church has called the use of secular images regrettable and has asked for Christian themes to be used every year (although the Royal Mail has said it will revert to the secular for 2008).

The view reflects the church’s concern over religious trends, for there has been another media report that its services there are in trouble – the number attending its Sunday services has dropped below the one million mark for the first time (the average fell by 2% to 988,000, around half of what was recorded as recently as the 1960s).

The newspaper report on this said the figure the church released followed years of it attempting to put a gloss on falling numbers, that in the late 1990s it stopped publishing them for two years, and then changed its method of counting, pointing out that weekday attendances are increasing (it says the weekly average for these is now 1,169,000).

Further on stamp matters, the Royal Mail last month continued to show its recognition of the sacrifices made in World War One (an issue understood locally, in the calls to protect the War Memorial Windows of Holy Trinity Church, North Hobart, post-closure of the church).

The Royal Mail issued a special stamp commemorating the 90th anniversary of the battle of Passchendaele (and the significance of that horror from the loss of Holy Trinity parishioners who served has been conveyed several times on this website by fellow contributor Percy from the Pews). The stamp showed a red poppy in full bloom and in its centre silhouettes of struggling soldiers emerging.

It was the Royal Mail’s second in its Lest We Forget series – last year’s commemorated the battle of the Somme.