Dr Paul Allen

A piece of research by McCrindle asking ordinary Aussies this very question – which special day is the most important? And, to my surprise, 30% thought Anzac Day was. You may be relieved that for 37%, it was still Christmas. But not much in it. (The clear winner, for interest, with 48% of the vote, was Mother’s Day. I was entirely unaware that a huge proportion of the Aussie volunteers who sailed to fight in WWI were Christian believers and faithful churchgoers. Robert Linder’s book The Long Tragedy: Australian Evangelical Christians and the Great War, 1914-1918, examines the curious ‘airbrushing’ out of the religious beliefs of the ‘diggers’.  Linder suggests that a disproportionate rate of enlistment by evangelical protestants points to as many as 40% of Aussie soldiers being from this one Christian tradition alone. Other historians suggest that these ‘wowsers’ (as they came to be known) made up around 50% or more of the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) during World War I. Austral...

“A Charlie Brown Christmas” has been seen countless times on three continents by Polish grandparents and Japanese schoolchildren. It remains evergreen and universal — just like the Saviour Linus describes in his simple recitation of the Nativity as it appears in Luke’s Gospel.  However, that citing of Scripture did not easily pass the cynicism and cowardly cultural gatekeepers of American network television when Charles Schulz and his production team offered the first of what became many Peanuts specials to CBS executives in December of 1965.  In fact, even before those suits tried to remove mentioning Christ from this Christmas show, Schulz’s two partners in the venture, Lee Mendelson and Bill Melendez, advised him to take the Gospel passage out of Linus’ mouth.  As one of those executives said, “The Bible thing scares us.” The Peanuts creator’s response spoke volumes: “If we don’t do it, who will?”  The fact that any mention of Jesus over the public airwaves was co...

Luke 2:  “Glory to God in the highest,  and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” (Luke 2:14–15) “And [Simeon] came in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the Law, he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said, “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace,  according to your word;  for my eyes have seen your salvation  that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,  a light for revelation to the Gentiles,  and for glory to your people Israel.” (Luke 2:27–32) Rather than bringing fear, which is the appropriate response to seeing the glory and greatness of God, the gospel (the “good news”) is described by the angels as “great joy that will be for al...

I feel like the apostle Peter at the end of his life, as he wrote his second letter. Twice, he told his readers why he was writing to them. In the first chapter, he said, “I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder” (2 Pet. 1:13). Then, in the last chapter, he repeated it: “I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder.” (2 Pet. 3:1) What Peter really means, and what I mean, by being “awakened” or “stirred up” is to feel some measure of the joy God intends for Christmas to bring. “Behold, I bring you good news of great joy” (Luke 2:10). Not small joy. Not modest joy. But “great joy.” If we don’t feel this when we ponder the incarnation of the Son of God, we need “awakening.” We need to be “stirred up.” I have called Christmas “the dawning of indestructible joy” because the joy Jesus brought into the world was like no other kind in history. Once we have it, it cannot be destroyed. Jesus said, “No one will take your joy from you” (John 16:22...

Christmas is just around the corner. I’m thinking of stuffed turkey, cranberry sauce, roast potatoes and Christmas pudding. Suddenly, without warning, I have a plateful of locusts and wild honey shoved under my nose. Christmas is just around the corner. Sleigh bells ring, are you listening? In the lane snow is glistening A beautiful sight, I’m happy tonight, I’m walking in a winter wonderland … … skating on an ice rink and taking my kids to see Santa with his bagful of goodies and a hearty “Ho, ho, ho.” Suddenly, without warning, the winter wonderland disappears and I hear a voice in a desert wasteland. It’s not Santa hollering, “Ho, ho, ho,” but John the Baptist shouting, “Woe, woe, woe!” Christmas is party time, but John the Baptist is the ultimate Advent party-pooper. Before he is through, our heads are pounding with images of vipers, wrath, axes, and unquenchable fire, when all we really wanted was a chance to get to the church carol service to sing, “Silent Night, Holy Night.” The...

The Christmas story clearly shows that the hope of the universe is a person. Hope was what the angels sang about. Hope lay in the manger. Hope caused Mary to wonder in her heart. It was hope the shepherds came to worship. Hope was presented with gifts from the Magi who had travelled so far. The Advent story is a hope story because it chronicles the coming to earth of the One who is hope, Jesus. For a people born in sin and for a world damaged by sin, there simply could not be any other source of hope. Good education would not solve the problem. The benevolent government had no power to solve the problem. More and better laws could not penetrate to the source of the problem. People couldn’t help one another and surely couldn’t help themselves. You see, the inescapable condition of sin infects every single human being and has scarred every aspect of the cosmos, which cried out for one thing and one thing alone: divine intervention. The only solution was a Savior, and the only suitable S...

December 25 could not have been Jesus’ birth date. Early Christians did not even celebrate Jesus’ birth. And certainly did not celebrate Christmas on December 25 until long after the pagans had created a December 25 festival. Christmas is the cultural appropriation of the pagan “Birth of the Unconquered Sun.” The Persian cult of Mithras is also celebrated on December 25. The Gospels make no mention of any commemorations of Jesus’ birth. Nothing in the Book of Acts or the rest of the New Testament. And the first generations of Christianity did not celebrate Christ’s birth. In fact, such a thing was frowned upon. The Hebrew tradition from which Christianity came celebrated the passing of Jewish heroes. Not birthdays. Encyclopedia Judaica puts it bluntly. “The celebration of birthdays is unknown in traditional Jewish ritual. … The only reference to a birthday in the bible is that celebrated by Pharaoh.” (Gen 40:20) In fact, early church leader Origen of Alexandria openly mocked birthday c...

As day dawned over England on December 25, 1647, the nation woke to the strangest Christmas of all: no Christmas. For the first time, Christmas had been cancelled. Christmas cancelled? Indeed, Christmas was cancelled. Noël nixed. Advent outlawed. Twelve years later, the Massachusetts Bay Colony followed suit. In place of decorations, they posted the following public notice: The observation of Christmas having been deemed a Sacrilege, the exchanging of Gifts and Greetings, dressing in Fine Clothing, Feasting and similar Satanical Practices are hereby FORBIDDEN, with the Offender liable to a Fine of Five Shillings. Had the spirit of Scrooge settled over England? Had Mount Crumpit moved to Massachusetts? Had the White Witch swept through the West on her way to conquer Narnia? Well, no, not quite. In fact, as we travel through some of the history of Christmas past, we who love the coming of Christ may feel a strange sympathy rising in our hearts for the Puritans who did this. We may not wa...

Our Savior was born in the humblest of settings, yet Heaven above was filled with the songs of angels. His birthplace was a cattle shed, yet a star brought the rich and noble from thousands of miles away to worship Him. He had no wheat fields or fisheries, yet He spread a table for 5,000 and had bread and fish to spare. His crucifixion was the penalty for the crime of crimes, yet from God’s perspective, no less a price could have made possible our redemption. When He died, few mourned His passing, yet God hung a black cape over the sun, and the earth shook. He preached the gospel for three years without a headquarters or organization to His name. Nevertheless, two thousand years later, He’s the central figure of human history, the perpetual theme of all preaching, the pivot around which the ages revolve, and the only Redeemer of the human race. In this season of celebration and gift-giving, let’s join the wise men who “fell down and worshipped Him.” Let’s remember, Christmas is about C...

Dear Friend, Two thousand years ago, the Roman world suffered many of the same challenges we encounter today – oppression, racial hatred, lies, bitter divisions, and wrongs. Into that culture stepped the most amazing thing imaginable: the Creator of the universe. If you’re unfamiliar with Christianity, the story of the baby Jesus may seem sentimental and perhaps no more real than Santa Claus. But the Gospel of John tells the story from the cosmic perspective. He calls Jesus the “Logos”, the living Word: In the beginning, was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Through him, all things were made; without him, nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, which was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. The true light that gave light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own...

Despite the Paul McCartney jingle echoing through our department stores this season, many of us will not be “simply having a wonderful Christmastime.” Much of our Christmas joy will be met, and made to sing, shoulder to shoulder with dissonant sorrows. I’ve had cancer since 2018. I received my Stage 4 diagnosis in December 2020—just in time for Christmas to be included in that year's crookedness. This blow came just a month before our third child, Jane Ridley Wright, was born. We soon learned our “baby Jane” had been born with a regressive and rare gene mutation. I bear witness that the hope and joy of Christmas are not easily held in hand with the harshness of life under the sun. It’s a weary task to unify everything: birth and disability, sacred and profane, transfiguration and tragedy, cancer and Christmas.  But, as Leo Tolstoy observes, “All the beauty of life is made up of light and shadow.” Samwise Gamgee agrees: “It’s like in the great stories, Mr Frodo. The ones that really...

The Bible has a lot to say about love. In John 13:34–35, we are commanded to “love one another as Christ loved us.” In doing so, those around us will know that we are His followers. In his first of three small letters, John tells us why we are to love, “for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God because God is love” (1 John 4:7–8). We show love by allowing God’s love to flow through our lives and those around us. Loving others is not always easy and entails multiple actions on our part. For example, to love, we must show empathy and sympathy to others. We must learn to see each other as broken vessels in need of God’s love and transformation. This unique perspective of other people requires humility on our part.  When we recognize our own failings, that we are not perfect, we will only begin to approach others with a caring and compassionate attitude. This humility comes from recognizing what God has done f...

I had a friend who served as a pastor, and he was very religious. He had so many rules! One day he told me, “I don’t think Christians should be involved in anything with a pagan origin.” He wanted to argue about Christmas, Easter, and Halloween.  I surprised him when I responded, “What kind of car do you drive?” (I already knew the answer). He said, “I drive a Volkswagen.” I replied, “Do you know that Adolf Hitler invented the Volkswagen? He created a cult called Nazi Germany, and he was worshipped as a demonic counterfeit of Jesus and a false God. He was a mass murderer, and not only was he probably demon-possessed, but he was likely Satan-possessed as well. You need to get rid of your car.”  Much of our engineering in the Western world comes from Germany, specifically during the Nazi era.  If you genuinely believe you should never associate with anything of a pagan origin, you can never drive a Volkswagen again. On the other hand, you could redeem them—you could drive ...

I imagine the tears really came once he could finally get the words out. How many times had he and his wife sat and cried together in silence? How many times had they had the same aching conversations? How many times had they talked about names? How many times had they held someone else’s newborn? How many times had they thought she might be pregnant? How many times had they asked for a child? And here he was, buried in their arms. The dream they had stopped dreaming. The son they thought they’d never meet. Like many first-time fathers (myself included), the man couldn’t find the words. In this case, however, he literally couldn’t speak. When Zechariah finally met his son, he could only ask for something to write on. He didn’t get to taste the boy’s name on his lips for eight whole days. I vividly remember meeting our firstborn. I can’t imagine feeling all I felt those days in silence. It might have killed me to try. So why had God held Zechariah’s tongue? When the angel Gabriel came t...

In 1963, when Andy Williams released his song, “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year,” he had the Christmas season in mind. Despite the song not mentioning Jesus Christ or his birth—which I see as a departure from the “reason for the season”—I do agree with Him: Christmas is a wonderful time of the year. When rightly appropriated, it is a blessing that there is a time that is set apart for remembering a pivotal moment in history, the incarnation of our Savior. It’s the time when, as John says in John 1:14, “the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us.” There is such value in marveling at the weight and gravity of verses like Paul’s, where he writes, “Have this way of thinking in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although existing in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, by taking the form of a slave, by being made in the likeness of men.” Philippians 2:5–7 What a balm this is for our souls when we consider the cond...