Somewhere tomorrow, in a church near you, Christians will serve food to people who need food. They do it quietly all year round, including on Christmas Day.

Login or signup to continue reading

There are others who shout louder about injustice. And there are some whose deeds don't match their words. On the left, protesters voice their anger about a million wrongs. The hard right shouts about Christian values, even as it promotes policies which do not embody those values.

But on the ground, far from political cant, it's Christians who do the heavy-lifting on homelessness at Christmas.

The man from the Salvos tours the pubs on a Friday night collecting for them. Anglicans hold lunches for the poor and homeless on Christmas Day and run stores offering free and cheap food all year round. The Uniting Church helps young people who are "sleeping in your car, on the street or in public places". Vinnies offers "crisis accommodation".

We should salute these people.

Christianity has gone out of fashion. The 2021 census indicated a steep decline in the number of Australians describing themselves as Christian. In 1971, four in every five of us called ourselves Christian. By 2021, it was two in five.

But that diminished proportion still means that around 11 million Australians think of themselves as Christian - and they are not be sneezed at. Of course, calling oneself a Christian doesn't necessarily mean that one behaves in a Christian way.

Think of King Donald.

In 2020, the American President said he was a "non-denominational Christian". Despite that, he does behave in the most un-Christ-like ways - think of him taking the trouble to lambaste the murdered film director Rob Reiner within a day of the death.

This seemed far from Christ's instruction: "To those of you who will listen, I say: 'Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you'."

But strip away the cant and hypocrisy of activists and politicians and remember the ordinary work which ordinary Christians actually do.

I'm not going to give you a tedious lecture about God. My eyes glaze over when........

© Canberra Times