The summer holidays are generally a good time for some R&R: get-togethers with friends and family, time at the beach, backyard cricket and time off work are just some of the reasons we love summer. 

But the summer break is also a time for a third R: Reflection. 

As we look toward the year ahead, we also reflect on the year that’s been, with all its ups and downs.

We reflect on life’s big questions: what we’re doing with our lives, and who or what we are living for. 

Each summer, thousands of tourists come to the Kiama area for a holiday and together with locals, they pack out the cafes and beaches in town, as well as the surrounding area. 

And each summer, a few dozen Christians from Sydney come to our area to talk to people about Jesus, as part of the ‘Summerlife’ (Kiama Beach Mission) team from the 28th December to the 5th January. 

The goal is to get people to spend time chatting and reflecting on who Jesus is, and what he’s done for them, and we look forward to seeing how the Holy Spirit works amongst these chats. 

For us at Jamberoo, there are two things we can do to support this mission.

Firstly, we can pray for the team as they seek to lead people to Christ through conversations.

Secondly, as the team members encourage contacts to head along to a local church, then you could be the local person who they can connect with.

So, be praying, and also head down to Surf Beach and support the team each day at either 1pm or 6pm.

It would be such a great encouragement to the team to see you, and it would be a terrific way for Jamberoo Anglican to be amongst our community. 

BRAD VIDILINI

Christmas is a time of the year when we love to sing carols about the good news of Jesus and the wonder of God becoming human to save us.

Even people who don’t normally sing in public will give singing a ‘go’ each Christmas, and because these carols have been a part of so many of our lives since birth, they create a comfortable familiarity in this festive season.

But did you know that God, himself, also sings?

In Zephaniah chapter 3 verse 17, we hear that The Lord our God, “will rejoice over you with joyful songs.”

It’s an Old Testament reference, and it’s looking forward to a time when that singing will happen.

But for us who live after the first Christmas, this is divine singing has already happened… and it’s still happening!

For, Zephaniah was forward to a time when God’s people would sing with God: “Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout aloud, O Israel! Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem!” (Zephaniah 3:14)

But why would they sing? Why would they be glad and rejoice?

They sing because of their stunning salvation: “For the LORD will remove his hand of judgment and will disperse the armies of your enemy. And the LORD himself, the King of Israel, will live among you! At last your troubles will be over, and you will never again fear disaster. (Zephaniah 3:15)

So, it turns out that singing at Christmas is the perfect response to the amazing salvation that came when Jesus came.

For as was promised to Mary, “she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:21)

Let’s sing to that!

JODIE McNEILL