“When we ask, ‘What’s your most hoped-for Christmas present?’ time with family is number one,” says social researcher, Mark McCrindle, also noting that community celebration and Christmas cheer are the two things Australians love most about the festive season.
In this Helping Hands panel discussion, Mark is joined by former CEO of Parramatta Mission, Davyn de Bruyn; and podcaster, speaker and minister, Rev. Dr. Megan Powell du Toit, to explore how and why community is so integral to a meaningful Christmas.
“We’re so busy, everyone’s juggling things – I think that we can get caught up in the current lists, in the now, and when all that stops, as it does at Christmas in Australia … suddenly you realise that the important things – the relational things – matter and we need to make them a priority,” continues Mark.
Something about the Christmas season brings clarity to everything we treasure most and the people who sit dearest to our hearts. This phenomenon of Christmas is one of the reasons why this time of year can bring us great joy, but also that it can be a time of deep sorrow, pain and regret if we realise we’ve neglected the people and things that matter to us most.
Through his work at Parramatta Mission, Davyn has seen the pain of loneliness people endure when isolated from community and family. It’s why, he says, “Parramatta Mission’s vision is, ‘A community transforming lives’, not ‘Parramatta Mission transforming lives’”.
He emphasises how important it is to be intentional to invite people in to be part of a community for it to be effective in its purpose.
“At Christmas, everyone’s excited. It’s about giving and receiving, and people are a lot more open and receptive to want to get involved and give back … we get a lot of enquiries, a lot of people wanting to get involved with us, which is always very encouraging.”
Connection at Christmas also strikes a chord in families and in business communities as well.
Megan says there is a range of life experiences and emotions that comes with families and in the communities she works with.
For her church community, Megan says fostering engagement over Christmas depends on acknowledging the range of emotion and experiences people bring, making no assumptions about what Christmas means, and meeting them where they are at.
In our business communities, says Mark, Christmas becomes an annual opportunity to remember that connecting and relating to each other is what matters most.
“We see a lot of parties at that time of year because people recognise that, actually, there are things that are more important than profit or the daily business … we see giving to charities go up at Christmas because people look beyond their own selves and say, This is a time to spread that goodwill to others.”
Christmas means so much to us relationally, continues Mark, that we use the excuse of the season to overcome the hesitations and reluctance we feel at any other time of the year.
“Christmas gives us coverage. You can give a present, you can shake a hand, you can have the conversation, you can say, let bygones be bygones, under that Christmas spirit.”
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