One Night God came to Earth...

Our scripture this week is Mary's Magnificat...that wonderful song of praise which begins, "My soul doth magnify the Lord..." In that beautiful song in which Mary both subjugates her will to God's and praises God's magnificent power, we are taken again into the mystery and depth of the coming of Christ.

The birth of Jesus is not an isolated event. It begins with Elizabeth's pregnancy with John, continues with the Immaculate Conception, the Angel's visit with Joseph, the journey to Bethleham...the journey of the Magi...the appearance of the Angels to the Shepherds...there is such miraculous depth and complexity. But, that is all eclipsed by the birth itself. God presents Himself to us in the form of a child.

This story is not to be approached as adults, but as children ourselves. As we come to the manger, we forget all which leads to the moment and are captured by the event itself: God sends His mighty answer for humanity in the form of a helpless baby. When we come to understand that, we finally approach our understanding of God in the way in which He wants. We simply come adoring, praising, and humbly bowing before such reverent humility. God has come to us...and it is not with fanfare and trumpets, but in the first cry of a child in the stillness of the cold winter's night of Bethlehem.

Every time I think of that I get chills.

Curtis Rivers
12-10-08

Christmas is coming, the geese are getting fat,
Please put a penny in the old man's hat,
If you haven't got a penny, a hapenny will do
If you haven't got a hapenny, then God bless you.

This Christmas we come as travellers through a time of want. Across our world millions have lost their lives to tribal warfare, terrorism, and other atrocities. Where is the light? Who will come to save us?

Enter again the child, Jesus. Who comes to save us? The helpless God who strives to bring our hearts into the light of his love. The child who pleads for all the world to put aside those easy lives of hatred and spite, and come to the hard Gospel of Peace.

As Herod slaughtered the infants trying to maintain his awful power at all costs, so do the forces of evil always try to keep goodness at bay. Yet, each year, He comes again...quietly...helpless...a child born among us to bring us light. Herods of the world die away, and others rise...but, always comes again the Child. Comes again the Light.

Who, then, are we believers?

We are candlebearers in the darkness...lantern holders in the night, light in a world of despair. We are His messengers, and our message is simply to carry the light. If we do this, the darkness will never win, and Peace will come through us in tiny but meaningful ways.

To paraphrase T.H. White's The Once and Future King, we are the bearers of the candle of God's Hope for humankind. "That light, don't let it out."