THOUGHTS ON CHRISTMAS - 12/20/2002

Where is this stupendous stranger?

Prophets, shepherds, kings, advise;

Lead me to my Master’s manger,

Show me where my Savior lies.

O most mighty, O most Holy,

Far beyond the Seraph’s thought,

Art Thou then so meek and lowly

As unheeded prophets taught?

O the magnitude of meekness,

Worth from worth immortal sprang,

O strength of infant weakness,

If eternal is so young.

God all bounteous, all creative,

Whom no ills from good dissuade,

Is incarnate, and a native

Of the very world He made.

-- Christopher Smart

        God proved His love for us on Christmas. He proved that He does not wish to punish us for our sins, but desires with all His heart to forgive and receive us as the father of the Prodigal Son in the Scriptures. Most people have an ingrained tendency to suspect that God is hostile toward them. Jesus completely erased this suspicion through His Birth, life, death and Resurrection. "For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him." (John 3:17)

        During this week I have enjoyed sharing with you many examples of unique and personal gifts from loving people that symbolize the type of giving that embodies the true Christmas spirit. None of these gifts were material gifts because material things perish. The gifts that remain into eternity are those gifts that are rooted in pure, unconditional love and Christian charity.

        The greatest of all gifts by far is the reason for Christmas. God becomes one of us in Christ. He becomes our Brother sharing our sorrows, our weaknesses, our temptations, our suffering, and our death. Jesus comes to stand beside us as Emmanuel (God with us). How near, how approachable, how inescapable, every day, everywhere with ordinary people. You’ve received a Christmas gift that can never be surpassed, it is ever renewing, ever present, and will always remain new and perfect throughout eternity.

Christ is Born – Glorify Him!

I wish you all a Merry Christmas – one filled with the gift that will never perish, and the love that lasts into eternity.

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