November 2003
In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God,
and the Word was God.
John 1:1
Merry Christmas!
Sometimes, when I read an interesting story, I can’t resist
the temptation to read the last part first. When I do this with
the Christmas story in John’s Gospel, what I read “causes
me to tremble, tremble, tremble.”
When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom
he loved (John) standing nearby, He said to his to His mother,
"Woman, behold your son!" Then He said to the disciple,
“Behold your mother!” And from that hour the disciple
took her into his own household.
John 19: 26-27
Today, in the ancient Turkish city of Ephesus, to the right of
the tourist entrance into the partially restored city, lays an
extensive ruin of an ancient Christian cathedral. Within the ruin
of this once grand Roman structure there is a marble slab whose
inscription indicates that Mary, the mother of Jesus was laid
to rest there.
Fifteen miles from Ephesus is the Turkish city of Aydin. On a
prominent hill above the city is an extensive ruin of an even
larger ancient cathedral, which was built over the purported grave
of Jesus’ beloved disciple, John.
The witness of of his life so impressed his disciples that they
became convinced that Jesus was the Messiah. They felt the holy
authority of His interpretations of God’s commandments,
holy laws, and ancient prophecies. With the bewildering experience
of His resurrection they now faced His living spiritual return
from death itself. They felt an even more compelling awareness:
God’s living spirit had actually entered into their midst,
empowered them, and “they began to speak in tongues.”
They realized that their Lord lived and had returned to commune
with them in their worship, work, and fellowship. They asked each
other, “Why are we waiting to begin our work, standing here,
and looking up into heaven?”
The Christian church was born. This fellowship of believers,
known as the living body of Christ, though imperfect and at times
broken, is empowered by the Creator’s grace and power to
go into all the world and be a personal witness to the good news.
The good news is that there is a perfect joy, hope, peace, love,
and honor available to all who will listen, trust in faith, and
act. This new sense of rebirth is liberating and fulfilling to
those that follow His example of sensitivity to and compassion
for neighbors, the poor, the needy, and especially for those whom
Jesus referred to in the Beatitudes of the Sermon on the Mount
(Matt 5).
If this baby born in Bethlehem so long ago was the long-awaited
Messiah, why are so many people today desperately poor, hungry,
thirsty, uneducated, without health-care, shelter-less, homeless,
ravished by human lust for power, greed, corruption and vengeful
hatred toward one another?
God is an invitational God. Jesus invited his disciples to follow,
to learn from His teachings, to observe His empathy and compassion
for those in need, to share with Him the miraculous joy and peace
that comes to “those who do small things with great love,”
as Mother Teresa said.
It is “not by sword’s loud clashing and roll of stirring
drums” that peace will come to this earth.
“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, and every
rocket fired signifies a theft from those that are not fed, those
that are cold and are not clothed. The cost of one modern bomber
is the equivalent of one brick school in more than thirty cities.
We pay for a single fighter plane the price of 500,000 bushels
of wheat. We pay for a new destroyer the price of 8,000 new homes.
If all Americans want is security, they should go to prison.”
Thus said President Eisenhower on April 16, 1953, speaking out
against what he identified as dangerous and powerful political
interests of the American military-industrial complex.
Why do the idols of power and wealth corrupt the political rulers
of this world? When our government spends 47 percent of its tax-payers’
money on those who profit by its military machine, how does this
any hope for peace or good will?
Jesus still “stands at our door knocking.” He comes
to us as he came to those beside the Galilean Sea to invite us
to be His disciples, to learn through our life’s experiences,
our prayers and our ponderings, who He really is. “Now,
through a glass darkly, but then, face to face...”
We wish you, your family, and all mankind, the gifts that God
intends at Christmas,
Love, Joy, Hope, Peace, Happiness
Bill, and Sue Sager
The 2003 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p.
31
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