Praise the Lord for this First Day of December. One of the repeatedly given invitations in the Christmas narratives and accounts is, "Fear Not". We, as human beings, fear the unknown. We're terrified of going beyond the known. Our fear often keeps us from exploring new frontiers, or even from growing in our life with the Lord. I was reading about how, In ancient times, before the entire earth had been explored and navigated, there were mapmakers — cartographers — who used the instruments and the knowledge available to them to map the known world. Some did rather well, but they all engaged in a common practice. That is, when they reached the limits of their knowledge — and their worlds were rather small back then — they would mark any undocumented areas on their maps with these words: "Beyond this there be dragons!"
The ancients assumed that any place beyond the known world must be a place of danger and death. They didn't mean death by natural causes, but a ghastly, grisly death after being eaten by dragons. It is important to notice that the mapmakers were not stating an objective assessment of the unknown. They didn't write: "What lies beyond here is unknown." They had no legitimate reason to assume that the unknown was disastrous. They could just as logically have written "Beyond here lies something beautiful or wonderful, but they didn't. They assumed the worst.
Our secular society has that same kind of terror of the mysteries of Christmas. I find humor in the ACLU's attempts to squelch Christmas. It is extremely absurd that we have a holiday on our federal calendar called Christmas, which requires young people to be let out of school, yet the meaning of this holiday cannot be discussed in school? By means of comparison, students prepare for the Martin Luther King national holiday next month by including the study of King's life and impact in their curriculum. Never mind that Jesus has had more influence on the secular world than any other human who ever lived; schools would rather semi-educate our children. Even today, society's rulers are still terrified of the little baby Jesus.
As with the innkeeper, there is "no room" for One who doesn't fit neatly into our preconceived notions of reality. Rather than let the mystery of Christ's birth stand as what it is, many in our society calls out the dragons. Many rush to dismiss the virgin birth as superstition, "foolishness made up by primitive people who didn't understand the laws of nature." When I hear someone say that, I always laugh and answer, "Yeah, right, Joseph didn't understand the laws of nature . . . is that why he 'resolved to divorce Mary quietly'? If Joseph could come to believe in the virgin birth, why can't we ?" The incarnation of God in human flesh is the miracle at the heart of Christmas.
Paul tells us in Colossians 1:15: "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation; for by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together . . . For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or in heaven . . . "
In Christ,
Brown
The St. Petersburg (Russian) Men's Ensemble will be in concert onSaturday, December 3, 2011 at 6:30 PM
Location: First United Methodist Church,53 McKinley Avenue, Endicott, NY
Sponsored by the Union Center UMC
128 Maple Drive, Endicott, NY
More Information available at (607) 748-6329
Sponsored by the Union Center UMC
128 Maple Drive, Endicott, NY
More Information available at (607) 748-6329
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