Brown's Daily Word 12/12/14

     Praise the Lord for the gift of Advent and the Christmas season.  Alice and I frequently go the Mall for our evening walk in the winter.  The mall is decked and decorated wonderfully.  It is full of joyful shoppers and, best of all, joyful children.  During this season of seasons various musical groups present Christmas concerts  in the mall.  One of large groups with full orchestration was presenting their concert yesterday.  It was brilliant.  We will be presenting the Living Nativity on Saturday the 20th of December  from 5 PM to 7 PM.  We will be singing all Pure Christmas Carols. Yancey Moore, one of the gifted Musicians, will be leading at the Grand Piano.  We will sing the "Hallelujah Chorus" at 6:30 PM. We" are inviting  all musicians to join for singing the Hallelujah Chorus, " Flash Mob" style.  Please come.  If you do not come , the Lord might forgive you BUT we will not.( Just Kidding).

    Yesterday while walking in the mall I heard  the song, "Last Christmas I gave you my heart"  When I looked I saw a young girl of perhaps 5 years singing with a big smile...  ... "This year, to save me from tears, I'll give it to some one Special".. I said to myself, "Let us give ours Jesus this year ..  He is very Special."

    I have been once again reflecting on the words of C.S. Lewis" Always winter…but never Christmas."  Try to imagine that for a moment.  Always winter…but never Christmas.  In the land of Narnia, as C.S. Lewis described it in “The Lion,the Witch, and the Wardrobe,” winter has not seen an end for a hundred years.

    How awful indeed would it be to have 100 years of winter, but no Christmas.  In the story Narnia was once a lush and beautiful land, but evil had reared its ugly head in the character of the White Witch.  Her reign of terror keeps the land in eternal winter. 

    C.S. Lewis knew a thing or two about evil and a reign of terror, since “The Chronicles of Narnia” were written not long after the end of World War II, in the lingering shadows of Nazi tyranny and oppression.  Living in Europe, C.S. Lewis saw that first hand with echoes of his experience reflected in the reign of the White Witch in his stories.  It is a reign of terror, indeed, where secret police whisk away suspected traitors who are never seen again, where fear and intimidation keep those who hope for freedom underground…sometimes literally, where the pervading sense of hopelessness, darkness, and despair are captured perfectly in just five words: Always winter…but never Christmas.

    Yet, even in the midst of the terrible, long winter, there remained the faint whisper of an age-old prophecy, which brought hope to the people gripped by the terror of oppression and darkness. 

    Even in the darkest of times in Narnia, there was hope.  Even in the darkest hours of the Nazi terror and oppression there was hope.  Even in the darkest moments of our lives, when we are gripped by the winter of our situation, there is hope.  Words of hope have no doubt echoed in similar situations throughout the ages.

   In our world today there is a diabolic oppression against Christians around the world.  Christians are crucified, brutally murdered, forcibly converted to Islam, "The Religion of Peace".  Children are beheaded because they refuse deny JESUS  Many Christians are denied basic human rights.    We can hear it in the hearts of those who long for peace and freedom.  For seventy years Communist ruled over the Soviet Union.  For the Church in the USSR it seemed like a very long winter.  The church waited for the long-expected Jesus.  He came with truth and grace.  The communist regime collapsed without the shedding of any blood.  It all started to happen during the Advent season in 1989.  

Once more the world and the church are facing the terror of the enemy all around.  Many are longing .. Many are anticipating.. Many are expecting.  To us the words of prophesy come afresh and anew: “Comfort, comfort my people, speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for.  Every valley will be raised up, every mountain and hill made low, the rough ground will be level, the rugged places plain, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,and all flesh shall see it together.”
    When C.S. Lewis writes about it being “Always winter…but never Christmas,” he was not just describing the reign of the White Witch, or echoing the tyranny of Nazi Germany, but our human experience.  Until the birth of Jesus Christ, sin kept humanity tightly in its grip.  It was God’s intent in sending Jesus Christ, not to end political or cultural tyranny, but as Paul writes, to set us free from the power of sin and death.

    The harsh realities of our world don’t take a break during this time of the year.
At Christmas Jesus came to a world that was cold and bleak, just as He comes to us in our darkest, most difficult times and points to God’s eternal promises of love, forgiveness, and comfort.  Then at Easter Jesus gave His life for us, and in doing so broke the power of sin’s winter and brought new life, just as he offers new life to each of us who would put our faith and trust in Him.

    Peterson paraphrases from Psalm 147: “He breathes on winter, suddenly it’s spring!”

Like the words of the hymn (poem) by Christina Rosetti:

    What can I give him, poor as I am?
    If I were a shepherd, I would give a lamb.
    If I were a wise man, I would do my part.
    Yet what I can, I give him…Give my heart.
In Christ,

  Brown

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