There are few
versions of this Christmas story. One day, a man who did not believe in God
becoming human in Jesus Christ said to his wife one Christmas eve: "I'm
truly sorry to distress you, but I'm not going with you to church
tonight." He said he'd feel like a hypocrite, that he'd much rather just
stay at home and wait up for them. And so he stayed, and his family went to the
midnight service.
Shortly after the
family had left, snow began to fall. Minutes later he was startled by a
thudding sound, then another, and then another, sort of a thump or a thud. At
first he thought someone must be throwing snowballs against his living room
window. When he investigated it he found a flock of birds huddled miserably in
the snow. They'd been caught in the storm, and in a desperate search for
shelter had tried to fly through his lighted large landscape window.
Well, he couldn't
let the poor creatures lie there and freeze, so he thought of the barn at the
back of his house. That would provide a warm shelter, if he could direct the
birds to it.Quickly he put on a coat, gloves, tramped through the deepening snow to
the barn. He opened the doors wide and turned on a light, but the birds did not
come in. He figured food would entice them in, so he hurried back to the house,
fetched breadcrumbs, sprinkled them on the snow, making a trail to the
yellow-lighted, wide-opened doorway of the stable. But to his dismay the birds
ignored the breadcrumbs and continued to flop around helplessly in the snow. He
tried catching them; he tried shooing them into the barn by walking around them
waving his arms. Instead, they scattered in every direction, except into the
warm, lighted barn.
Then he realized
that they were afraid of him. To them, he reasoned, "I am a strange and
terrifying creature. If only I could think of some way to let them know that
they can trust me, that I'm not trying to hurt them, but to help them. But
how?" Any move he made tended to frighten and confuse them. They just would not
follow; they would not be led or shooed, because they feared him.
"If only I could be
a bird", he thought to himself, "and mingle with them and speak their language!
Then I could tell them not to be afraid. Then I could show them the way to the
safe, warm barn . . . but I would have to be one of them, so they could see and
hear and understand". At that moment, the church bells began to ring. The sound
reached his ears above the sound of the wind, and he stood there listening to
the bells pealing the glad tidings of Christmas. . . . And he sank to his knees
in the snow.
This is what Christmas is about. God loves the world so much
that he became like us so God can fully understand, speak our language and save
us. Our God became human so that we can go to God and not be afraid. Because
God became one like us, we are confident that God understands our situation.
Let us share with others such unfathomable love of God for all.
Pastor's reflection on "Writing our New Song"
"Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is. Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead be filled with the Spirit, speaking tone another with psalms, hymns and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." (Ephesians 5:17-20)
Beloved in Christ,
Music
is the language of the soul. Music is loved by everyone.
It
has been said that there are at least three kinds of people who would naturally
sing: those who are drunk, those who are happy and those who are in love.
Obviously, being good Methodist, we cannot advocate getting drunk in order to
sing. This is also forbidden by the Bible as you see in the passage cited above. Of course we can sing because we are
happy. But the most important one is that, we sing because we are in love with
God and with people. This is the reason why we chose "Writing Our New Song" as the title of our stewardship capital
campaign.
"Writing our new
song"
spells us our vision that the Holy Spirit is giving us. It is a vision that builds on the
blessings we already have and the good things that we are good at as a church
like warm and friendly fellowship, with a heart for mission, love for worship
and music and more. This title also spells out the life of being in Jesus
Christ - to be happy and joyful as we serve God by loving people. Good songs
last forever, so this title also proclaims that what we do as a church is an
investment for eternity and building a legacy that lasts forever.
This
stewardship capital campaign seeks to write and sing our new song that God is
gifting us. Each one of us can help in writing and singing this new song. Our
new song continues to fulfill the Great Commission
to make disciples for Jesus Christ and the Great Commandment to love one
another as Christ loved us. To do this we must take care of our beautiful
church building and do ministries relevant for the 21st century and
beyond.
As
a church you have a history of great love and commitment. You made things
happen before, you can do it again. Let us pray earnestly for the success of
this campaign, for the leaders and volunteers. Let us pray for things that we can
do, share and contribute as the Holy Spirit leads and challenges us. Let us
generously share our time and talent and embrace the joy of sacrificial giving
of the treasures that God has entrusted to our care. Our participation in this
campaign will not only bless our church, it will bring us the blessing of a
fuller life where we experience joy, meaning and purpose of our life even more.
Truly, we enjoy the
fruits of those who have gone before us.It is our turn now to build on their tradition so that the generation
that will come before us will also enjoy the fruits of our new song.
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