Magyar Egyház, 1970 (49. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1970-11-01 / 11. szám
10 MAGYAR EGYHÁZ MAGYAR CHURCH Bertram J. Sathmary: ligrtjt ■ #lorp = ^fulfillment L I G H T—What a glorious season of light Christmas is! Everywhere we see the sparkling, glistening rays of ornaments, decorations, tinsels and tree lights. All this is good. But it is incomplete if it does not light a shining glow in our hearts, reflected in our faces. We shall smile more readily and frown less easily. We shall seek to say something pleasant rather than belittling. We shall think of doing good to others rather than serving ourselves. We shall seek serenity rather than to be caught up in the frenzy and tension of a busy season. The light in our hearts which the Lord has caused to shine there, will be reflected on our faces. Someone had said that “A smile is a light in the window of the face which shows that the heart is home.” Is your heart at home? Is your heart “at home” to your dear ones who mean so much to you, but whom you too often tend to take for granted? Is your heart “at home” to Christ who seeks to enter “if any man open the door?” What a wonderful opportunity this Christmas season affords to us to open our lives to the radiant light of the love of Christ! It could symbolically be a new birth for us, and a continual rebirth, as along the splendor of bright days, we walked in light and love. GLORY — The night was dark and chilly. On the bleak Judean hillsides the shepherds gathered their cloaks snugly and huddled closer to the fires. The flocks were resting peacefully. Suddenly there burst forth in the skies a bright light. The angel of the Lord appeared, and “the glory of the Lord shone round about.” “And there was a multitude of heavenly host praising God and crying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” This was glory indeed — radiant, shining, shimmering, golden, celestial, lustrous, kingly, flaming and overpowering. We can hear this glad, exulting, triumphant song of the angels in our hearts, and sing it forth in the kindly words and deeds of our lives. Stephen Spender, in one of his poems, speaks of those “whose lovely ambition was that their lips still touched with fire, should tell of the Spirit clothed from head to foot in song.” If Christmas is in our hearts, if the Spirit has really touched us with His life-giving fire, then we should express His glory. This, indeed, is a “lovely ambition.” May the glory of Christmas be ours, and may we sing it out. We shall sing the happy songs, but after we have sung “Jingle Bells,” “I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas,” “Santa Claus is Coming To Town,” let us enter that other, more wonderful world of the Spirit and sing, “Angels From the Realms of Glory,” “0 Come, All Ye Faithful,” “Silent Night, Holy Night,” and the other great Christmas hymns. Glory indeed will then crown this blessed season. FULFILLMENT — God always fulfills His promises. He is faithful, and we can depend on Him. His eternal fidelity, strong as the everlasting hills, is the true source of all our Christmas joy and gratitude. Long before Jesus’ coming the prophet Isaiah in rapt, seraphic tones cried out in ecstatic joy, “For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given! And His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.” (9:6) The promise was fulfilled in the birth of the Christchild, Jesus of Nazareth, in the lowly manger at Bethlehem. This is the Day of days, the glad celebration of the birthday of our King. Christ, in His present exaltation at the right hand of God, is the complete fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah. Truly, He is a “Wonderful Counsellor”. He guides us, and when we follow, we find peace and j°y-He is also the “Mighty God.” His power is not that of a cruel tyrant, but that of an omnipotent, loving Creator. His is the power that created and sustains the universe, that makes the sun to shine and the snow to fall. “The Everlasting Father” is also His name. While Christ is the Son, His will is one with the Father’s and as Messiah this is one of His glorious titles. He is “from everlasting to everlasting.”
