Magyar Egyház, 2005 (84. évfolyam, 1-4. szám)
2005-10-01 / 4. szám
MAGYAR EGYHÁZ 5. oldal You are invited to see Christmas. Come ...! In Christmas pageants across the land, youngsters vie for the starring roles. They yearn to play the part of Joseph or Mary or one of the wise men. They would even be content to play the role of the anonymous innkeeper or to stand among the throng of angels. In fact, children desire to be handed any part, as long as it’s not the role of shepherd. Because as any veteran of Christmas pageants can tell you, the role of shepherd is the lowest of the low. Even the perennial favorite, “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” comments on the lowly status of shepherds. When Lucy hands out the casting assignments with a grimace, as he mutters, we always have to be a shepherd ! But as the Gospel of Luke tells the story, the shepherds aren’t second-rate understudies in the Christmas drama. No, the shepherds are the stars. After all, most of the Christmas narrative in Luke centers upon none other than the shepherds. The shepherds have the best part. For who did God first tell about Jesus’ birth ? God did not bring the news that night to governors or kings. God did not announce the birth to the rich or the famous. There were no movie stars or billionaires there that night when Jesus was born. Instead, the news first came to some lonely, poor shepherds out in the fields. It was to them that an angel came. They heard the announcement first that Savior, their Savior, had just been bom in Bethlehem. And so the angel invited them to come and greet the newborn child. You might say that God hosted one of the first come-asyou-are parties in history that night. For the Bible tells us that after the angels returned into heaven, immediately the shepherds ran toward Bethlehem in search of the child. They did not pause along the way to clean up or to change clothes, and they did not delay and worry about what kind of gift they should take with them. Probably they did not even have enough money among them to buy a gift. They just went. They went as quickly as they could to see Jesus. And that is exactly what are all invited to do. Later on in the Gospel, Luke will tell us about unlikely characters who were welcomed to come and experience Jesus. These range from the ostracized Gerasene demoniac who lived among the tombs to little Zacchaeus, the conniving tax collector. Jesus invited all to come to him. And in the same way, Jesus invites us all to come. He invites us not because of who we are or because of what we have. Instead he just invites us to come. Come and see and know that we are loved by God. One of the great ordeals of Christmas Eve is faced by those parents who chose to buy some gift that came with the ominous words ’’some assembly required” emblazoned on the box. After the children head off to bed, those parents try their best to put together those gifts so that they’ll be ready-to-use condition the next morning. But all too frequently there seems to be one small part is missing. Perhaps one battery is lacking for the remote control car, or maybe one screw is missing for the training wheels for the new bike. Even though 99% of the parts are there, the missing 1% is enough to render the entire gift useless until that missing part is obtained. In the same way, the shepherds could have been easily dismissed by God as an insignificant part of the world. But instead God recognized that unless even the lowliest 1% has an opportunity to come and be a part of God’s salvation, then that salvation is not complete. S.Sz. The meaning of CHRISTMAS Christmas is a mood, a quality, a symbol. It is never merely a fact. As a fact it is a date on the calendar; to the believer it is the anniversary of the Event in human history. An individual may relate meaningfully to the fact or to the Event, but that would not make Christmas. The mood of Christmas - what is it ? It is a quickening of the presence of other human beings into whose lives a precious part of one’s own has been released. It is a memory of other days when in one’s path an angel appeared spreading a halo over an ordinary moment or a commonplace event. It is an iridescence of sheer delight that once bathed one’s whole being with something more wonderful than words can ever tell. Of such is the mood of Christmas. The quality of Christmas - what is it ? It is the fullness with which fruit ripens, blossoms unfold into flowers and live coals glow in the darkness. It is the richness of vibrant colors - the calm purple of grapes, the exiting redness of tomatoes, the shimmering light of the noiseless stirring of a lake at sunset. It is the sense of plateau behind a large rock where one may take temporary respite from winds that chill. Of such is the quality of Christmas. The symbol of Christmas - what is it ? It is the rainbow arched over the roof of the sky when the clouds are heavy with foreboding. It is the cry of life in the newborn babe when, forced from its mother’s nest, it claims its right to live. It is the brooding presence of the Eternal Spirit making crooked paths straight, rough places smooth, tired hearts refreshed, dead hopes stirred with the newness of life. It is the promise of tomorrow at the close of every day, the movement of life in defiance of death, and the assurance that love is sturdier than hate, that right is more confident than wrong, that good is more permanent than evil. Howard Thurman “Sing for joy to the Lord, all the earth; praise Him with songs and shouts of joy ! ”- Psalms 98:4 In 1620 the Pilgrim fathers and mothers landed at Plymouth. They were noble and heroic people, but they would not observe Christmas. They thought it was a pagan festival. It can be made a pagan festival today, and our problem is always to Christianize it. The primary aim is to bring joy, and joy is needed in life today. There is point in Dan Crawford’s inquiry on his return to England twenty years after he left it for his missionary service: “Why have you English people lost your smile ?” His friend’s reply: “It is the price we pay for civilization.” Crawford exclaimed: “Ah! What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his smile ?” Christ is always born just at the day and hour when joy comes into the heart, when sin and pain retreat, when life enters its abundant beauty and power.- Ernest B. Allen as quoted in the Ministers Manual for 1949. May this great truth lead all of us to Jesus in these remaining days of Advent along with all the other “civilized” or “uncivilized” fellow Christians ! Amen. Rev.László Ujj
