Saturday, December 8, 2007

* Holiday Thoughts and Reasonings.

Hey there !

I have some thing that I'd like to share with you. The other day, I recieved a news letter from the pastor of the youth group that Jake is part of. We don't attend this church, but I like this pastor, and I'm trying to talk Roy into giving it a try. Anyway, this particular piece wasn't written by him either. It's from a "60 Minutes" broadcast a few years back. It's an excerpt of what Harry Reasoner had to say about the Holiday season and Christmas time. It's one of those things that just seemed so true and honest, that I sat and had to read it three or four times.


This is what he said :

"Eleven years ago, I did a little Christmas piece and it seemed like a good idea to repeat it. The basis for this tremendous burst of buying things, and gift giving, and parties, and near hysteria, is a quiet event that Christians believe actually happened a long time ago.

You can say that in all societies there has always been a midwinter festival, and that many of the trappings of our Christmas are almost violently pagan. But, you come back to the central fact of the day and the quietness of Christmas morning, the birth of God on earth. It leaves you only three ways of accepting Christmas.

One, is cynically, as a time to make money and endorse the making of it.
One, is graciously, that's the appropriate attitude for non-Christians who wish their fellow citizens all the joys to which their beliefs entitle them.
And the third, of course, is reverently. If this is the anniversary of the appearance of the Lord of the universe in the form of a helpless babe, it is a very important day. It is a startling idea, of course.

The whole story that a virgin was selected by God to bear his son as a way of showing His love and concern for man. It's my guess that inspite of all the lip service given to it, it's not an idea that has been popular with theologians. It's somewhat an illogical idea, and theologians like logic almost as much as they like God. It's so revolutionary a thought, that it probably could only come from God, that is beyond logic and beyond theology. It has magnificent appeal. Almost nobody has seen God, and almost nobody has any real idea what He is like. And the truth that is among men, the idea of seeing God, suddenly and in a very bright light, is not necessarily a completely comforting or appealing idea. But everyone has seen babies, and almost everyone likes them.

If God wanted to be loved as well as feared, He moved correctly, for a baby growing up learns all about people. And if God wanted to be intimately a part of man, He moved correctly, for the experience of birth and family-hood is the most intimate and precious experience that any of us will ever have.

So it comes beyond logic. It is either a falsehood, or it is the truest thing in the world. It is the story of the great innonce of God the baby. God, in the power of man, has such a dramatic shock toward the heart that if it is not true to Christians, then nothing is true. So if a person is touched only once a year, the touching is still worth it. And maybe, on some given Christmas, some final quiet morning, that touch will take. The touch of God, coming into this world as a vunerable baby."


Have a great Holiday Season, and a beautiful Christmas time.
Love,
Susan

1 howled back:

Anonymous said...

I liked reading this, especially the part about God choosing a wonderful way of bringing us together - a baby. Even in the smallest of sense, a baby is a true miracle all on its own.

Thank you for (once again) giving me your address so I can post a christmas card to yoU!!
Hey Christopher my friend, if you are reading this.. email me your address and I can put one in the post for you as well ( if you would like!).
I can't promise you'll get it before the big day but I can almost assure you it'll arrive before 2008. :)

love mel