Life In The Midst Of Turmoil

Today, Christmas day 2008, is seasonable enough, although forces are at work trying to diminish the significance of this day. Nativity scenes across the world, are beng desecrated, and the likenesses of the baby Jesus are being stolen. In one particularly bizarre incident, a bottle of beer was left where once the baby Jesus did lay. Secularists, atheists, and especially, non-believers are the cause of these acts of depravity in our town squares, and in our cities. Worse, they are engaging in acts of scornfulness, directed at those who truly believe in the existence of God.

As such, they are not a real threat to us, for their numbers are small. However, when a goverment body looks askance at these acts, without any real comment, they in effect, are condoning these behaviors, and abetting them. It seems no one knows what to do, and so, nothing is done at all. The proposition 8 opponents in California, exemplify this attitude by virtue of their constant attacks on the Mormon Churches of California.

Away in a manger, no food, no bed, nothing of material comfort for the baby Jesus. Yet, he does not cry, simply looks up at the stars, and sees the Star of The East, the star announcing his birth to a skeptical world. the Wise men came, drawn to the place of the baby's birth. King Herod, himself, was vitally interested, for he saw in the baby Jesus a threat to his hold on the Kingdom, to his very power.

Stillige Nacht, the Christmas carol given to us by Germany many years ago, stressed the calm of the evening, and the brightness too. Round yon virgin, lay mother and child. Tenderness abounded, and earth had at last, a new King, the son of God!

Good King Vaclav, also known as Wenceslas, was the King of Bohemia in the tenth century. A Catholic, Wenceslas looked out one evening from his castle window, and espied a poor man gathering winter fuel. So taken by this scene was Wenceslas, that he went out with gifts of food and other comfort for the man who had gathered the winter's fuel for his family's warmth. The feast of Saint Stephen is celebrated on December 26th in Czechoslovakia, and though no refrence was made to the Nativity scene in the lyrics, it has become one of the most popular Christmas carols, signifying man's inherent goodness, and his willingness to share his own gifts with others less fortunate.

If you think seriously but for a minute or two, you may understand how Christmas carols extoll the common virtues of generosity, and personal sacrifice. All these gifts, given by only God to man, are the soothing balms which never fail to inspire feelings of completeness, and of joy in us. What a contrast to the devilish actions of the defilers, and the antagonists of the Mormon Church. I, for one, do not fret over these people's actions, because, ultimately, they will answer to their God, our God, in spite of their throwing off the shackles of personal responsibility.

Yes, today is the most beautiful day of the year! Warmth is felt without the fire beside you. Joy is in the heart, and a Baby's birth is celebrated once more. Jesus came into this world pennieless, and He left it the same way. He never traveled more than 200 hundred miles from His home, and never acquired the higher learning of those most critical of Him, and His mission to save us. No other man in recorded history has had as profound an effect on the fortunes of man himself, than Jesus has.

It is "free will" that leads many of us to doubt, and to sin. Why is it that anger, is always an important component of the makeup of people who deny their place at the table of God? Why too, is it that when such people lie on their death beds, that they somehow are confronted by their personal demons, and realize that mere uncompromising faith would have saved their eternal lives?

The one thing that believers are not, is weak. Weak of mind, and weak of faith. This is why the tables turn for us, and why others of no faith sit alone.

Celebrate the Baby Jesus' birthday today. Do it with firmness, and with great faith in eventual outcomes. None of us likes to say, "I told you so!", for the apparentness of the moment of epiphany for all, is in itself a holy and glorious realization.

Merry Christmas, to one and to all. And remember that Ebenezer Scrooge himself, a cold-hearted man who despised Christmas, came around to his own belated understandings, through the impoverished Cratchitt family, and especially young, and lame Tiny Tim. It was not too late, even for Scrooge himself, nor is it too late for all the non-believers wreaking havoc around the world. Each has their own Jacob Marley to contend with, and each, certainly is worthy of final redemption.

Say prayers for them all, the Baby in the manger would smile knowingly at that act of human generosity, and human understanding.