Dec 25 2016
The episode reminds us of the Christmas story in an indirect way. A mysterious light very obviously illuminated the night sky over Bethlehem (the word means house of bread) the night God became a man as a helpless child and rested in an animal feeding trough. Micah had foretold that He would be born there in the tiny village around 700 BC. The meaning of that enigmatic prophecy speaking of his “goings forth from long ago, from the days of eternity” remained uninterpretable until Jesus revealed that He had come from the bosom of the Father where He had been from eternity. This was the basis for His rejection in making claims which clearly made “Himself equal with God” (Jn 5:18)! Not all bright lights suddenly and unexpectedly appearing in the night are benign. Some bring the certainty of destruction and judgment instead of mercy and grace. Neither the characters of that wonderful story or most of mankind until recently had the slightest idea that there are objects scattered about the cosmos at various distances from the earth which explode suddenly producing bright transient lights. They are called supernovas and the brightest, most energetic are called hypernovas (exploding stars which are about 100 times the mass of the sun). They can be seen even in the daytime. If they are close enough to the earth, within light years, their radiation could sterilize the planet. Some people think this mechanism explains early great extinctions on the prehistoric earth. A remarkable star is lurking now in the southern sky near the Southern Cross in the constellation of Carina. I see it on clear night walks to secure the village gate. When it blows it will out shine all the stars in our galaxy and become brighter than even the galaxy itself. Those of you who are interested can read about it on the internet. It has been warning us since about 1840’s when it was transiently nearly the brightest star in the night, Eta Carinae. Then it will produce a burst of gamma rays which will be seen clear across the visible universe. Gamma rays are the means by which irradiated foods are rendered absolutely sterile through exposure to cobalt 60, a radiation source used to treat certain types of cancer.
Paul teaches us in Ephesians that God is presently hosting heavenly intelligences (he means the various orders of angels including Gabriel) to the grandest display of the “manifold wisdom of God” that the universe has ever seen (Eph 3:10). It had been kept secret from ages past although hinted in prophecies like the one in Micah. This wisdom far exceeds the wisdom passages of the Old Testament like the seven pillars of wisdom (Prov 8:12-14 and 9:1). Most of the great and mighty of the earth have missed it. God would become a man and our Savior through a terrible execution as a common criminal. He would head a new race in the greatest story that has ever or will ever be told. This is our Christmas destiny. Let us celebrate again with boundless joy in every act of our worship, obedience and service. We have seen “A Great and Mighty Wonder”, St. Germanicus (634-734)!
Christmas in Tanzania is indeed
magical. Kent and the Wetches and Elisabeth took the children to the River on
the 23rd of December and as they were just entering gate to return,
up drove a coca cola truck with a nice skinny Santa. The truck was delivering
rice, flour, and orange soda for the children for Christmas. They had a sound
system with Christmas music and the children were so excited!!
