We continue to soak in the joy of the recent holiday of Christmas. One aspect of it's image I wish to direct your attention; the manger scene of the nativity.
There He was....God. Little, innocent, helpless....God in a baby body. Of all people, Herod seemed to have as great a faith of what this child could become as anyone on earth. He issued a decree to execute out of panic all the male children under two. Why? He believed what Jesus would become. That's pretty amazing faith.
But the scene repeats itself. Oddly, it is innocent enough that no one would guess it a replica of the original manger posture. Today's scenes are little congregations sprinkled throughout each community. If they aren't in the thousands, to me they/we are little.
And here we are.....tiny churches gathered with little recognition from society around. Just as the baby Emmanuel, we have little money, little political clout, little community pull, and little reason to believe we can make a difference.
Yet, we can. We are Jesus' body. We can believe we can become highly impactive just as he was. We can believe we can take control via the same means as he; the cross.
Our challenge is also our pathway. We will increase by the same means he did; prayer, prayer, prayer, and more prayer. Most likely the reason we have been babified for decades is because we have mopped our egos with chants of being the true church while failing to go near the prayer path of the real, authentic church.
Our hope....is seen in that little baby in the manger. He grew up to be the Main Player. We must not settle for living life from the cribs called church buildings. May we note from his great display of faith in the Father a way for every congregation to hit 2010 even more prayerfully prayerful.
1 comment:
I never used to see the point of the whole Christmas thing until one year I really got into it and thinking about the birth of Jesus really helped me see the impact this little event made on the world and why we should celebrate it.
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