MEDITATION: “The Other Christmas Story”
Matthew 2:1-12
January 4, 2008 Dr. Dennis Ginoza
The first thought I want to leave you this morning is:
everybody has a perspective.
A man discovered that 80 percent of the all accidents
occur two miles from home, so he moved.
There are only two kinds of coaches: those who have
been fired and those who gonna be. –Bum Phillips
Life is either a daring experience or nothing at all.
--Helen Keller
When I was four years old, I had a plastic toy car to play with;
I was just a happy kid.
When I was about eight years old I asked myself, am I really alive
or is this just a figment of my imagination. So I pinched
myself. Ouch!
When I was 17 in high school, an older couple was visiting
our high school. Lahainaluna High School is the oldest school
west of the Rockies: 1831. The man told me, “Young man, what a
beautiful island you have here. Travel when you’re young. Don’t wait
until you’re old like me. It’s hard to get around. (I took this to heart).
When my wife and I were in Tokyo, we were at the train station
and I noticed that someone had left a brief case at the concrete
platform. I said to her, “I’m going to turn it in.” Our host said
to me, “Don’t worry! Just leave it there. It will be there when
he gets back.” Everybody has a perspective.
Life is a time clock—we are born and we die.
Life is a school—we study, we learn, and we achieve.
Life is a test—are we naughty or good? Do we walk
a straight line or are we crooked?
Life is a book—it’s a record of all that we have done
and said and believe.
Life is a sacred journey—it is a long journey back
to God. In this journey there will be good teachers
and bad teachers.
In the gospel of Matthew, it tells about the other Christmas story.
Luke says the shepherds had already come to visit the
Christ child. In Matthew there was a star in the
East and astrologers, wise men saw it as a sign that
2
a messiah was born. So the wise men set out to visit
Christ child. This story is also about Herod. Herod told the
wise men that when they found the child, let
him know because he too could worship this child.. The wise men
were warned in a dream about Herod so they left by another way. When
Herod discovered that he was tricked by the wise men, he was furious.
He ordered all the children two and younger to be killed. Joseph
was also warned in a dream that about Herod’s plan so he took Mary
and Jesus and fled to Egypt.
This Christmas story tells us about the two sides of our human character.
We we have the capacity for good and evil.
Herod’s sword is still with us, just look at the world. The birth of
Jesus is good news; in the end goodness and love will prevail.
Isaiah 11 paints this picture of the world to come.
The wolf shall live with the lamb,
The leopard shall lie down with the kid,
The calf and the lion and the fatling together,
And a little child shall lead them.
The earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord.
(Isaiah 11:6, 9)
Today we share hope for tomorrow. Just hold on five minutes
longer, things will get better.
Hear this: A (person) can live forty days without food, about
Three days without water, and eight minutes without hope.
Hope is the feeling that the feeling you have is not
Permanent. –Jean Kerr
When Osceola McCarty was 12 years old, she quit school. She did
this to help her mother with her laundry work. She saved every
penny she made and she never earned more than $10 per
bundle of dirty laundry. She helped take care of her mother,
her grandmother and her aunt. She started saving when she
was a little girl – for candy. When she was 88 years old, her
banker talked to her about when she wanted to do about the
money she had in the bank. She had $280,000 in her savings
account. She decided to give $150,000 to the University of
Southern Mississippi for a scholarship fund. This quiet
woman caught the attention of the world. She was interviewed
by Barbara Walters. Roberta Flack and Patti La Belle sang to
3
her. Harvard University gave her an honorary doctorate degree.
The National Institute of Social Sciences gave her a gold medal.
She received the Presidential Award in the White House. And
she carried the Olympic Torch. All those year she lived her
faith through the Baptist Church.
When she was asked about her fears, she said,
I do have a few.
I am afraid of the dark and I am afraid of
snakes and lizards. I don’t enjoy taking fish
off the hook. But I don’t let these things keep me
from living. I am not afraid of dying. I am ready
to go anytime God calls me. I am at peace with
my life and my work. I don’t think I have any
enemies.”
Everybody has a perspective about life.
This life is about the journey of the soul.
We can choose the sword to rule,
or we can choose love to heal the broken hearted
and the wounded,
we can choose love to bind all nations together.
Even the snakes and lions and lizards will be our
Friends and that’s GOOD NEWS!
No comments:
Post a Comment