GIFT TO THE MAGI (AND TO US)
Well, Christmas is over. The presents have all been opened and the wrapping paper and boxes dutifully put in the recycling bin. Could we have missed one or two?
The Magi, who were probably traveling from Persia as they followed the Star, have delivered their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh to the Christ Child and returned to their homeland. We have returned to our normal, everyday lives and continue our own journeys into the new year.
In the first "Ice Age" movie, the three travelers didn't bring gifts with them as they journeyed north to a mountain pass to reunite a human baby with his tribe. Manny, a mammoth, brought pain, grief, anger and a hatred of humans who killed his mate and child. Sid, a sloth lacking in social skills and of questionable personal hygiene, carried loneliness and a yearning to be accepted and loved. Diego, a saber tooth tiger, hid away in his personal baggage, hate, hunger and a hidden agenda of betrayal and murder.
What baggage are we carrying into 2013?
The three Magi had seen the star, searched the scrolls of prophecy and probably reported their finding to their king. Theirs was a diplomatic mission, representing their king and taking with them gifts to establish their nation's good will towards the new king of the Jews.
But in the greater scheme of things, they represented not just the king and the people of Persia but all the gentile peoples of the world. People who longed for peace and justice. People who had known too much violence, hardship and oppression and not enough love, dignity and righteousness. They looked around them and said, "This just isn't right," and hungered and thirsted for something, better. They hoped for something that would nourish them physically, emotionally and spiritually. They hoped.
So the Star shown in the heavens for all to see. It was God's invitation to the world to come and see and experience the living, breathing incarnation of God; the light of the world; the love that came down at Christmas.
They were invited to come to Christ.
Whatever the Magi brought with them, it was not as priceless as the gift of unconditional love they knelt before -- unconditional love that would give everything in order that the world might be saved.
In the movie, the baby loves Manny, Sid and Diego just the way they were. Through that unconditional kind of love, the three experienced healing, love, acceptance, transformation, redemption and forgiveness -- their hearts' truest desires. They became united in their mission and bound together as a herd.
So, here we are, in the first month of the new year. Not in a card that came through the mail, but through Christ, we have received an invitation of grrace, and all are welcome to come.
Come one, come all, just as you are, with whatever you have brought with you: your pain, your loneliness, your hanger and grief; your hate and your hunger; your longing to belong, to rest to be cleansed.
Come as you are and receive the unconditional love of Jesus Christ and receive your heart's truest desires: peace, healing, transformation, redemption, forgiveness and acceptance.
Come and receive the goodness and boundless mercy of God.
The Magi, who were probably traveling from Persia as they followed the Star, have delivered their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh to the Christ Child and returned to their homeland. We have returned to our normal, everyday lives and continue our own journeys into the new year.
In the first "Ice Age" movie, the three travelers didn't bring gifts with them as they journeyed north to a mountain pass to reunite a human baby with his tribe. Manny, a mammoth, brought pain, grief, anger and a hatred of humans who killed his mate and child. Sid, a sloth lacking in social skills and of questionable personal hygiene, carried loneliness and a yearning to be accepted and loved. Diego, a saber tooth tiger, hid away in his personal baggage, hate, hunger and a hidden agenda of betrayal and murder.
What baggage are we carrying into 2013?
The three Magi had seen the star, searched the scrolls of prophecy and probably reported their finding to their king. Theirs was a diplomatic mission, representing their king and taking with them gifts to establish their nation's good will towards the new king of the Jews.
But in the greater scheme of things, they represented not just the king and the people of Persia but all the gentile peoples of the world. People who longed for peace and justice. People who had known too much violence, hardship and oppression and not enough love, dignity and righteousness. They looked around them and said, "This just isn't right," and hungered and thirsted for something, better. They hoped for something that would nourish them physically, emotionally and spiritually. They hoped.
So the Star shown in the heavens for all to see. It was God's invitation to the world to come and see and experience the living, breathing incarnation of God; the light of the world; the love that came down at Christmas.
They were invited to come to Christ.
Whatever the Magi brought with them, it was not as priceless as the gift of unconditional love they knelt before -- unconditional love that would give everything in order that the world might be saved.
In the movie, the baby loves Manny, Sid and Diego just the way they were. Through that unconditional kind of love, the three experienced healing, love, acceptance, transformation, redemption and forgiveness -- their hearts' truest desires. They became united in their mission and bound together as a herd.
So, here we are, in the first month of the new year. Not in a card that came through the mail, but through Christ, we have received an invitation of grrace, and all are welcome to come.
Come one, come all, just as you are, with whatever you have brought with you: your pain, your loneliness, your hanger and grief; your hate and your hunger; your longing to belong, to rest to be cleansed.
Come as you are and receive the unconditional love of Jesus Christ and receive your heart's truest desires: peace, healing, transformation, redemption, forgiveness and acceptance.
Come and receive the goodness and boundless mercy of God.
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