Pondering Christmas

Pondering Christmas

Pondering Christmas - According to several dictionaries, pondering, is deliberate contemplation on a specific subject. It is a commitment to open up ones mind and heart in trying to understand the consequences that might come to light. According to Luke's Gospel narrative of the birth of Jesus Christ, Mary ponders the messages to her.

Gabriel appears to Mary and announces to her that she will be with child and the impregnating power and source will be God. She will remain a virgin and still be pregnant and bring forth a child who will be the Son of God. Luke tells us that, "Mary pondered all this in her heart." She must have been a unique and devout young lady. Gabriel called her, "Highly Favored One." How does a very young woman ponder such incredible information?

The second time we find Mary pondering the incarnation is when the shepherds came from the fields and told Mary and Joseph what they witnessed. Now, nine months after Gabriel's first visit Mary is in deep thought about her child. Does Mary have any real understanding of the implications of bringing forth the Christ of God? Would she know of the Old Testament psalm that teaches that her Son is the Creative power that filled the universe?

We will probably never know what filled Mary's heart in that period of time. But, let's try placing our mind and heart in the position of pondering Christmas as if it never took place. I challenge those who read these words to find time in the busy days ahead and "ponder" our world without Christ and Christmas. To do this you will have to set aside time and deliberately and deeply think about the implications of a Christ-less world.

I believe that the implications are dark and frightening. On an educational level our great universities on the east coast would be gone. They began as Christian Colleges and Universities. The Midwest would not have Notre Dame. England would be left without Cambridge and Oxford. The wonders of art and literature would be bereft of such works from DaVinci, Michelangelo, Rembrandt, J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and on and on.

Medical care would be set back hundreds of years. Many major hospitals would vanish. Death would become commonplace and disease could have indeed leave many parts of Africa, India and Asia devastated. The implications on the social scale are catastrophic.

The implications on a personal basis are dark and frightening. As prevalent as evil and hatred is today, without Christ, barbarism would control and personal freedoms would only come to the powerful. So, this Christmas please, "Ponder Christmas" and what it really means to this world.

Creation is Still

Creation is Still

At the first Advent creation stood still, from the deepest edge of  space, to the tiny blade of grass next to the manger, there was stillness. That stillness was but a sign of the deepest reverence possible. For a moment in time the created world knelt, every element within everything material knew the world was going to change. In a way no man could understand, the created world knew their Creator had taken on human form.

The Bible is pretty clear in stating that even the created world has been cheated and disfigured by the fall of man. The earth was cursed and yielded her fruit only after hard labor. The book of Romans puts forth that the created world groans and waits in expectation, like a birthing mother. When the world is finally set right by the coming Kingdom Of God even creation will enjoy her original glory. I wonder how much more glorious the heavens can become. But they will become even more glorious.

The First Advent has meaning for every person who will have a place in their heart for the Christ child. For those who seek Him will find Him, those who long for Him will find fulfillment. He tells us that He stands at the door and knocks and if we allow Him entrance into our lives He will give us life like never before. His life, at the first advent, is His gift to us.

The Second Advent will have meaning for all of creation, for that is when the kingdom will come and creation enjoy her new glory. The Second Advent is also the time all humanity, followers of Jesus and non-followers, will bend their knees and acknowledgement of the Christ will pour forth from their mouths. Governments will collapse as the kingdom will reign. Kings, presidents and dictators will fall on their knees in recognition of the Supreme King of all time and space.

Today our world is filled with violence. Innocent people die at the desire of evil. In the name of some warped and twisted design of god people are slaughtered. When the Prince of Peace comes every false image, thought, desire, ideology, will be displayed for what it really is; a satanic attempt to steal glory from Jesus Christ.

Thanksgiving Voyage

Thanksgiving- Re-visit

The ship's manifest listed one hundred and three passengers, one hundred and two by family name. The one hundred and third passenger was listed as, Dorothy, maidservant. In July of 1620 the Mayflower was being fitted and loaded with provisions for its journey to the New World. She was to wait in South Hampton for the ship Speedwell. The Speedwell had sailed to the Netherlands to pick up the passengers, who had been living in Leiden. Once the Speedwell met the Mayflower they would begin the long and dangerous voyage across the Atlantic. It was still nice sailing weather and the monstrous Atlantic should still be sleeping.

By the time the Speedwell did reach her rendezvous with the Mayflower they were already a week behind schedule. The Speedwell was taking on water and in need of repairs that lasted a week. On August the 5th both ships left the safety of the harbor and headed across the Atlantic. Both crews were hoping that even leaving in early August they would not face the horror of North Atlantic storms.

As both ships headed West the Speedwell began taking on water again. The Mayflower and the Speedwell were now three hundred miles out in the ocean. Both ships headed back for England and the port at Plymouth. Upon arriving in Plymouth it was determined that the repairs on the Speedwell would take to long and her cargo was added to the Mayflower. As disappointment and anger grew, many of the passengers on board the Speedwell abandoned their plans for a new life.
With the remaining passengers joining those on the Mayflower, she set sail on September 6th. By this the weather and the seas were not to be trusted, but the decision was made to sail on. For the first half of the voyage the wind and weather blessed the Mayflower and her crew and passengers. That was to end as the Lady passed the half way mark on the Captain's chart.

As the weather changed one Godless crewman told the Pilgrims that he couldn't wait for some of them to die, so he could throw them overboard and steal their provisions. For the next thirty days the Mayflower was at the mercy of the Monster of the deep. On more than one occasion the ship had to bring down her sail and ride out the storms. During an especially fearsome attack by the watery monster a mast cracked and the crew feared the ship to be lost. The ship's carpenter secured the mast till proper repairs could be done.

Some days before the sighting of land the "Godless crewman" became suddenly ill and died. The ship's log recorded his death as "The Hand of God." During the voyage a child was born and three days short of landfall a young lad died.

On November 9th in the Year of Our Lord, Sixteen Hundred and Twenty, land was sighted. The sixty six day journey across the Atlantic was done.