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"Christmas"
amplifies the words of John 1:10, "He was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world did not know him." CHRISTMAS You still walk the streets, our streets, looking for a place to put your head, still poorer than a bird in its nest. You still knock on the double-latched bolted-shut door with Christians inside. Christ, you are still discarded and dropped in the wastebasket of sometime or never. Christ, your chance is still slim in our land of goodness and keep-smiling, where we live by your ethics without knowing you. Proclaimed: teacher among teachers, king among kings, God among Gods, one of the may ways to salvation, take it or leave it. Jesus, don't let me live outside of you, outside of the heart of the world. Smash down my locked door, rest in my house and sit at my table. Let me be on your side, drown me in your love. Neglect the name and number that I am, the address and place in or out of society and break through to me to release the weights clinging to my hands and feet. And love me into your love, into your Christmas. by Ulrich Schaffer, in GREATER THAN OUR HEARTS: PRAYERS AND REFLECTIONS, Harper & Row Publishers, 1981. [On this Christmas Eve morning, I'm wondering if I'm bold enough to sincerely pray, "smash down my locked door, rest in my house, and sit at my table." I realize that that kind of closeness to Jesus will surely include some times when I need to remember his words, "For I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me drink; I was a stranger, and you invited me in; naked and you clothed me; I was sick and you visited me; I was in prison and you came to me (Matthew 25:31-46). Lord, drown me in your love, a love that will go that far.] O come, let us adore him . . . . . Merry Christmas, Chip Stam |