Thursday, June 28, 2012
Well, I went to bed early and was going to sleep in, but can't do it! Up at 6:30 and going to meet my daughter, Katy-Mac for daddy time and breakfast before I leave at noon! Steve Wynn has to be at work this morning by 7 a.m. I think that the rest of the crew will be packing to meet at the church around 11:45 am!
Day 1 of journey, here we go!
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Our Scotland Mission Team is getting excited as we head out Thursday at noon from RDU directly to Heathrow. However, once arriving at Heathrow, we must change airports and transfer to Gatwick where we will depart to Edinburg and then to Kirkwall where we will collect our luggage and then ferry to Westray! It is an adventure getting to Westray in the Orkney Islands. We are due to arrive in Westray by Friday night around 7 p.m. Please pray for us and I'll blog the experience along the way, where and when possible!
The theme of our Bible focus with the 50 - 60 eight to eleven year old children that we will working with is that God knows our name and has us inscribed in the palm of his hand (from Isa. 43, 49 and John 10).
Friday, April 6, 2012
New burial site reveals first century belief in resurrection
New find revives 'Jesus Tomb' flap
By Alan Boyle
April 6, 2012, 7:20 am MSN.com
One of the designs etched on a bone box found within a 1st-century Jerusalem tomb suggests the biblical story of Jonah and the fish, which held significant symbolism for early Christians.
Using a remote-controlled camera on the end of a robotic arm, investigators have found what could be the earliest evidence of a Christian iconography in Jerusalem, engraved on a set of "bone boxes" inside a nearly intact 1st-century tomb.
One of the limestone boxes, known more formally as an ossuary, carries a Greek inscription calling on God to "rise up" or "raise up" someone. Another box appears to show the carved image of a fish, perhaps with the prophet Jonah in its mouth. Allusions to fish and the "sign of Jonah" came to be widely used among early Christians, but not among Jerusalem's Jews.
Update: Doubts raised about the 'Jesus Discovery'
Those discoveries alone would be enough to get biblical scholars excited. But the investigators in this case are the same people who claimed five years ago that ossuaries from a nearby tomb were engraved with the names of the biblical Jesus and his family. They're putting forth this new find as supporting evidence for their earlier claims, and resurrecting the topic in a newly published book ("The Jesus Discovery") as well as a Discovery Channel documentary that's due to air this spring.
"This does reopen the whole question about the 'Jesus Tomb,'" James Tabor, a scriptural scholar at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, told me.
That almost guarantees that the link to Jesus will take center stage once again in the discussion of the discovery, with most archaeologists discounting the connection. There's even a chance that the renewed controversy would push this most recent find out of the spotlight. That would be a terrible shame, said John Dominic Crossan, an expert on 1st-century Christianity and former Catholic priest who is a professor emeritus at DePaul University.
"It's a stunning discovery," he said. "It's a stunning piece of technology. As a scholar, I really don't want to get lost in saying, 'Oh, come on, it's off the wall.' Yeah, it's off the wall. But look at the wall!"
James Tabor / UNCC
Engineer Walter Klassen and filmmaker Simcha Jacobovici hold the camera-equipped robotic arm in its folded-up configuration.
Or in this case, look at the box.
How the boxes were found
Tabor and documentary filmmaker Simcha Jacobovici located both of the 1st-century tombs — the so-called Jesus Family Tomb as well as the one with the newly revealed inscriptions — in a Jerusalem neighborhood known as Talpiot years ago. They looked into previous claims that the bone boxes in the Jesus Family Tomb were marked with names that meshed with the names of Jesus' brothers and sisters, as mentioned in the Gospels. The investigators went on to cite a statistical analysis of name frequency as evidence that the family interred in the caskets was that of Jesus.
Most provocatively, they pointed to one box that was said to contain the remains of Jesus, and another containing the remains of "Judah, son of Jesus." These claims ran counter to the mainstream Christian view that Jesus made a bodily resurrection after his crucifixion and death, and that he did not marry or have children. To explain the seeming discrepancy with the Gospels, Tabor and his colleagues suggested that early Christians did not necessarily believe in a bodily resurrection, but rather a spiritual resurrection in which Jesus left behind the "old clothes" of the flesh.
The first book ("The Jesus Family Tomb") and TV documentary ("The Lost Tomb of Jesus") set off a wave of protests, with skeptics saying that Tabor and Jacobovici were sensationalizing an unprovable assertion. Despite the criticism, the team continued their work, focusing on the other tomb. This tomb was only briefly examined in 1981 before protests by Orthodox Jews, concerned about the disturbance of a gravesite, forced an end to the archaeological study. The tomb was sealed back up, and a condominium was built over it. Tabor and his colleagues refer to this tomb as the "Patio Tomb," because a patio sits almost directly above the tomb.
Israel's civil and religious authorities were resistant to efforts to reopen the Patio Tomb, so Tabor, Jacobovici and their colleagues came up with an unorthodox alternative: They suggested building a robotic arm that could be extended down vent holes and drill holes into the tomb, to a maximum length of more than 15 feet. The authorities gave their permission, and the documentary team proceeded with their remote-controlled video exploration in June 2010.
James Tabor / UNCC
Investigators shot imagery of the 1st-century Jerusalem tomb and the bone boxes inside the tomb using a robotic arm, as shown in this video frame.
The filmmakers peered into niches cut into the tomb and found several inscribed bone boxes, including one that was left ajar to reveal the bones still within. In one of the niches, two boxes were jammed close together. As the robotic arm maneuvered to look at the side of one of the boxes, one of the investigators cried out, "Wait, wait, stop there!" A design had been etched into the limestone — a design that could be interpreted as a fish with a stick figure hanging out of its mouth.
The meaning of the inscriptions
After consulting with other scriptural experts, the investigators concluded that the etching showed a representation of Jonah and the fish. The biblical tale of the prophet who was swallowed by a giant fish, only to be vomited up alive three days later, had a special resonance for early Christians, who believed in Jesus' resurrection after three days in a tomb. The image of the fish, which would not typically be carved on a Jewish ossuary, suggested to Tabor and his colleagues that this might be the earliest surviving example of a Christian marking on an artifact in Jerusalem.
The team's excitement grew when they saw the inscription on the box sitting next to the one with the fish: A four-line inscription in Greek appeared to refer to a belief in the resurrection. The inscription could be read as "Divine Jehovah, raise up, raise up," or "The Divine Jehovah raises up to the Holy Place," or "Divine Jehovah, raise up [abbreviated name]."
"This inscription has something to do with resurrection of the dead, either of the deceased in the ossuary, or perhaps, given the Jonah image nearby, an expression of faith in Jesus' resurrection," Tabor said in a news release.
The Jesus connection
Tabor and his colleagues tie this latest discovery to their earlier claims by suggesting that the two tombs were part of one complex, which might have been chiseled out by a wealthy supporter of Jesus and his disciples. They even name their prime suspect: Joseph of Arimathea, a high-ranking religious official who was said in the Gospels to have arranged Jesus' burial. In the investigators' view, the fact that they found such a strong connection to early Christianity in the Patio Tomb strengthens their original claims for the Jesus Family Tomb, which is 200 feet away.
"We now have the new archaeological evidence, literally written in stone, that can guide us in properly understanding what Jesus' earliest followers meant by their faith in Jesus' resurrection from the dead — with his earthly remains, and those of his family, peacefully interred just yards away," Tabor and Jacobovici wrote.
Crossan said that was too much of a leap. "There's nothing that associates [the Patio Tomb] with Joseph of Arimathea," he said.
He said the two tombs may well have no relationship to each other: "This whole area is riddled with tombs, as far as we can tell."
Ben Witherington, a New Testament scholar at Asbury Theological Seminary, voiced a similar view. "The attempt to connect [the Patio Tomb] to the other tombs is sheer conjecture, unless the tombs were connected," he told me.
Witherington said the connections made in the newly published book were similar to those put forth in Tabor's earlier work. "Most of us who have evaluated his work would say, OK, all very interesting, but it's building one speculation on another speculation," he said.
However, Witherington was intrigued by the fish carving. "We have early Christian ossuaries with the fish symbol ... in the 2nd century, if not back into the 1st century," he said. "That is the early Christian symbol for I-Ch-Th-Y-S ... 'Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior.' What we don't have any evidence for is that symbol on Jewish ossuaries."
The words of the inscription also caught Witherington's interest. "They imply a belief about the resurrection," he said.
It is thought that the use of such bone boxes in Jerusalem ceased in the year 70, due to the Roman destruction of the city. Thus, there's a chance that the residents buried in the Patio Tomb actually lived during the time of Jesus and his first disciples. However, Crossan noted that Christians weren't the only ones in 1st-century Jerusalem who held a religious belief in resurrection. The Pharisees and the Essenes also looked forward to the resurrection of the righteous, he said.
"What I would say is ... this is a rich Pharisee, a rich person in the 1st century who believes in the resurrection," Crossan told me. "We always thought that [the image of] Jonah coming out of the fish was peculiarly Christian. Maybe that's one more thing that the early Christians took from Jewish tradition, and this would be the first evidence."
By Alan Boyle
April 6, 2012, 7:20 am MSN.com
One of the designs etched on a bone box found within a 1st-century Jerusalem tomb suggests the biblical story of Jonah and the fish, which held significant symbolism for early Christians.
Using a remote-controlled camera on the end of a robotic arm, investigators have found what could be the earliest evidence of a Christian iconography in Jerusalem, engraved on a set of "bone boxes" inside a nearly intact 1st-century tomb.
One of the limestone boxes, known more formally as an ossuary, carries a Greek inscription calling on God to "rise up" or "raise up" someone. Another box appears to show the carved image of a fish, perhaps with the prophet Jonah in its mouth. Allusions to fish and the "sign of Jonah" came to be widely used among early Christians, but not among Jerusalem's Jews.
Update: Doubts raised about the 'Jesus Discovery'
Those discoveries alone would be enough to get biblical scholars excited. But the investigators in this case are the same people who claimed five years ago that ossuaries from a nearby tomb were engraved with the names of the biblical Jesus and his family. They're putting forth this new find as supporting evidence for their earlier claims, and resurrecting the topic in a newly published book ("The Jesus Discovery") as well as a Discovery Channel documentary that's due to air this spring.
"This does reopen the whole question about the 'Jesus Tomb,'" James Tabor, a scriptural scholar at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, told me.
That almost guarantees that the link to Jesus will take center stage once again in the discussion of the discovery, with most archaeologists discounting the connection. There's even a chance that the renewed controversy would push this most recent find out of the spotlight. That would be a terrible shame, said John Dominic Crossan, an expert on 1st-century Christianity and former Catholic priest who is a professor emeritus at DePaul University.
"It's a stunning discovery," he said. "It's a stunning piece of technology. As a scholar, I really don't want to get lost in saying, 'Oh, come on, it's off the wall.' Yeah, it's off the wall. But look at the wall!"
James Tabor / UNCC
Engineer Walter Klassen and filmmaker Simcha Jacobovici hold the camera-equipped robotic arm in its folded-up configuration.
Or in this case, look at the box.
How the boxes were found
Tabor and documentary filmmaker Simcha Jacobovici located both of the 1st-century tombs — the so-called Jesus Family Tomb as well as the one with the newly revealed inscriptions — in a Jerusalem neighborhood known as Talpiot years ago. They looked into previous claims that the bone boxes in the Jesus Family Tomb were marked with names that meshed with the names of Jesus' brothers and sisters, as mentioned in the Gospels. The investigators went on to cite a statistical analysis of name frequency as evidence that the family interred in the caskets was that of Jesus.
Most provocatively, they pointed to one box that was said to contain the remains of Jesus, and another containing the remains of "Judah, son of Jesus." These claims ran counter to the mainstream Christian view that Jesus made a bodily resurrection after his crucifixion and death, and that he did not marry or have children. To explain the seeming discrepancy with the Gospels, Tabor and his colleagues suggested that early Christians did not necessarily believe in a bodily resurrection, but rather a spiritual resurrection in which Jesus left behind the "old clothes" of the flesh.
The first book ("The Jesus Family Tomb") and TV documentary ("The Lost Tomb of Jesus") set off a wave of protests, with skeptics saying that Tabor and Jacobovici were sensationalizing an unprovable assertion. Despite the criticism, the team continued their work, focusing on the other tomb. This tomb was only briefly examined in 1981 before protests by Orthodox Jews, concerned about the disturbance of a gravesite, forced an end to the archaeological study. The tomb was sealed back up, and a condominium was built over it. Tabor and his colleagues refer to this tomb as the "Patio Tomb," because a patio sits almost directly above the tomb.
Israel's civil and religious authorities were resistant to efforts to reopen the Patio Tomb, so Tabor, Jacobovici and their colleagues came up with an unorthodox alternative: They suggested building a robotic arm that could be extended down vent holes and drill holes into the tomb, to a maximum length of more than 15 feet. The authorities gave their permission, and the documentary team proceeded with their remote-controlled video exploration in June 2010.
James Tabor / UNCC
Investigators shot imagery of the 1st-century Jerusalem tomb and the bone boxes inside the tomb using a robotic arm, as shown in this video frame.
The filmmakers peered into niches cut into the tomb and found several inscribed bone boxes, including one that was left ajar to reveal the bones still within. In one of the niches, two boxes were jammed close together. As the robotic arm maneuvered to look at the side of one of the boxes, one of the investigators cried out, "Wait, wait, stop there!" A design had been etched into the limestone — a design that could be interpreted as a fish with a stick figure hanging out of its mouth.
The meaning of the inscriptions
After consulting with other scriptural experts, the investigators concluded that the etching showed a representation of Jonah and the fish. The biblical tale of the prophet who was swallowed by a giant fish, only to be vomited up alive three days later, had a special resonance for early Christians, who believed in Jesus' resurrection after three days in a tomb. The image of the fish, which would not typically be carved on a Jewish ossuary, suggested to Tabor and his colleagues that this might be the earliest surviving example of a Christian marking on an artifact in Jerusalem.
The team's excitement grew when they saw the inscription on the box sitting next to the one with the fish: A four-line inscription in Greek appeared to refer to a belief in the resurrection. The inscription could be read as "Divine Jehovah, raise up, raise up," or "The Divine Jehovah raises up to the Holy Place," or "Divine Jehovah, raise up [abbreviated name]."
"This inscription has something to do with resurrection of the dead, either of the deceased in the ossuary, or perhaps, given the Jonah image nearby, an expression of faith in Jesus' resurrection," Tabor said in a news release.
The Jesus connection
Tabor and his colleagues tie this latest discovery to their earlier claims by suggesting that the two tombs were part of one complex, which might have been chiseled out by a wealthy supporter of Jesus and his disciples. They even name their prime suspect: Joseph of Arimathea, a high-ranking religious official who was said in the Gospels to have arranged Jesus' burial. In the investigators' view, the fact that they found such a strong connection to early Christianity in the Patio Tomb strengthens their original claims for the Jesus Family Tomb, which is 200 feet away.
"We now have the new archaeological evidence, literally written in stone, that can guide us in properly understanding what Jesus' earliest followers meant by their faith in Jesus' resurrection from the dead — with his earthly remains, and those of his family, peacefully interred just yards away," Tabor and Jacobovici wrote.
Crossan said that was too much of a leap. "There's nothing that associates [the Patio Tomb] with Joseph of Arimathea," he said.
He said the two tombs may well have no relationship to each other: "This whole area is riddled with tombs, as far as we can tell."
Ben Witherington, a New Testament scholar at Asbury Theological Seminary, voiced a similar view. "The attempt to connect [the Patio Tomb] to the other tombs is sheer conjecture, unless the tombs were connected," he told me.
Witherington said the connections made in the newly published book were similar to those put forth in Tabor's earlier work. "Most of us who have evaluated his work would say, OK, all very interesting, but it's building one speculation on another speculation," he said.
However, Witherington was intrigued by the fish carving. "We have early Christian ossuaries with the fish symbol ... in the 2nd century, if not back into the 1st century," he said. "That is the early Christian symbol for I-Ch-Th-Y-S ... 'Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior.' What we don't have any evidence for is that symbol on Jewish ossuaries."
The words of the inscription also caught Witherington's interest. "They imply a belief about the resurrection," he said.
It is thought that the use of such bone boxes in Jerusalem ceased in the year 70, due to the Roman destruction of the city. Thus, there's a chance that the residents buried in the Patio Tomb actually lived during the time of Jesus and his first disciples. However, Crossan noted that Christians weren't the only ones in 1st-century Jerusalem who held a religious belief in resurrection. The Pharisees and the Essenes also looked forward to the resurrection of the righteous, he said.
"What I would say is ... this is a rich Pharisee, a rich person in the 1st century who believes in the resurrection," Crossan told me. "We always thought that [the image of] Jonah coming out of the fish was peculiarly Christian. Maybe that's one more thing that the early Christians took from Jewish tradition, and this would be the first evidence."
Monday, February 6, 2012
"Other" languages
One of the clear signs of a Christian, an authentic Christian, is that he or she will speak in "other languages." I remember years ago engaging in conversation with a shopper at a local discount store in Richmond, VA. After hearing that I was a minister, she asked if I "had been baptized by the Spirit yet." I indicated that I indeed had. She then wanted to make sure that I knew that she meant "Was I able to speak in tongues." When I indicated that I did not speak in an "unknown language," she proceeded to relegate my faith experience as incomplete and said, "You'll really be something when God finally gets hold of you!" How arrogant! Any time we select some biblically mentioned gift of the Spirit and then impose it upon God and others as "the greatest of gifts" because it is mine, we are arrogant! Arrogance is not of God; rather it is of the Devil!
In Acts 2:1-13 we read the story of Pentecost, the coming of the Holy Spirit. All outside the room of believers were amazed that they heard the apostles speaking in their native languages; one's that the apostles clearly did not know only minutes before. Understand that these were unknown languages to the apostles, neither to God nor to some others.
I have come to believe that authentic Christians will indeed be able to speak in other languages accordingly:
1. God's language. Authentic Christians are filled with the Spirit of God, filled with Christ, and therefore see with new eyes and hear with new ears. No longer do we speak from a human self-centered perspective that only deals with I, me, my and mine! We begin to see the beauty and presence of God in all kinds of ordinary experience. We are filled with the desire to allow God’s will to guide our lives along in joy and praise, and in trust and obedience. Authentic Christians speak the language of love of God and love of neighbor, which leads to…
2. Neighbor's language. Authentic Christians develop an innate ability to listen to others -- what they are saying with their tongues, body language and emotions! One who is filled with Christ doesn't need to use other people, or creation for that matter, to fill a void through manipulation of resources -- people and nature!
How are you going to speak in other languages today? Can you speak with God's perspective in the forefront? Can you speak with God to the "other" that will cross your path today? If your words and witness doesn't build up the body of Christ, but instead promotes your own arrogant agenda, then your faith should be called into question!
Spend time in the Bible, in prayer and listen before you speak. Consider James 1:19
Know this, my beloved brothers and sisters: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger;" (ESV)
Post this at all the intersections, dear friends: Lead with your ears, follow up with your tongue, and let anger straggle along in the rear. (MSG)
In Acts 2:1-13 we read the story of Pentecost, the coming of the Holy Spirit. All outside the room of believers were amazed that they heard the apostles speaking in their native languages; one's that the apostles clearly did not know only minutes before. Understand that these were unknown languages to the apostles, neither to God nor to some others.
I have come to believe that authentic Christians will indeed be able to speak in other languages accordingly:
1. God's language. Authentic Christians are filled with the Spirit of God, filled with Christ, and therefore see with new eyes and hear with new ears. No longer do we speak from a human self-centered perspective that only deals with I, me, my and mine! We begin to see the beauty and presence of God in all kinds of ordinary experience. We are filled with the desire to allow God’s will to guide our lives along in joy and praise, and in trust and obedience. Authentic Christians speak the language of love of God and love of neighbor, which leads to…
2. Neighbor's language. Authentic Christians develop an innate ability to listen to others -- what they are saying with their tongues, body language and emotions! One who is filled with Christ doesn't need to use other people, or creation for that matter, to fill a void through manipulation of resources -- people and nature!
How are you going to speak in other languages today? Can you speak with God's perspective in the forefront? Can you speak with God to the "other" that will cross your path today? If your words and witness doesn't build up the body of Christ, but instead promotes your own arrogant agenda, then your faith should be called into question!
Spend time in the Bible, in prayer and listen before you speak. Consider James 1:19
Know this, my beloved brothers and sisters: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger;" (ESV)
Post this at all the intersections, dear friends: Lead with your ears, follow up with your tongue, and let anger straggle along in the rear. (MSG)
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Green Board
Lord, I saw a weather person standing before a blank green board explaining the weather on a map not visible to her. But the image is produced elsewhere and injected onto the screen that we view. Is this not similar to showing you to others. To the lost all they see is a blank green board that we claim shows your presence. But to those who follow You, your image is injected onto the screen of their experience by the power of your Holy Spirit. It really isn't there to the lost! They are indeed right! But to those who follow Jesus, it's not just a blank green board that we stand before. We stand in trust and faith that you, the Producer, reveal an accurate image of reality and life. It is our job to follow and point. It is your job to reveal and show! Thanks be to God!
In Christ,
Amen
Monday, December 12, 2011
O "Little" Town of Bethlehem!
I have been reflecting on that dismal little town of Bethlehem. It is a dark dreary fortified city cut off from the rest of all important and powerful Israel! Today it is surrounded by a high and large wall that has military guarded gates limiting the flow of traffic for Arabs, nonJewish residents, who live inside this tiny financially destitute town. The Church of the Nativity where Jesus was reportedly born is owned and run by the Greek Orthodox. They have regular rituals of prayers and cleansing with incense. All must move out of the way when this all important ritual begins. The church has not been kept up well and you must walk to the front of the sanctuary and then descend into the basement where the Christ-child's manger was to have been.
Groups are channeled down the winding staircase for a brief look, bent over prayer, and then quickly shuffled out. Entry into the church is through a small door where one must stoop in order to keep from bumping one's head. I've been to the church twice and someone has bumped their head each time. Some believe that this is an example of the biblical cliche regarding a camel going through the eye of the needle (a supposed reference to a camelback warrior trying to ride through that narrow entrance -- virtually impossible).
I think about the unimportance of that little town now, and I think about the unimportance of that little town when Jesus was born there. No great five star hotels! Not the Hollywood strip or Wall Street or Pennsylvania Avenue, just a little town where God chose to grace the world with His incarnation. If we are looking up to God, listeing to God's call and following his signs, then we can walk circumspectly in the world without bumping our heads, losing our minds in the shuffle and hustle of what the world says is all important! I might think I have gotten that point by now.
The first Friday in December we have a luncheon at our church for seniors, many from the local nursing homes and assisted living centers. We fed about 275 this year on Friday December 2nd. I was relieved this year when our Sunshine Luncheon director indicated that children would lead the service and that all I had to do was introduce the beginning of Communion, The Lords Supper, and drive the minibus to collect residents at two of our facilities (they didn't have transportation). At Carebridge, the first of the two stops for me, I failed to look up. I failed to see the divine signs! The overhang outside the front of their entrace had a huge sign that read, "9 Foot Clearance!" Our minibus was clearly more that 9 feet and I pulled her into the woodword under the awning. I then backed back out dragging remnants of splintered wood with me and leaving a gash in the top of the minibus and my ego! Ouch!
When I fail to slow down, look around, but especially look up to God listening for His calling and following His signs, I am sure to bump my head, to injure my ego. Who am I without the "I am" of all life? Nada! I am glad that the church forgives me for my inadequacies, even as God forgives us all for riding in bumper cars through life. That was fun as a child, but not as an adult!
Hmmm!
Dr. Fitz
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Following the Star during 2011 Advent
This year our theme for Advent (the season where we prepare for the coming of Jesus) is “follow the star.” Clearly the language of faith is countercultural. We are challenged by God to take a little language coarse, like how we teach ESL (English as a Second Language) to some of our international church members and friends. Our understanding of star gazing is totally different that what the world thinks of when they search for stars.
Our culture is obsessed with following the star(s). Headline news covers great events like weddings and divorces of those we consider stars (Prince William and Kate Middleton), or Tiger Woods and his marital problems. Prime time television has an obsession with star watching too with great shows such as “Dancing with the Stars,” or shows that focus on individuals whose sole aim in life is to become a star, like the old original “Star Search,” or contemporary ones like “American Idol” and “The X Factor.” We wonder, “who might have “the X factor” to become the next great star that the world is looking and waiting for to make our lives so much better? Maybe it’s Kim Kardashian? Isn’t she your hero? Millions of people tune in to watch and cast their votes for their hero dancing or singing stars.
What is a star except a point in the universe that gives off light in the midst of a dark sky. What we now know is that when we gaze into the dark night sky we may be seeing light from a star that has actually burnt out and is no longer there! The light has travelled so far that indeed the object that emitted that light may, in reality, not really be there anymore! That is quickly the case with the cultural stars highlighted in the news or on prime time television. Here today, gone tomorrow! Where is the light and glow of their great illumination? Where is Ronald Regan now? Or John Wayne? Or Marilyn Monroe? Or Michael Jackson?
Contrary to cultural star obsession, our ministers will be leading music, devotions and sermons that focus on the star of heaven that shines to give light on the presence of God. The Bible notes that Jesus is the light of the world.
John 1:4,9 – “In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.”
Jesus said in John 8:12, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
Therefore, our Advent focus isn’t about worshiping stars, or the heavens, but allowing the heavenly star that originally guided people to Christ to reflect and direct us today to the light of life, the light that pokes holes in darkness and enables us to see the light in Jesus Christ, the incarnation of God. When we worship and receive Christ Jesus into our hearts and homes we invite light and love and life into the very center of our being and doing.
Follow the star with us this Advent and watch it reflect on the truth, Jesus is Emmanuel, God with us, and thus we have a light that the world cannot see, doesn’t know and cannot snuff out.
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