Christmas Message
Bishop Jerry
L. Ogles
It
may seem odd to you that a two-year-old lad could remember some event that
occurred at that tender age, but I do remember the end of the Second World War.
I was just 25 days short of two years of age when that momentous news was
broadcast on our radio on the morning of 7 May 1945. My mother and older
sister, Lynn, were most likely listening to Glenn Miller–style music (for I
have always loved it from youth) when the NBC announcer interrupted the music
with a special bulletin: "General Dwight D. Eisenhower reports that
surrender documents between the Allied Forces Europe and the German High
Command have been signed and finalized in Berlin this early morning."
Following that announcement, the Star Spangled Banner was played followed by a
day of martial music and other related news. In Europe, King George VI had made
the same announcement to the people of London and all of England who had
endured, courageously, so many years of war and devastation. Those remarks by
King George IV were followed by the singing of God Save the King in perfect
unison of a grateful people. I suppose the event was burned into my young mind
by the irrational response of my mother and sister to the news. They began
throwing magazines and newspapers up to the ceiling and dancing madly about
proclaiming, "Daddy is coming home!" Psychologist would label that
reaction that I had to the event as a "Significant Emotional
Event." Such an event never escapes our memory.
On
this wonderful Day of the observance of the most Significant emotional,
historical, spiritual, and redeeming event that has ever happened in either
Time or Eternity, let us remember with gratitude that surpasses any other
conclusion of a state of war - the great Truce, Armistice, and surrender of all
history – the Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ to an obscure and quiet little
village outside Jerusalem, called Bethlehem! No longer would all of the hearts
of men be at enmity with their Maker, but reconciled by grace and faith to God
the Father through the Redemptive and Atoning life of Jesus Christ, His only
Begotten Son.
In the hard dark days of the remote past of
antiquity, no one arose from their beds on this Day with the warm glow of love
and fellowship that Christmas engenders. All was darkness and mildew until the
Light of Christ broke, brilliant as the morning sunrise, upon a bewildered
world. The penetrating beams of white light penetrated and dissipated the
centuries, and even millennia, of encrusted hate and bitterness which had
plagued a world ruled by the greed and selfishness of the heart of man. That
darkness of the old world-that-was could not abide a single ray of the
brilliance of the Light of Christ. The wicked world realized immediately that
it could not continue in that new Light. So it attempted, and still attempts,
to block that Light so that its wicked deeds and deceitfulness will be covered.
Must I remind you that the effort is futile?
The amazing events of the first Christmas are all the more amazing for
the manner in which the momentous event was revealed. There was no NBC radio
news, or FOX satellite TV, in those days – only those poor and insignificant
(in the eyes of the world) shepherds on the hills overlooking sleepy little
Bethlehem. They were men of simple hearts and minds, and of very small
expectations, yet, tonight news more wonderful than ever would be revealed to
them that had been denied to rulers and kings in their opulent palaces. The
Mind of God is so far from that of men that we can barely grasp even the stark
realities of God. Even the Wise Men disregarded the brilliant Star as they drew
near to Jerusalem thinking that the King of Kings would surely be born in the
palace of the king in the capital at Jerusalem. But they were wrong. It wasn't
until they left the man-made lights of the city that they once again saw the
Star and were glad. "……they departed; and, lo, the star, which they
saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young
child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy."
(Matt 2:9-10) Isn't it astounding how the ways of God so far outstrip the
thinking of men – how those which we consider to be foolish and inferior
vessels are often the very ones the Lord chooses through which to show forth
His beauty and glory? Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is
the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it
pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.
(1 Cor 1:20-21)
I am
presently basking in the warmth of the wonderful atmosphere and spirit of our
last evening on Christmas Eve of some of my finest and most beloved friends.
They are teenagers and young college adults whom I have known from their early
youth. I consider them very important to my soul, and to the heart of
God. Though young and unproven in the eyes of the world, I can see the light of
God in their precious hearts. They make my autumn days of glorious colors in
gold, and scarlet, and pale green. As I see the evidence of Godly faith glow as
a flame of fire in their hearts, I can say that I, of all men, am moist richly
blessed to have had the privilege to be their minister over these past years.
Perhaps you are lonely and consider yourself too aged, too poor, too
uneducated, or too unfortunate to attract the attention of God. If so, remember
that special bulletin issued on the hills outside Jerusalem by mighty angels to
poor and lonely shepherds. You may find that you, too, are looked upon as poor
Hagar said in the wilderness at Beerlahairoi was looked upon by a loving
God: And she called the name of the LORD that spake unto her,
Thou God seest me: for she said, Have I also here looked after him that seeth
me? (Gen 16:13)
Just
as our Beloved Lord looks upon, with high regard, the helpless and abused
little girl of the Khyber Pass, so does He look with the eyes of love upon the
poor, the aged, the downcast, and those that have sat in darkness – for He has
sent a Great Light into the world at Christmas – even His only Begotten Son,
Jesus!
Merry Christmas to you today, and every day
of the rest of your earthly life!
