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======Christmas 1 - Birth of Jesus ...======
Monday, Dec 21, 2009. How would you explain Christmas to someone who does
not know it. We celebrate the birth of Jesus, who is the key person of Christian
faith. He was born around 2000 years ago (in fact today we think that his
birth took place in the year -4 BC, i.e. it was 2013 years ago). He was born
in the town of Bethlehem, while his parents were traveling due to a census of
one of the Roman kings. All hotels were full, his parents had to stay in some
shed and there the little baby was born. This event is pictured in various
artistic images around the Christmas days.
We cannot understand the meaning of Christmas, if we do not talk about the meaning
of Jesus. We would not celebrate Christmas today, if we would not believe him
to be someone very special. Every human is special in his or her role. We are all
special in our gifts and talents, in our character and experiences. Jesus was
special in another way - according to original Christian insight. He was so special
that his role can only be called unique for the complete history of mankind.
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Christian faith states that there is a God, a creator and eternal being. God made
the earth. God is there, he is the one who is the beginning and the end. Our
whole world has been started by him. As Christians we share this faith with several
other world religions. But Christian faith is unique in the way we think that
God wants to live with mankind. God has created humans to live with him, to live
in his presence. We are all created to have a deep and trustful relationship
to the eternal creator. He wants to be with all of us, with every single human,
every day.
But we have to state that we are not living with God, we are even so far from
him, that we do not realize his existence any more. Mankind, as we know it, has
been separated from God as far as we can think back. This separation is usually
called "sin" in the biblical literature.
God wants to overcome the separation of mankind. He wants to bring us back into
his presence and into a life which knows and experiences truth, love and solidarity.
God wants to lead us back to the source of life. That is the story of Christmas.
We might not experience God today, we might be far off and think that all that
religious stuff is nonsense. But we all have a sense of the need for truth, love
and solidarity. We all know in our hearts that someone like Jesus is desperately
needed in our world, to break the vicious circles, to live in love and dedication.
Jesus is born - he is God coming to mankind as a human, in his "son" Jesus. The
birth of this child, today celebrated at and with Christmas, is God's new
beginning with mankind, his new start to overcome the separation. It is a big
event, something really revolutionary. He is coming to us!
[R.W.E.P., jesusnetwork.eu]
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