UCB International Blog

Hello Rockers! Got this wonderful resource from my friend Berni of www.christianityworks.com .  We can use this story, “Under The Stars” for our Christmas campaigns…

-Gaz

Dear Gary,  

Well – we’re heading into that Christmas period again (unbelievable!) and one of the things that you may be looking for at this time of year is an article to use either in your newsletter or on your website (or both) for Christmas. 

So – if you do have a need in this area, I’ve written a short article (just over 500 words) for you to use however you see fit. 

It’s called Under The Stars…..

Just cut and paste,  and you’re away!

God bless ‘ya!

Berni Dymet

 Under the Stars
 by Berni Dymet

Probably the most enduring memory of Christmas as a child for me, is the Christmas tree.  Dad and I used to drive down to the petrol station, choose the best shaped tree and bring it home. (We always had a real tree – an artificial one was utterly unthinkable.)

My sister and I would decorate it – always trying to remember whose turn it was this year to put the star on top of the tree.

But smell – smell is one of the most powerful triggers of memory.  And the fresh aroma of pine needles through the house, mingled with the smells of Mum’s baking and cooking were just something so incredibly special.

In my child’s heart, they triggered the excruciating anticipation of that moment when we’d race in to see what presents lay under the tree.

I suspect that if you and I could ask Jesus about the smell of Christmas, pine needles and cooking would be the furthest thing from His mind.  The stench of animal dung mingled with the straw in the manger might be closer to the mark.

And if we could ask the Father – “Dad?  Dad what is it that stands out in your memory of that first Christmas?”…how would He answer?  As He looked down on the events as they unfolded – events that He’d planned in His great and mighty heart before time began – what was He feeling?

As He heard the silence broken as that little Child drew breath and cried His first cry – what did Dad feel?

We can only wonder what mix of anticipation and joy He must have felt to see His extraordinary love-plan for this world begin to unfold….and the tinges of deep sorrow and pain that touched His heart as He alone knew what His Son would have to suffer.

What lay in that manger that night wasn’t an expensive bottle of perfume or a watch or a toy or a bottle of wine.  Not something that would be here today and gone tomorrow.

No.  What lay in that manger was a priceless Gift of love.  God deep graven in the flesh (as Luther would later put it) born to pay the price for us.  You and me.

I’ve often wondered – why did God choose this way?  I mean to create you and me knowing full well that we would turn our backs on Him.  Knowing full well that the price of His love would be the suffering of His Son.  God – why?

And yet – I can’t begin to imagine any other way, for the God of love more powerfully and more tenderly to whisper His love into our hearts, than through this utterly unthinkable plan.

A universe filled with trillions of stars.  A fragile planet hurtling through space.  A little village – Bethlehem.  A little stable – under those stars, and yet, away from the limelight.  A little child – the Word of God.  God speaking to us in a language that we could truly understand…..

Don’t you realise?  Don’t you realise how much I love you. 

Jesus.