Thursday, 13 December 2007
It is a privilege to be out on the streets in the build up to Christmas. As I write this we are preparing for the annual open-air event beside Southampton’s Bargate, the original gateway into the city. For the last four years Miracle Street has partnered with the City Council to host this event.
Jesus said, "I am the light of the world” Fairly significant then that his birth should be announced by the presence of a bright star high in the Palestinian night sky. It is this theme of light that gives Christmas the 'feel good factor' in people minds, it's not a coincidence. Jesus also said that we are the light of the world. As we approach Christmas 2007, there certainly is a lot of darkness in our world. The evening news has become a horror story with an added twist, everything is true. We need the light of the world today more than ever.
A famous story is told of a radio conversation between the Aircraft Carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and the Canadian authorities off the coast of Newfoundland, this is one account of that conversation:
This is the Aircraft Carrier USS Abraham Lincoln: Please divert your course 15 degrees north to avoid a potential collision. OverThis is the Canadian Coastguard: We recommend you divert your course 15 degrees. Over
This is the Aircraft Carrier USS Abraham Lincoln: I say again, divert your course. Over
This is the Canadian Coastguard: I repeat, we recommend you divert your course 15 degrees south. Over
This Admiral Raymond Spears onboard the Aircraft Carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, flagship of the United States Atlantic Fleet. We are escorted by four warships and 6 support vessels. With the authority of the President of the United States I demand that you change your course 15 degrees north, that's 1, 5 degrees in a northerly direction or serious measures will be taken to ensure the safety of this fleet and its crew. Over
This is the Canadian Coastguard: We are a lighthouse, your call Admiral.
The Admiral had tremendous authority in that situation, certainly enough to authorise the guns of the US Atlantic fleet to open up with ferocious firepower. He may well have attracted some negative publicity though for blowing a lighthouse off a Canadian cliff top! I wonder what that bloke in the lighthouse felt like as he engaged Admiral Raymond Spears over the issue of authority? I kind of imagine him as a hideous mutated cross of Mr. Bean and Bart Simpson, scary stuff!
You know there is a man in the Nativity story who had even more power than Raymond Spears, his name was Herod the Great, the ruling power at the time of Christ's birth. On hearing the news of the birth of Jesus, Herod had a number of things on his mind but peace on earth was not one of them. He flies into rage and orders the execution of all the baby boys in the region in a futile attempt to hold onto power.
What on earth was it about a child that so intimidated Herod? Well Herod was a vicious individual, hell-bent on building a kingdom over which he was the king. Another kingdom was an immense threat to all he stood for. Confronted with Jesus, people still try to hold onto power often building castles of protection around their hearts for fear of what he may do with their independence and their pride. The story of the Lighthouse and the story of the Nativity teach us that light is never intimidated by darkness or by the power of man and the things that he has made.