Pastor's Corner by Pastor Larry Tong
December 2007
It is early December, and I’m sure many of us are busy trying to get Christmas shopping done before having to compete with the last-minute antsy crowd. There are more and more new merchandises that attract our attention. I have to say the new and improved gadgets are very tempting. Christmas, as hectic and watered-down meaning it has become, is still an inevitable season of joy and serenity that permeates each passing year. On Christmas day, it still brings back the quiet calmness from those old Christmas songs such as Silent Night, Holy Night; O Little Town of
With the changing political climate all over the globe, our world keeps marching into an uncertain future, Christmas seems to be able to bring back the kind of hope that connects the unchangeable past with the ever-changing future. To many, Christmas is like a security blanket that everyone’s heart tries to hold on to inside.
What makes Christmas so special? Who was this child who born in a stable instead of a home? This child, like all new born infant was helpless. He lay there, needing his mother to tend to, yet shepherds from closed by and wise-men from afar went to pay homage to him. When He grew up, he became the center stage of all controversies. He had an outrageous claim that He and God was One! It was clear to the people he told this to that He implied He is God! He bowed down to no human government, compromised to no religious authorities, yet for a man who never set foot outside his own country, never held an office in government, never had a family, and never wrote a single book or had any memoir, influenced the world like no other man ever did. Many lives changed because of Him, not only from what He said and taught.
Though many years had gone by, and the stable had long disappeared, we need to really think about what’s so special about this birth that happened over two thousand years ago. He claimed to be God. Throughout history, Jesus wasn’t the only one who claimed deity, yet all disappeared and forgotten, except Jesus. One important question must be answered: “What if His claim is true?” If Jesus was one of the many who lied, we can ignore him as we’ve ignored others, but what if He is right? Maybe a better question is, “Why should we care?” What does Jesus, who claimed to be God and came from His abode in Heaven, mean to us?
Silent Night! Holy Night! All is Calm! All is Bright! Do you feel the same way? Before I sign off, I wish all of you a joyous Christmas season. If you haven’t come to believe in the Baby Jesus who was born in a stable as God and Savior, I urge you to do so, for He is the reason for the season. If you have, congratulations! Maybe you want to display His promise of hope in your own life. During this hectic month, maybe it serves us well to spend a moment to think, “What does Christmas mean to me?” Merry Christmas!
Pastor Larry
