A CHRISTMAS MEDITATION.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20906, 21 December 1929, Page 27

A CHRISTMAS MEDITATION.

M ritten for the Otago Daily Times. . Cy the Rev. D. Gardner Miller. As silently as night drops her curtain, as softly as the stars light the sable sky, as swiftly as dawn’leaps over the moun-tain-tops—so was the coming of the Christ-child. Although the world expected Him, needed Him, and longed for His coming, yet the Quietness of His coming found it unprepared. Mon looked for a man, and behold there came a child, God is the God of the unexpected.

In spite of the deep-seated, longing for a great Revealor meu had not yet lifted their eyes to a pinnacle; their gaze was still held by the pavement. Only a few choice, humble souls recognised Him wheii He came. It was true then, and for ever true, that only the pure in heart see God.

The record of the life of the Christ Child con ,bo briefly stated —that is, as far as years and mouths and days are concerned The record of what He was in Himself and of the ultimate authority He exercises on human personalities is still being told, and when the heavens are rolled up like a scroll and time is no more, the half of what He is to men who have simply followed Him will not have been told. His physical life comprised but thirtythree years. For three of these years He walked the streets of ancient Jewry tell lug with 'musical voice the wondrous story of love. It is remarkable that of. these three years ‘ we have only a record of thirty-five days. T’-o biographies of Jesus in the Gospels comprise—if measured in days—a period of time just slightly over a month! And f he story of that month has changed the world. To read it and ponder over it is to feel constrained to say, ns one writer has si'd, “ When you call Him God you but give Him His right name.” And what a story it is I It began with a borrowed cradle and ended with a borrowed tomb.

As the .Christ-child grew up into manhood’ He was misunderstood, excommunicated, hated, lovod,. and crucified—and only a few felt that all the time God was living in their midst. If is .this latter fact that constitutes the glory and the tragedy of the race. He had no home of His own, but gladly accepted shelter from His friends,'qr, . just as gladly, slept beneath the friendly stars. Ht had no possessions of any ‘ kind, but sat loose to the many things that men. deem indis pcnsible. Tot, He was at. home in this old world of ours. Ho was in the world but not of it. He is the proof jf His own teaching. With a quiet persistence ho showed mer that the permanent things in life are. not material, bu*’ spiritual. His valuation of human life lias for ever crowned with honour the daily round and the common task. As he talked to men, they began to realise that immortality instead of being a speculation is a certainty.

The world has changed since by His birth He changed a. wayside inn to an ante-chamber of heaven. Something wonderful and beautiful came into human life when Ho sat in a market' place and the children crowded round Him. He moved among men as if He possessed a secret and when they got close to Him they found Him eager to impart the secret. ' I What was it? Is it not that as. He dwelt among us He reflected God? “He that bath seen Mo hath seen the Father,” not only on a cross but also in a stable. The oftener I read these words of Jesus and ponder over them the more' and more am I amazed at their depth—and daring. To see Him is to see God. As a recent writer has Do we'look for what a man should be? We look towards Him., Do we seek'for an attitude towards God or to the world that we can wishuniversalised? We find it nowhere so perfectly or so satisfying as in Him. Do we seek to know what is the ideal relation between man and man, or what is the purpose of the whole of life and of the very world? We no expressions that, content us so . well as those that gain their inspiration from Him. We know God through Christ, and wo know Christ through God. If wo call Him God, as Herrmann says, we but give Him His name.”

It is because of this—the great secret which He confers upon all who would follow His way—that Christmas is the most joyous time of the year. We bow at the cradle, for there, we see the emergence into the world’s history of the personal God——“ He dwelt among us.” In a palace in Rome there is a ceiling wonderfully painted by a great master. So high is the ceiling that it is beyond the range of ordinary vision. The owner, realising this and realising also that man cannot easily look up, has placed on the floor a highly-polished mirror, so that the reflected picture may easily be seen and studic I, The history of human thought goes to prove that man cannot find God by looking up, so in the fulness of tjme, Christmas time, Jesus came, _ j» image of the invisible God, and reflected Him. Gould anything happier happen to the world than J; hat? We wialj eacl ‘ other a Merry Christmas ” we are simply rejoicing that once upon a time God came in the person of Jesus and dwelt among us. And our cup of happiness runs over when we remember that He has never left us, for He stills dwells amongst us.