“You are the light of the world … Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:14, 16
To Baptists around the world during this Christmas season,
All around the world, God is working through everyday people – people like you and me – who respond in faithfulness to God’s call to shine the light of Christ. When the angel appeared to Mary, she responded, “how will this be” as I am not yet married (Luke 1:34). When the angel appeared to Zechariah in his service at the Temple, he responded, “how can I be sure” as my wife and I are well advanced in age. When an angel appeared to Joseph in a dream, the angel addressed his yet unspoken intent to separate from Mary without her “public disgrace” (Matthew 1:19). Mary and Joseph, Elizabeth, and Zechariah are people just like us. When they were invited to shine the light of Christ in an act of obedience, they were filled with doubts and uncertainties as they looked at their circumstances, their age, and the potential impact on others. Yet when they allowed God to interrupt their everyday lives, the ordinary became the extraordinary.
The Shepherds were in their regular fields keeping “watch over their flocks at night” when they were called to spread the word about the newborn Jesus (Luke 2:8). The Magi from the east were in their regular studies when they were called to cross cultures in order to worship the newborn Jesus (Mathew 2:2). Simeon and Ana were in their regular prayers and worship in the Temple when they were called to approach Joseph and Mary and publicly proclaim that the newborn Jesus would bring salvation for “all nations” (Luke 2:31). The Shepherds, Magi, Simeon, and Ana were people just like us. When they were invited to shine the light of Christ in an act of public witness, they were busy in their regular lives of work, study, and worship. Yet when they allowed God to interrupt their everyday lives, the mundane became the miraculous.
The census decree that caused Joseph and Mary to travel to Bethlehem was issued in a common way (Luke 2:1). The manger used to hold the infant Jesus was constructed out of common material (Luke 2:7). The swaddling cloths used to wrap newborn Jesus were the clean strips of linen common to all (Luke 2:7). The invitation of Christmas is to shine the light of Christ as we allow God to interrupt the materials common in all of our homes so that the simple can become the supernatural.
Over and over, the Christmas story is that God invites people just like us to faithful acts of obedience and public witness. God invites homes just like ours to shine the light of Christ. This Christmas, God can use people just like us and homes just like ours to carry God’s global mission of hope, peace, joy, love, and light. This Christmas would you shine the light of Christ by allowing the Lord to interrupt your everyday life so that your ordinary can become God’s extraordinary?
On behalf of the Baptist World Alliance and Baptists in 134 countries and territories, Merry Christmas.
Rev. Dr. Elijah M. Brown
General Secretary and CEO
Baptist World Alliance
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