A great line in the 1980’s version of the Miracle on 34th St. is when the lady who is in charge of Santa at the Macy’s department store does not believe in Santa. Santa says: “ You don’t believe in me do you?”Her Line : “ I don’t believe there is any harm in not believing in something that many do acknowledge as fiction.”
Santa’s reply: I am not just not a whimsical figure, who wears a charming suit with a jolly demeanor..I am a symbol of the human ability to be able to suppress the selfish and hateful tendencies that dominate the major part of our lives.
St. Nicholas was actually a real person and was born about 70 years after Jesus's death, he was a symbol of hope who dedicated his life and his wealth to serving Jesus. Nicholas became a symbol of love and generosity. So, the picture of St. Nicholas with Jesus is a nice moving thought of reverence but not possible.
Jesus was not a just a symbol or fiction. He was real and an example of Love, Hope and the ability to suppress our hateful and selfish and sinful nature which is a very challenging prospect. Romans 3:23 says: For all have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God.
So don’t beat yourself up this season because you have failed many times this year. There is HOPE and a great & fresh new year ahead.
This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.
1 John 4:9 NIV
Matthew 22:32-40 (NIV)
32 ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’[a]? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.”
33 When the crowds heard this, they were astonished at his teaching.
The Greatest Commandments
34 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together.35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[b] 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[c]
So as your Chaplain, I Do Love each and everyone one of you. I pray for your safety and your precious family’s safety.
I hope you have a Blessed and Merry Christmas.
I am always at your service and on call if you need me.
Chaplain Mark Massey
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