Old as the Universe, and yet New to each of us!--by Linden Malki

There are three faith traditions based on the relationship of God the Creator of the Universe to His creatures. All three are based on a call of God to a person or persons to follow Him. Two of them describe this calling in terms of a set of rules to obey, so that they may be part of a community that has the favor of God. The third one, while it does have principles by which its followers are called to live, is based not on obedience to rules but a relationship with a Person. What we know about this Person is based partly on a tradition passed down from people who knew Him and lived with Him, partly on the Story of His death and Resurrection, but the most important things we know about Him come from our own experience of Him in our lives.

We are coming into the season of the year that has become the traditional celebration of His coming, as a human baby who was born to be a very special and unusual person. A few people were told Who He was, and from the beginning that knowledge brought both rejoicing and fear. That is still true; there are those who recognize His promise of life, not only in this world but beyond it, in His presence. There are also those who fear the disruption of their lives if they were to take His word seriously. He said and did things that were both recognizable to those who had heard of God, and upsetting to those who thought they knew everything they needed or wanted to know of God.  He could be gentle with children, and welcoming to those who were outside of the ancient Jewish tradition. He could be scathing with those who claimed to have a monopoly on God, who were judgmental and unforgiving to those who fell short of what they thought were God's standards. He had little patience with those who expected God to send legions of angels to crush the occupying Roman empire and restore their dreams of running the world.

Jesus came with a message and a promise to the whole world, not just those who bragged of their promised vindication, but of all the world that would recognize God's power, offered not as a crushing imperial slavery but available as a gift which had to be opened to be used. He told a small group of men that responded to His offer of a new life that they would be responsible for reaching out to all the world, from Jerusalem (which tried to bring God's kingdom by force and was destroyed in the process), to Samaria, where remnants of the Northern Kingdom of Israel had hung onto their version of the prophecies and who recognized and welcomed Jesus' refugee followers, to the world outside who had heard of the Jewish traditions, and the wider world that was totally outside of that culture.  We have the stories; we have the instruction book; have we opened our lives to Him and His Spirit, and His calling to a new life?