Wonderful Beginning

Christmas is interesting.  It is an ending, a present-time drama, and a beginning.  Do you remember the series, The Lord of the Rings?  J.R.R. Tolkien wrote 4 books, The Hobbit, The Fellowship of the Rings, The Two Towers,  and The Return of the King, all part of the larger story ... The Lord of the Rings.  Each book is its own story,  but each book is part of a larger story.  

The Bible is an unfolding story.  It has an origin, which one must know to understand the rest of the story.  It has a respite that speaks of the foundational wisdom upon which the structure is built.  It has a dramatic prophetic middle that foretells (specifically sometimes, and vaguely sometimes) another "story."  And then the event ... the birth of Christ and the record of His story on earth.  

But then, after Jesus' death, the story continues.  The early Church struggles with life, following their calling, and battles powers and principalities here on earth.  We are still in that part of the story, I think! Finally, there is an ending ... set sometime in the future.  

There is a dramatic event that is foretold by the title of Tolkien's book, The Return of the King, and spelled out in God's word by the Holy Spirit Himself.  God reveals the end of the greater story and the beginning of an eternal story of God's people, the Church.  The King does return!

The greater story stretches eternally backwards and forward.  Because it is about God, it is eternal, just as God is eternal.  And we are thankful eternity has stepped into time to consider His creation.

We celebrated a wonderful beginning this week.  But that beginning is only part of a bigger story.  That story is planted in your heart, in your place in the Church, and your part in the "Great" story.  Are you in?  Are you ready? Are you willing?  I pray you, and WE, are! AMEN, Merry Christmas, and a Christ-filled New Year!