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Gandelight Meditation John MeCormick Buchanan
Peceitber 24, 1974 Broad Street Presbyterian Church
#1:00 P.M, Columbus, Ohio

One has to assume that God, in His freedom and infinite wisdom, had any
number of alternatives. ite purpose was to reveal Hinsel£:} 0 demonstrate that
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the Eternal God is friendly: that Re is for men and not against them. \His
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purpose was to do something that would indicate that holiness is not regerved

o_o,

for some place other than life, but that life itself contains the ever»present
ee — ‘roe

possibility of the roly.\eod wanted to do something which men would understand.
=_——ae, =e —_—n— oe

There must have been no dirth of suggestions in the courts of heaven:{a
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conquering herc, a might TiOY, a spectacular worker of miracles.
q sa Wi 2 i oo

God chose to act in the birth of a eastd.\ God chose the one experience
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universally common to all men, the awesome, yet simple miracle of new life being
a — a (rcs

born,| God chose to make common cause with every man and woman who ever lived,
rary —_—e, beeen te,

in the birth and life and death of Jesus of Nazareth whom we know as the Christ.
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This is not the occasion for theglogizings| but the name for it is incarnation" ~
Dina | —!

the enfleshing of Almighty God,
La aaa

isd d i hi ‘omi as i t atl
The wisdom of God in choosing this way of coming among us is felt by the ; fea
manner in which the stgry penetpates the emotional armour we customarily wear,
a, Oe Se

Yet, it is more than a stony fas is more than the ancient account of
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something God did twenty centuries ago.| 1 is, for us, an immediate affirmation
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about the world in 1974 and our lives and God's continuing relationship with us.
fete, tinea nt, eee erminy beaten

That is why the writer of the fourth Gospel began, not with an account of
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the birth, but with these words:
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"The word was made flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace

and truth...e«in Him was life, and the life was the light of
men.) The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness

has not overcome it,"

This writ®®, more of a philosopher than a biographer, saw the coming

of Jesus Christ as a light shining in the darkness of human history | He chose

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unforgetable imagery. Ke had the insight to proclaim that the darkness had not,
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and would not, overcome the Light | that's part of the story, too: | the part

which transforms a tender birth story into a saving affirmation about your
oy, [nia el

Life and mine,
—

We know what he meant by darkness [Bach of us in the past twelve months

Perhaps we've shuddered at the

has had to do with some form of darkness,

frightening portent of the euture.| We've seen peace go and come and go again.

rile nel
aia — ab su

We've seen cherished ideals come crashing down we've experienced cynicism at the
niece bine

fidelity of our institutions and our leaders :|we've watched man's inhumanity

to man continue - it seems ~ unabated in distant places.|Or perhaps the darkness
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has been the loss of gomeone very dear: ox disappointment because a fond hope
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receded further into the remote regions of the improbable,

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Beyond the story of the birth, the importance of this night is that there
iain Cae] eri.

is a light shining in the darkness.| In the long history of mankind since that

Canal wee.

night Long ago; the light has had to de battle with all sorts of darkness.JIt has

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not succunbed: the darkness has not overcome it:|there is hope and the possibility
ai | all negra

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always of the Holy - the kind ~ the beautiful - happening in our ntact] We arc
MO a

aaa

not alone = not ever.|God is with us: Iquietl lunauspiciously but always comin
|s Is piciously ways &

marie om

ka

eae into our Lives.

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into li

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So we observe the birth and we light small candles. |e is time, as the shepherds

Cian nisin ania Le a

did, to go to Bethlehem and see this thing which God has done.| tt is time, as the
—, ‘Pree, ——.

Magi did, to fall down before the incredible beauty of a light shining through

‘ame, —

the darkness,

In the darkness of a night stable, somewhere behind a full inn,
emiennstanambiitl inte,

the true light came into the world,| sesus Christ was born,

Candies