In 1994, two Americans
answered an invitation from the Russian Department of Education to teach morals
and ethics (based on biblical principles) in the public schools. They were
invited to teach at prisons, businesses, the fire and police departments and a
large orphanage. About 100 boys and girls who had been abandoned, abused, and
left in the care of a government-run program were in the orphanage. They relate
the following story in their own words:
It was nearing the
holiday season, 1994, time for our orphans to hear, for the first time, the
traditional story of Christmas. We told them about Mary and Joseph arriving in
Bethlehem. Finding no room in the inn, the couple went to a stable, where the
baby Jesus was born and placed in a manger.
Throughout the story,
the children and orphanage staff sat in amazement as they listened. Some sat on
the edges of their stools, trying to grasp every word. Completing the story, we
gave the children three small pieces of cardboard to make a crude manger. Each
child was given a small paper square, cut from yellow napkins I had brought
with me. No colored paper was available in the city.
Following instructions,
the children tore the paper and carefully laid strips in the manger for straw.
Small squares of flannel, cut from a worn-out nightgown an American lady was
throwing away as she left Russia, were used for the baby’s blanket. A doll-like
baby was cut from tan felt we had brought from the United States. The orphans
were busy assembling their manger as I walked among them to see if they needed
any help.
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All went well until I
got to one table where little Misha sat. He looked to be about 6 years old and
had finished his project. As I looked at the little boy’s manger, I was
startled to see not one, but two babies in the manger. Quickly, I called for
the translator to ask the lad why there were two babies in the manger. Crossing
his arms in front of him and looking at this completed manger scene, the child
began to repeat the story very seriously. For such a young boy, who had only
heard the Christmas story once, he related the happenings accurately – until he
came to the part where Mary put baby Jesus in the manger.
Then Misha started to
ad-lib. He made up his own ending to the story as he said, “And when Maria laid
the baby in the manger, Jesus looked at me and asked me if I had a place to
stay. I told him I have no mama and I have no papa, so I don’t have any place
to stay. Then Jesus told me I could stay with him. But I told him I couldn’t, because
I didn’t have a gift to give him like everybody else did.”
But I wanted to stay
with Jesus so much, so I thought about what I had that maybe I could use for a
gift. I thought maybe if I kept him warm, that would be a good gift. So I asked
Jesus, “If I keep you warm, will that be a good enough gift?” And Jesus told
me, “If you keep me warm, that will be the best gift anybody ever gave me.” So
I got into the manger, and then Jesus looked at me and he told me I could stay
with him – for always.
As little Misha finished
his story, his eyes brimmed full of tears that splashed down his little cheeks.
Putting his hand over his face, his head dropped to the table and his shoulders
shook as he sobbed and sobbed. The little orphan had found someone who would
never abandon nor abuse him, someone who would stay with him – FOR ALWAYS.
I recently
just received this story, and as I read it for the first time, I shed a tear or
two.
…Of course,
the story about the Russian orphan is very compeling.
…But the
reason it touched me so deeply, is that this story has personal applicatiuon
for me, for you, and for the whole world.
I don’t have
to tell you, that it’s a very cold world
out there.The word ‘cold ‘is frequently used to describe hardship, or fear, or
financial troubles, or confusion, isolation, or grief, and the like. Now one thing that adds to the frigidity to our cold world—is being abandoned, or
orphaned. When you are facing such hard times, all alone, & you don’t have anyone with who9m to snuggle
up, either physically, emotionally, or spiritusally---- That’s the sort of cold
that blows though you like an arctic wind, and chills you to the bone.
But you
know, each and every one of us either has, or is, or will become orphaned at
one time or another.
· The families of the victims of Sandy
Hook were savagely orphsaned....some who lost parents and others who lost children. These are the orphans for whom we grieve on
this might, which must be the most painful Christmas that they could ever
imagine.
Further, we all realize that if it
has not already happened, you will become profaned .
· Health problems may isolate us from
others, or even make us withdraw from
those we love.
· How many people this Christmas are
feeling orphaned by the American economy, as the recession goes on and on?
· At some point you will lose people
you love—because they die or leave you---your parents , spouses, children, grandchildren,
friends, colleagues, church friends…at some point, you and I will lose those
who have been most precious to us.
· And of course, if you have never been
orphaned before, there will come a point where you and I will die—we will
become stone cold dead, and that will be a journey that no one can take with
us. At that time life will abandon you when you take your last breath, YOU WILL ENDURE the coldness
of death by yourself alone.
However, little, Misha,
like you, can take a path to come of out the cold. You and I can come and accept the warmth, the
hope, and salvation, of the one whose birth we celebrate tonight. You and I can embrace Jesus, who has promised
that if we come to love Him and claim Him as our spiritual master and savior.
Jesus promised us”I WILL NOT LEAVE YOU AS ORPHANS… I will take you to myself, and you will have
a home in my father’s house, with a place prepared just for you.
You see, 2,000 years ago,
God almighty looked down at the earth and he saw billions and billions of
orphans—orphans who lived in the past, orphans who lived in Jesus’ time, and
orphans who would live in the future.
This sight broke God’s heart, so he sent His son to tell us of God’s love, and how he has a wonderful purpose for our lives,
now and in the age to come. He invites
us to share in the love of his eternal family.
How does one accept this invitation to God’s family? You speak to God & the same thing all
Christians acknowledge ---- that you are sorry for your sins and that tell you have turned away from him by your apathy. He will
then forgive you, because Jesus died on the cross and rose from the dead that
He might be your savior, master,
protector, friend, and family.
Now, the love of God’s family is great. You
will receive unexpected blessings in your daily life. You will learn that
prayer is just talking to God. You can
learn to listen to God‘s caring answers to your prayers by joining a church
family, kike this church or another. You
will join at the family dinner table, week after week, and be fed by Health
problems may isolate us from others, or even make us withdraw from those we
love.
Some of us may have been
dragged to church at one time or another, and may have never really asked God
to join his family. Others of us may
have previously asked, but drifted away. Still others of us find once such a
commitment has been initially made, that we want to renew our bonds of faith
and family for them to grow even stronger.
One of the times I made
such a recommitment occurred on a cold starry night, when I was staying at
lodge in the woods, with some of my friends.
That night, I was lonely. However,
the loneliness was not due to a lack of friends; rather, the loneliness was an
inner feeling that I had drifted away from God’s family. I walked out into the cold of that awesome
starry night, looked up into sky, and asked God for welcome me back to into the
warmth of his embrace. And then, I felt warmth in my heart which made me
realize that I , indeed, was God’s son…that He would love me forever.
Maybe you would like to
join me . In a moment, I am going to
make such a prayer of recommitment to share in the family of God. You are
welcome to repeat it after me, and thereby prayer to God our father. Or, maybe you wish quietly prayer on your
own, using your own words. But for goodness sakes, come out of the cold into
the warmth and the blessed life which is the promise of Christmas.
Let us pray.
Dear Jesus, we thank you
for being born
So that we might live
forever with you.
We thank you for dying
And rising from the dead
To offer forgiveness of
sin.
Forgive us all our sins,
known and unknown.
Come now into my heart as my Wonderful Counselor,
Mighty God, Everlasting Father,
Protector & Savior, and Prince of Peace.
Make my commitment sincere,
now and forever.
Here the words of God for
all who truly turn to him, words spoken to the shepherds 2000 years ago, and
words spoken by God to you tonight,
“Glory to God and
His peace, which passes all human
understanding , is now with you, with whom He is well pleased.”
May His joy be in you this Christmas,
and may that joy be complete. AMEN.
The Rev. John Donnelly
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