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Savor the Spirit

2025-12-24 in /by

I’m reflecting today on one stunning thought. The world was different this week. We forgot our compulsion with winning, wooing, and warring. We looked out toward the star of Bethlehem. More than in any other season, his name was on our lips.

And the result? For a few precious hours our heavenly yearnings intermeshed and we became a chorus. “Come and behold him” we sang, stirring even the sleepiest of shepherds and pointing them toward the Christ-child. Immanuel. He is with us. God came near.

Soon December’s generosity will become January’s payments, and the magic will begin to fade. I want to savor the spirit just a bit more. To pray that those who beheld him today will look for him next August. How much more could we do if we thought of him every day.

纪念道成肉身

2025-12-24 in , /by

约翰福音 6:47-48  我实实在在地告诉你们：信的人有永生。 48 我就是生命的粮。 

约翰福音 6:63  叫人活着的乃是灵，肉体是无益的。我对你们所说的话就是灵，就是生命。

让我们先从一个略显沉重的观察开始：圣经并没有提供耶稣确切出生日期的确凿证据。那么，早期基督徒是如何得出12月25日这个结论的呢？

答案在于犹太神学思想与早期基督教推测的融合。教会借鉴了犹太传统（例如，《犹太新年》10b-11a），认为时间是循环的，一位伟大人物的受孕和死亡在宇宙中可能存在某种关联。被认为是拉丁教父和西方基督教神学鼻祖之一的特土良（约公元160-220年）声称知道耶稣的死亡日期（3月25日，尼散月十四日），并据此推断耶稣的受孕也发生在同一天。

逻辑很简单：如果耶稣受孕于3月25日，那么他的出生日期就在9个月后，大约是12月25日。这种推算展现了早期基督徒用来推论耶稣诞生的神学推理。它也恰好与1月1日的割礼节吻合，根据犹太历，割礼节是在耶稣诞生后第八天庆祝的。

圣诞节的形成与后来基督教化的罗马帝国截然不同。在公元4世纪到6世纪之间，教会领袖确实重新诠释了一些现有的节日（包括像农神节这样的仲冬庆祝活动），但这发生在12月25日被提议之后很久。早期的基督徒仍遭受迫害，与主流文化格格不入，他们并非采纳异教习俗，而是与异教划清界线。

以马内利

2025-12-23 in , /by

以赛亚书 7:14   因此，主自己要给你们一个兆头，必有童女怀孕生子，给祂起名叫以马内利。

马太福音 1:22-23   这一切的事成就，是要应验主藉先知所说的话说：23 「必有童女怀孕生子，人要称他的名为以马内利。」（「以马内利」翻出来就是「神与我们同在」。）

这是一个真实故事：在1994年，有两个美国宣教士应邀到苏联的一个孤儿院，与他们共度圣诞。在那个孤儿院里，多是被遗弃或虐待，甚至没人要的残障小孩。

那年，他们第一次听到圣诞节的故事，听到因为神爱世人，让耶稣降生在马槽里。说完故事之后，宣教士请孩子们用他们带去的黄色纸巾剪出一丝丝的纸条，放在宣教士带去的小纸盒里，做成一个个的马槽。然后让孩子们在一张小纸头上画下婴孩耶稣，把他放进马槽里。

宣教士们轮流去看每个孩子的成品，发现有个大约六岁的小孩在马槽里放了两个小婴孩。宣教士请翻译员来问他为何是两个？那个小孩说：“当马利亚要把耶稣放进马槽时，耶稣问我有没有地方住。祂说，假如我没有地方住，可以跟祂一起睡在马槽里。我跟祂说，我不像别人一样有礼物可送给祂。但是我很想跟耶稣在一起，所以我就拚命想，后来想到我的身体可以让祂觉得温暖。

Such A Thing To Do

2025-12-23 in /by

The God of the universe was born into the poverty of a peasant and spent his first night in the cows’ feed trough. He left the glory of heaven and moved into our neighborhood. Who could have imagined he would do such a thing?

What a world he left. Our classiest mansion would be a tree trunk to him. God became a one-celled embryo and entered the womb of Mary. He became like us. Just look at the places he was willing to go: feed troughs, carpentry shops, badlands, and cemeteries. The places he went to reach us show how far he will go to touch us. He loves to be with the ones he loves.

圣诞树与马丁路德

2025-12-22 in , /by

约翰福音 6:40  我父的旨意是要一切见子而信的人得永生，并且在末日我要叫他复活。

约翰福音 3:36  信子的人有永生；不信子的人得不着永生，神的震怒常在他身上。

圣诞树是圣诞节最广为人知的象征物。今天从各个教会，到各大城市的公共广场、百货公司的大厅里都有它的踪影。但是你知道今天我们看到上有伯利恒之星、挂满各种饰品的圣诞树，最早是宗教改革的发起人马丁路得做出来的吗？

圣诞树最早可以追溯到古代欧洲维京人与日耳曼人的树木崇拜信仰，他们认为长青树木象征永恒的生命力。后来各民族归信基督教后，他们将长青树转为永生的象征。中世纪日耳曼地区演出有关亚当夏娃故事的戏剧里，有一棵挂满苹果的杉树，被认为是圣诞树的原形。

A Moment Like No Other

2025-12-22 in /by

It was an ordinary night with ordinary sheep and ordinary shepherds. Then the black sky exploded with brightness. Trees that had been shadows jumped into clarity. Sheep that had been silent became a chorus of curiosity. One minute the shepherd was dead asleep, the next he was rubbing his eyes and staring into the face of an angel! The night was ordinary no more. The angel came in the night because it’s when lights are best seen, and when they are most needed.

It all happened in a most remarkable moment—a moment like no other. God became a man. Divinity arrived. Heaven opened and place her most precious one in a human womb. God had come near.

In the mystery of Christmas, we find its majesty. The mystery of how God became flesh, why he chose to come at all, and how much he must love his people.

马槽

2025-12-21 in , /by

路加福音 2:11-12  因今天在大卫的城里，为你们生了救主，就是主基督。你们要看见一个婴孩，包著布，卧在马槽里，那就是记号了。」

你知道吗？耶稣降生时，马槽并非随意放置，而是意义非凡的记号。

大多数人想像的是一个安静马厩里柔软的木制摇篮。但在公元一世纪的以色列，马槽通常是用石头雕刻而成。坚硬、冰冷、耐用，是为了承载珍贵的生命，并保护它免受伤害。仅仅这一点就足以改变人们的想像。这并非为了舒适，而是为了特定的目的。

伯利恒并非偶然选址。那里以饲养用于圣殿献祭的羔羊而闻名。当地的牧羊人深知什么样的羔羊才能蒙神悦纳。一只毫无瑕疵的羔羊必须受到保护，保持洁净，并且完好无损地保存下来。任何受损的羔羊都会被淘汰。完美至关重要。

现在，请用全新的视角阅读路加福音第二章。当天使宣告弥赛亚降生时，这个记号是专门赐给牧羊人的：「你们会看见一个婴孩，用布包著，躺在马槽里。」这个细节并非为了诗意的表达。这是为了彰显身份。牧羊人明白，当珍贵的生命被安置在马槽中寻求庇护时，这意味着什么。他们知道，这绝非寻常之子。

His Kingdom Will Never End

2025-12-21 in /by

In Bethlehem, the human being who best understood who God was and what he was doing was a teenage girl in a smelly stable. As Mary looked into the face of the baby, she saw her son, her Lord, his majesty—she couldn’t take her eyes off him. Somehow Mary knew she was holding God. So this is he she thought. She remembered the words of the angel: “His kingdom will never end.”

He looked like anything but a King. His cry, though strong and healthy, was still the helpless and piercing cry of a baby. Majesty in the midst of mundane. Holiness in the filth of sheep manure and sweat. Divinity entering the world on the floor of a stable, through the womb of a teenager, and in the presence of a carpenter. God came near. And as Luke 1:33 says, “His kingdom will never end.”

希望之歌

2025-12-19 in , /by

路加福音 1: 32-33 祂要为大，称为至高者的儿子；主神要把他祖大卫的位给祂， 33 祂要做雅各家的王，直到永远；祂的国也没有穷尽。」

路加福音2:13-14 忽然有一大队天兵，同那天使赞美神说： 「在至高之处荣耀归于神！在地上平安归于祂所喜悦的人！」

曾有一段日子，当时两个孩子还小，圣诞节对我来说并不是喜气洋洋的节庆。在街上洋溢的欢呼声里，我的心反倒沉了下来。想到耶稣降生的目的，竟是要走向十字架、走向残酷的死亡，这如何教人欢欣呢？！

我抱着孩子时，想着：若是我的孩子，从婴孩一路抚育成人，到了三十三岁就被挂在十字架上受死，那会是何等撕裂心肺的痛？想到这里，圣诞节对我而言并不是庆祝，而像是一种提前看见受苦的预告，我也不明白为教会布置圣诞装饰的意义何在？！

When Hope Was Born

2025-12-19 in /by

When Christ was born, so was our hope. This is why I love Christmas. The event invites us to believe the wildest of promises: He did away with every barrier, fence, sin, bent, debt, and grave. Anything that might keep us from him was demolished. He only awaits our word to walk through the door. Invite him in, escort him to the seat of honor, and pull out his chair. Clear the table; clear the calendar. Call the kids and neighbors. Christmas is here. Christ is here.

One request from you, and God will do again what he did then: scatter the night with everlasting light. He’ll be born in you. Let “Silent Night” be sung. Every heart can be a manger. Every day can be a Christmas. The Christmas miracle—a yearlong celebration!