Page 6
Pastors Note
R ev. JohnMendez
A Christmas Message
As we approach the
Christmas holiday season,
we focus our attention on
the infant )esus. Centuries
earlier, the Prophet Isaiah
declared that "unto us a
child would be born" in
whom the love and
liberating power of God
would be manifested.
Centuries later, in a little
isolated village called
Bethlehem, poor im
poverished sheperds, the
least of these tound the |
"babe wrapped in swad
dling clothes and lying in I
a manger. Then curious,
searching wise men from
the East were led to the in-1
fant by a bright shinning
mysterious star. With the
birth of the infant Jesus
was also born the hope
and joy of a new beginn
ing, a new future for all or
God's people. Hence,
Christmas is the affirma
tion of a new life of joy,
love and justice.
However, the manger
in a greedy, profit-making
society only seeks to com
mercialize and get rich on
Christmas. Artists are in
spired to paint new ideas
of joy surrounding
Christmas on canvas.
Churches through their
liturgy and song lift up the
manger event as a time of
celebration only. But the
Bible story of Christmas
knows none of this. In the
Bible the Christmas event
Christmas is the af
firmation of a new
life of joy, love
land justice.
is full of pathos and
tragedy. It is an im
poverished substitute for
the room that could not
be found in the inn. In my
travels around the world,
in Africa, in Central
America, in the back
alleys, ghettoes, and
slums of North Carolina
and America, many poor
and impoverished
children are still born out
side the inn of comfort
and privilege. They live in
slums and shanties and
many are homeless. We
should never forget the
child of Bethlehem who
came to transform the
world into a new
Jerusalem, a new heaven
and earth had nowhere to
lay his head.
Worse still, Herod's
soldiers who were trained
to obey and not question
hastened to Bethlehem to
kill the poor infant Jesus
for fear that a pauper
might become a king. The
child, the infant Jesus,
who embodied within
himself the dreams and
apirations of his parent, of
the homeless, of the
nobody's, outcasts, poor
and impoverished
everywhere was born a
threat to the security of the
old established order. The
grief of the mothers
shadows forth the grief of
the women at the foot of
the cross.
How many children
whether in South Africa,
Nicaraqua, El Salvador,
Honduras, Palestine, Iran,
Iraq, Afghanistan, East
Winston-Salem, New
York, South Bronx,
Washington, D.C.,
Chicago Eastside,
Mississippi, etc. are born
amidst the devastation
caused by human con
flicts, victims of the fears
and hates of their elders?
The Prince of Peace con
tinues to suffer and die in
each little child who is
abused, unfairly aborted,
maimed, killed, abandon
ed, tortured and held in
detention in our day.
Yet, however dark the
night, there is a bright start
that shines at midnight.
Emerson was right, "only
when it is dark enough
can you see the stars."
The cruel and mean
Herods of this world can
not and will not win. It
Continued on page 8
Happy Holiday Emitiajiufl SapttBt ffllfurrlj
REV. JOHNMENDEZ
Sunday School.... 9:30 A.M.
Morning Worship.. 11:00 A.M
Bible Study &
Prayer Service
Wednesday 7:00 P.M.
1075 SHALIMAR DRIVE WINSTON-SALEM. NORTH CAROLINA
"I was glad whpn thpv said unto me. I>pt us go into the httusp of the lord "
(Psalm 122:1 ♦
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On The Second Day of Christmas
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Malcolm Pharr
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