Fragile flower is a symbol of hope
Inspiration for Christmas message found
Is there any hope? I arrived at our church office at St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church on a hot morning in early December wondering what “inspiring” message I should preach on Christmas Sunday morning?
As I stepped out of my truck, I noticed this purple flower growing out of a crack in the paving stones. I almost crushed it on my way.
Yet here was the inspiration for my Christmas message.
Do you ever feel like that flower? Clinging to existence surrounded by a desert of uncaring stone? Being trampled as life passes you by?
Unappreciated, unnoticed, unknown, insignificant, invisible.
Is there any hope in this materialistic, Darwinian world? Is it really only “the survival of the fittest?”
No.
That fragile flower exemplifies the Biblical Christmas message.
Two thousand years ago a vulnerable child was born to an unknown peasant girl, and a blue-collar father, from an obscure village in a corner of the Roman Empire.
These are historical facts. The cold meaningless universe, and the tyrannical political and religious institutions of the day combined forces in an attempt to extinguish that solitary life.
Yet, 20 centuries later it can be rightfully debated that no other personality has positively impacted human society more than that insignificant, unknown baby, born in a manger, in a backwater village of no reputation.
The birth of Jesus Christ, commemorated on December 25 each year, fulfilled a 4000-year-old Biblical promise and should give us a sure hope that peace and forgiveness will never cease to increase on earth.
Yes. There will always be hope.
— Pastor Alby Mascheretti
St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church