A Good News Story mp3
I got the shock of my life this morning. A newspaper actually had a headline that was positive news. I’m convinced this must be a first for the British media. The story was in the Independent, “A Miracle for Christmas.”A Kenyan man, Sammy Gitau, born in a slum and into poverty, was foraging through a rubbish dump when he found a prospectus for Manchester University. A dream was born to one day come to England and study and yesterday, against all the odds, that dream was realised when he received his degree. That can’t happen everyday. And what a Christmas present for him to see such a dream fulfilled from such an unlikely beginning.
On a rather different note, the Telegraph published a somewhat cynical articleabout Christmas, writing, “The day we actually mark the birth of Jesus is likely to pass in a sozzled, bloated blur watching Penelope Keith on telly (or is that Her Majesty?), before ending in some fantastic, plum-pud-throwing family bust-up.” While I’m rather amused by the mental image of my family all throwing the Christmas pudding at each other, it strikes me that the Independent is somewhat closer to what Christmas should really be about. As their headline suggests, Christmas is about a miracle. That miracle of course is the birth of Jesus and God becoming man, to dwell among us and share in our humanity.
I’m sure most people wouldn’t consider Christmas to be about a miracle, let alone think that miracles can happen today. Yet a story in the Daily Mailthis week proved that miracles do still take place. A lady called June Clarke had an accident back in 2000 that left her wheelchair bound and forced to receive incapacity benefits. The committed Christian and her husband prayed everyday for her to be healed and at a Christian Conference in January that prayer was answered. She was able to walk without her wheelchair and no longer needed painkillers. Being an honest soul, once it was clear she was completely healed she tried to stop claiming her incapacity benefits, only to be told that the computer wasn’t programmed to end the payments until her death, and “We haven’t got a button to push that says miracles.” It can’t be that often the Government gets a complaint about unwanted money!
Maybe it’s easy to read stories like this and the story of Sammy in Kenya and be awestruck because these things just don’t happen everyday. When it comes to the Christmas story though, we’ve often heard it so many times before that we don’t recognise it’s a story about a miracle. Or else we’re so tired preparing for Christmas and perhaps dealing with our in-laws, that we forget that the Christmas story is a positive story: it’s the story of God’s good news to the world. Wouldn’t it be amazing, then, if we could suggest to our friends and relatives that the Christmas story is even more miraculous than the story of June Clarke being healed and Sammy receiving his degree and that the same God who performed a miracle over 2000 years ago is still performing them today – perhaps even among our in-laws.
Susannah Clark, Public Theology Researcher
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(The views below are the authors', and not necessarily those of the Evangelical Alliance.)
| Written by EHUJUO CHINEDU HARRISON on 20 December 2007 at 19.51 |
Miracle is when the unexpected happen. It could be in the form of healing ,sucess ,justice recieved ,etc.It can happen in the life of a christian or non christian.Sammy's story did not specifyhis religious back ground, for all i know God does not differentiate in the sharing of blessing.He proved himself God by raising Sammy from the dust to the table.
For mrs clarke she prayed and believed God ,he did it for her. Recieving the benefit is cheating and God dislikes it. |
| Written by Jethro on 14 December 2007 at 16.39 |
| I guess this is not the time to be dog in the manger, so I'll let this piece pass without comment, but I'd like to challenge EA public theology section to an honest dialogue on healing at another time. Not sure where or how, but I believe it is badly needed. |
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