Tuesday, December 27, 2005
When God Came Near
A couple of weeks ago, I was in Nigeria in the city of Egbe. I was there with a friend, Tracy Goen, a doctor who does a tremendous amount of work with people there--and who has been very effective. He wants us to help him in doing more work and mobilizing churches to engage the community there in the various domains of society. There were many fascinating things about the people and the area. No work is done without the blessing of the King--so, one afternoon we went to his palace to meet with him. He vaguely knew who we were--it was more of a social call.
We bowed as we entered and were ushered into his court, following behind him. He went straight to his throne, climbed some steps, and sat down. We then sat down on chairs a few feet from his throne. He began by telling us the story of the first white missionary who came in the early 1900’s. They called him a "webo" and every white person since him. They had never seen a white man, so when he came out of the jungle into the village they thought someone had peeled the skin from him--thus "webo"–-peeled skin.
Tracy began to tell him what we did around the world and the more Tracy talked, the more the King became interested. He would ask us questions in his booming James Earl Jones voice, but couldn’t hear at times. At one point, he stopped Tracy, motioned to his servant, stood, and came off his throne and had a chair placed directly in front of us and sat there where he could look us in the eye and be sure he heard everything being said. He began to talk to us like individuals instead of a King on his throne. At no point did we forget who we were talking to, but it became very personal and warm.
That’s just what Jesus did for us at Christmas. God came down off the throne and dwelled among us. Jesus was still God, still reigning, still in control, but also simultaneously a suffering servant, an intimate friend, a close brother, a loving Savior. Christmas--the day God came down from His throne and dwelled among us.
We bowed as we entered and were ushered into his court, following behind him. He went straight to his throne, climbed some steps, and sat down. We then sat down on chairs a few feet from his throne. He began by telling us the story of the first white missionary who came in the early 1900’s. They called him a "webo" and every white person since him. They had never seen a white man, so when he came out of the jungle into the village they thought someone had peeled the skin from him--thus "webo"–-peeled skin.
Tracy began to tell him what we did around the world and the more Tracy talked, the more the King became interested. He would ask us questions in his booming James Earl Jones voice, but couldn’t hear at times. At one point, he stopped Tracy, motioned to his servant, stood, and came off his throne and had a chair placed directly in front of us and sat there where he could look us in the eye and be sure he heard everything being said. He began to talk to us like individuals instead of a King on his throne. At no point did we forget who we were talking to, but it became very personal and warm.
That’s just what Jesus did for us at Christmas. God came down off the throne and dwelled among us. Jesus was still God, still reigning, still in control, but also simultaneously a suffering servant, an intimate friend, a close brother, a loving Savior. Christmas--the day God came down from His throne and dwelled among us.
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