Stump has been a blogging project of Claremont Presbyterian Church. Merry Christmas!

It’s a sign and one we were supposed to listen to: The star over Bethlehem.

It MEANT SOMETHING.

I was raised to think that listening to stars—aka astrology—was foolish superstition at best.  But there is always this story. Jesus had a star to announce his birth.

There is something to the stars. They have something to tell us.

We know a lot more about stars than we used to. SCIENCE has uncovered that many properties of gas. Our sun is a star, and we know that it is a mass of incandescent gas.

The sun doesn’t feel like a star, though. The sun is right here up close, and stars are tiny. Except they aren’t. They are far far bigger than our planet.

So mysterious. They inspire contemplation and ambition. Reach for the stars! We know we can’t reach them and yet the trying is still worth it.

The stars are telling us things. If we go scientific, they give hints about the shape of the universe. If we go mystical they whisper of a community where we belong. And if we go stand outside on a clear night, they put us in perspective. Yes, we are small. And yes we are vastly capable.

There is so much more to learn.

Those wise men seemed to be the only ones paying attention. Funny that. No one else in the story mentioned the star. But those wise men

WISE men

Were paying enough attention to hear what the stars were telling them. They packed up and took action.

I aspire to be that wise. I’d like to notice the subtle signs and be the first to know.

I’m more like the shepherds, I think. It takes a wallop with a 2×4, like a host of angels singing. Undeniable signal that something special is going on.

There are signs everywhere we turn, above our heads and below our feet. I aspire to be wise enough to see them.

Murphy Daley is cross posting today’s piece on her website www.writtenbymurphy.com. You can sign up to receive the Weekly Wonder in your inbox by Clicking Here.

Stump is a blogging project of Claremont Presbyterian Church

At the top of the Castel Sant’Angelo in Vatican City is a majestic statue of the mighty Archangel Michael. He stands ready with his sword outstretched, ready to strike down his demon foe. It’s a powerful image, perfect for the military fortress that the Castel Sant’Angelo is. It speaks of the might and power of the Almighty God, his angels ready to do battle in his name.

It’s hardly the image I would conjure up for an angel who would show up in a shepherd’s field after the birth of a small, innocent child. Somehow, the vengeful Michael standing guard in the Vatican doesn’t strike me with the same, bucolic warmth and fuzziness as an image of cute, round faced cherubs who look suspiciously like any of my friend’s children dressed up in sheets and tinsel halos. And yet, when we think about it, we aren’t talking about just sweet angels showing up in that field in Bethlehem that night. The heavenly host that appeared to those shepherds were indeed fierce beings, like Michael and the awe inspiring Gabriel, for this is not just a child being born. This is God revealing himself in human form to the world. No wonder the shepherds were “sore afraid”, to have that lot show up to sing, “Glory to God in the highest!” It must have been terrifying!

Angels in the Bible always serve as one of God’s most direct lines of communication with humans. It is three angels who visit Abram and tell him he’s to have a child in his old age. It is an angel who wrestles with Jacob. An angel is the one who burns Isaiah’s lips with a coal, purifying him. It was an angel that appeared to Zechariah in the temple. It is at those moments when God most wants us to see and understand him that he sends the greatest of his messengers to men. And it is never for small things, it is always for something that will change the world. What was more world-altering than that night? It is little wonder an entire host of them was needed to proclaim that the Christ, the Messiah, had come to earth.

How frightening must that night have been for the shepherds? And yet, how amazing a thing it must have been! No wonder they rushed to tell everyone of what they saw. They had been given the most amazing news of all by beings they could hardly comprehend. They were far braver than I to stand in the face of that. In the rush of the holiday season, and in the sweetness of our traditional Nativity plays, it is easy to forget just how awesome this event was in the world, of God coming amongst us. It was worthy enough of a being as fierce and powerful as Michael to proclaim, “Glory to God in the highest, and peace on earth.”

Jennifer Wolfe is a self-confessed church history nerd and all around geek living in Monrovia, California. Formerly of both Hampton, Virginia and Milan, Missouri, she is a graduate of both UCLA and Fuller Theological Seminary and currently works at Azusa Pacific University while she attends Claremont Graduate University as a Ph.D. student. She loves to write, sing, do nerdy activities like playing RPG and table top games, cooking, and traveling.

Stump is a blogging project of Claremont Presbyterian Church

Sometimes we don’t recognize our gifts.  I recently thanked God for my dyslexia.  I always thought I could accomplish more if I had normal perception, but that particular day I realized that without dyslexia, I would have experienced the world quite differently and thus would not be the person I am today.

It takes me forever to read a book;  I have no sense of direction and I often lose my car in parking lots. I couldn’t help the police by describing someone I witnessed committing a crime and I certainly couldn’t win a spelling bee!

Because dyslexia made reading painfully slow, my mother read to me extensively until I started junior high. I’m sure that listening helped develop my imagination.  From very young, I made up my own stories.  When running barefoot across a field, I was galloping on a black stallion, the wind whipping romantically through my hair.  The ant nest in our yard was the capital city of a country called Lindonia, located on the planet Amera.  I had several continuing plots running through my head at all times-I still do.

My daughter also has learning disabilities and she was complaining that she had to work twice as hard as everyone else to accomplish simple tasks. “Yes,” I agreed, “but it taught you tenacity-you’re stubborn as a mule-you never give up.” She laughed because she knew it was true.

We both work with learning disabled student, and I think our disabilities have made us better teachers.  We understand our students’ frustrations on a personal level and can pass on strategies and insights that have helped us succeed.

God gives us what we need to accomplish what He expects us to accomplish. Christmas is a good time to give thanks for all our gifts-even the ones we would like to exchange.

Remember: “All things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purposes.”

Stump is a blogging project of Claremont Presbyterian Church.

The first year Amanda’s mother brought out the manger scene at Christmas, she explained to Amanda the names of each figure in the antique set which had been handed down from her family.  She let Amanda hold each one carefully and repeat its name.

Little Amanda loved the animals. Each day Amanda and her mother carefully played with the animals  when the manger scene was brought down from the book shelf to Amanda’s level on the floor. Then the scene went back to the top book shelf. But there was one animal that didn’t have to go back. It was the cow. This cow was actually a cheap replacement for the original cow which had been lost. We named her ‘Holy Cow’. She remains part of Amanda’s animal collection all year but gets put back in the manger scene each Christmas.

Amanda had paid attention to more than just the animals. When Amanda’s great aunt came to visit after a hip replacement she was using a cane. Little Amanda walked over to Aunt Nancy’s chair, picked up the cane, stood it next to herself and said, “This is my shepherd’s staff.” We still refer to the cane as the shepherd’s staff.

Rocky Harvey is a grandmother who recently moved to Claremont to live near her two young granddaughters.