THE STAR OF CHRISTMAS

THE STAR OF CHRISTMAS (2000)

What’s your idea of a great Christmas celebration? A walk down Orchard Road or a party among friends, perhaps. Or, is it a holiday to Finland to catch reindeers and Santa? Closer home, you may swish to the Singapore Indoor Stadium for Christmas On Ice. For me, a cosy get-together with loved ones over a scrumptious spread of food with the accompaniment of soothing carols and Handel’s Messiah would be magnificent. To that you may add, on a flight of fancy, light snow all over Singapore if it be possible. As the song goes:

I'm dreaming of a White Christmas

Just like the ones I used to know;
Where the tree tops glisten, and children listen,
To hear sleighbells in the snow.

I'm dreaming of a White Christmas,
With every Christmas card I write.
May your days be merry and bright,
And may all your Christmases be white.

On a smaller scale, one can enjoy a snowy White Christmas at Tanglin Mall or view the snow-draped gantry sponsored by Hitachi, which makes a myriad of products including the Notebook 270 on which this story is prepared.

Seeking inspiration for a Christmas story, I took to Orchard Road on the night of 5 December 2000. To start with, the weather wasn’t in the least congenial. It was balmy and listless; not a breeze. Perhaps someone could come up with a technology to cool the whole stretch of Orchard Road and its pedestrian mall for not more than a hundred dollar worth of electricity per night. Cool and cold weather does wonder for the human soul (on the corollary, believe it or not, hot spells may well drive us nuts). Etched in my mind are pleasant memories of the autumn scene from the movie When Harry Met Sally and scenes from Ice Castle. With fondness I recall how Yokohama felt like one huge air-conditioned place in late autumn of 1989 during a training stint there. To me, images of cool or cold weather such as snow, alpine tree, mistletoe and the like make for a great Christmas season. Mmm..hhh I wonder what the weather would be like in Bethlehem at this time of the year.

There was nary a timbrel of music along Orchard Road to delight and engage one’s soul. It was noisy though with the snuffs, grunts and humdrum of vehicles and jarring outburst of advertisements from media-boards out to make and leave some kind of unsolicited impression. (With due regards, one could expect a musical extravaganza if one be within the walls of our many fully air-conditioned shopping complexes.) Wouldn’t it be great to have the Singing Christmas Tree (bedecked with carolers) out in the open again at the junction of Scotts Road and Orchard Road? This year we have this towering but ‘non-singing’ Prudential Millennium Tree over there. Long time ago on the outskirts of Bethlehem, some shepherds in the fields were keeping watch over their flocks by night. Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be for all people. “For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.”

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:

“Glory to God in the highest,

And on earth peace, good will toward men!”

-- Luke 2:10~14 New King James Version.

Less than heavenly music would do, but please let us have some music to celebrate along the open air of Orchard Road! Incidentally, some of the messages gleaned along Orchard Road are as follows: Glitz & Glamour (Plaza Singapura), Celebrate! (Centrepoint Shopping Centre), All You Need Is Love (Specialists’ Centre), Christmas In Gold (Takashimaya Shopping Centre), 2001 Spirit Of Life (Lucky Plaza) and International Greetings (International Building).

Walking on, one of my aim was to look for a brilliant star. The criss-crosses of rapidly-twinkling white lights strewn alongside static blue ones were innovative and spectacular, making for as good a starry, starry night as could be attainable in relatively night-bright Singapore. The stars decorating OG Department Store’s exterior looked more like starfish on a bed of sand. By and large Christmas trees along Orchard Road were topped with a star. The most impressive star I saw thereabout was that at Scotts where a golden star is perched upon the apex of a Christmas-tree-inspired hairdo to the statue of a woman. However, the tree at Paragon stole the thunder. Giving wings to ‘a partridge in a pear tree’, a gigantic partridge was mounted (without protest from the fowl) atop a proportionately huge pear tree. A long time ago, the world-renowned wise men or magi from the East who had seen His star came with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh to worship Him who had been born “King of the Jews”.

And, what was the star? At the web site (http://www.eclipse.net/~molnar/), Michael R. Molnar, an astrologer who wrote The Star of Bethlehem: The Legacy of the Magi as published by Rutgers University Press , explained it thus: On April 17, 6 BC two years before King Herod died Jupiter emerged in the east as a morning star in the sign of the Jews, Aries the Ram. The account in Matthew refers to the Star being in the east twice with good reasons. When the royal star of Zeus, the planet Jupiter, was in the east this was the most powerful time to confer kingships. Furthermore, the Sun was in Aries were it is exalted. And the Moon was in very close conjunction with Jupiter in Aries. Modern calculations suggest that this was close enough to be an occultation (eclipse). But the Sun’s glare would have hidden that event. Saturn was also present which meant that the three rulers of Aries’ trine (Sun, Jupiter, and Saturn) were present in Aries. Saturn and Jupiter were said to be attendants on the rising Sun, another regal aspect for astrologers. By modern expectations this is trivial, but for ancient stargazers this configuration was truly awesome. He further states that the early Christians did believe Jesus was born under the Star because the prophecy of Balaam (in Numbers 24:17) said the Messiah would be revealed by a regal Star.

Had I the time to shop (it was already 9.30pm) and the stomach to queue (going home for dinner)at the cashier with my intended purchases, it would still have been quiet daunting to negotiate my way through the throngs of shoppers. Having said that, we all love presents don’t we? It’s a privilege to be accorded a personal gift. But unless we receive, unwrap and behold it, we could never experience and tell of its worth and the likely element of surprise attendant to the process. The virgin, Mary, had a gift in this account: Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name JESUS. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob (Israel) forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.”

Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?”

And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore also that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.” -- Luke 1:30~35 New King James Version

It was a divine gift that could well have been thwarted by human misgiving if not for the ministry of angel. Joseph, being a just man, was visibly perturbed that Mary could be with Child as he has himself not known her yet in the Hebrew sense of the word. He was looking for ways to avoid shaming her publicly when an angel of the Lord (God of Israel) appeared to him in a dream. The angel said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary, your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a Son, and you will call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins. Now all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: “Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.”—Matthew 1:20~23 New King James Version. Joseph obeyed and took to him his wife, and did not know her (in the Hebrew sense of the word) till she gave birth to her firstborn, JESUS. What is the most precious gift you have given to-date?

It wasn’t that crowded that night along the pedestrian walkway of Orchard Road but it would progressively become more so as Christmas draws closer as can be expected. Talking about crowds, in those days Caesar Augustus the Roman governor decreed that a census be taken throughout his empire. So Joseph took Mary and the Babe in her womb with him to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, to be registered. While there, Mary gave birth to her firstborn, JESUS, wrapped Him in swaddling cloth and placed Him in a manger because there was no place for them in the inn. It was a quiet family affair apart from the shepherds and the Magi who reportedly came and worship the Child. Yet this Nativity scene has inspired a plethora of carols (eg. Away In A Manger and What Child Is This?) and Christmas cards. His was a birthday like no other.

Doctrinally, His birth has come to be known as the Virgin Birth, which remains a stumbling block to a minority of professing clerics. Some two thousand years ago, the angel Gabriel appeared to the virgin, Mary, who was betrothed to a man named Joseph, a carpenter, of the house of David in the city of Nazareth, Galilee.

Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name JESUS. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob (Israel) forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.”

Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?”

There are many stars and trappings to celebrating Christmas in Orchard Road and our world at large. But there could only be one Star of Christmas. The Star of Bethlehem did appear to herald His coming as with the heavenly host of angels. In the words inscribed on Tangs The Christmas Store’s paperbag: A long time ago in Bethlehem, on a cold and quiet night, a blessed baby boy was born, our hope, our guiding light. While shepherds watched their flock, they heard the angels sing, “ Glory to the new born King!”. And three wise men His star did see, come to worship on bended knee. Thus began God’s gift of love, joy, peace and goodwill to all mankind. Thank you Lord for Christmas. Give Thanks.

There you have it -- a recount (nothing to do with Florida) of the original Christmas story, giving depth and meaning to the reason for the season. Merry Christmas! And, go find that Star!

*** THE END ***

Hosted by www.Geocities.ws