As Chris Yaw put it, “It is a tale of an impoverished single mom in a conquered hamlet of some backwater corner of a vast empire, putting her newborn into an animal trough where the fledgling birth announcement was entrusted to village idiots whose only other marketable skills were watching sheep.”Such an improbable and humble tale still captures our imagination 2,000 years later, because God so loved us, that God was born for us in a place that no one expected, in a humble way no one planned. And those events are not lost on us today.
God did not wait till the world was ready, till... nations were at peace. God came when the Heavens were unsteady, and prisoners cried out for release. God did not wait for the perfect time. God came when the need was deep and great… (God did not wait by Madeleine L'Engle )As I though about this, I heard about the death of Kim Jong-il of North Korea, and I was reminded of a story I read about the Korean War. (And it is a Christmas story!)
His name was Brother Marinus, a Benedictine monk, he died at the age of 87 in 2001.Our God, Heaven cannot hold Him, nor earth sustain;
But three days before Christmas in 1950, his name was Captain Leonard LaRue, and he received a call to help refugees in need. Captain LaRue was the skipper of a freighter that had been carrying supplies to American servicemen in Korea on behalf of the Navy. About 200 vessels converged on the port of Hungnam, North Korea to help evacuate troops and refugees fleeing from the war.
''I trained my binoculars and saw a pitiable scene,'' Captain LaRue remembered. ''Refugees thronged the docks. With them was everything they could wheel, carry or drag. Beside them, like frightened chicks, were their children.''
The refugees were crammed into the cargo holds of a freighter that was designed for around 60 people to be on board.
''There were families with 8 and 10 children,'' Captain LaRue remembered. ''There was a man with a violin, a woman with a sewing machine, a young girl with triplets. There were 17 wounded, some stretcher cases, many who were aged, hundreds of babies. Finally, as the sun rode high the next morning, we had 14,000 human beings jammed aboard the ship. It was impossible, and yet they were there.''
The ship headed towards the South Korean port of Pusan, 28 hours away. They would travel through heavily mined waters. Enemy submarines were known to patrol the waters. The refugees had little food or water and there were no blankets or sanitary facilities.
But they got through, and the refugee freighter arrived at Pusan on Christmas Eve, only to be turned away, because of the refugees already there. Captain LaRue was told to head for an island, 50 miles to the southwest.
The ship arrived at the island on Christmas and by the next day, every refugee left the ship. Not one person died! And in fact, the number of Koreans had grown by five, for five babies were born aboard that ship.
His ship was decommissioned in 1952 and soon afterwards, Captain LaRue entered the Benedictine Monastery in NJ. Captain LaRue looked back on the rescue as a turning point in his life. As he put it: ''I often think of that voyage. I think of how such a small vessel was able to hold so many persons and surmount endless perils without harm to a soul. The clear, unmistakable message comes to me that on that Christmastide, in the bleak and bitter waters off the shores of Korea, God's own hand was at the helm of my ship.''
The United States Maritime Administration called his feat ''the greatest rescue by a single ship in the annals of the sea.'' (from the NY Times Obituary of Leonard LaRue, October 20, 2001)
THE MAN WHO RAN THE INN by Peter McCannCompassion, joy, hope. Christmas is about this and so much more. The innkeeper just couldn`t let a little child be left out in the cold and neither can we; hear what the angels sing tonight and let that baby enter in your home and your soul. Amen.
It was cold out on the desert
But they were headed for the light
O little town of Bethlehem
It were a warm and welcome sight
Mother and her unborn child in the bitter winter wind
`Till he saw the man took pity
On the state that she was in
Here`s to the man who ran the inn
Don`t you wish that we could always be
Just a little more like him
He found some room beneath the roof above his home
He just couldn`t let a little child be left out in the cold
Well, it wasn`t much to look at
It was old and tumbled-down
But he said `you`re welcome to it
It`s the last room left in town.`
I don`t know why he did it
I`d have loved her just because
I guess we`ll never know his name
But I bet that Jesus does!
Here`s to the man who ran the inn
Don`t you wish that we could always be
Just a little more like him
He found some room beneath the roof above his home
He just couldn`t let a little child be left out in the cold
