Merry Christmas!

"The Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth." (John 1:14)

The light of Christ shines for the whole world, today, just as it has since the earliest days of the Church. David Aikman's remarkable book, "Jesus in Beijing: How Christianity Is Transforming China and Changing the Global Balance of Power" illustrates just how early the gospel shot out from the Holy Land to the ends of the earth.

The famous Nestorian stele [click to view], was accidently discovered in 1623 AD, buried eight centuries, having been carved in 781 AD to commemorate some grand event, perhaps the opening of a monastery. It describes the coming of the Christian faith to China in 635 AD.

Hear the Christmas story as inscribed on the Nestorian stele:

"My Lord Ye Su [Jesus], the one emanating in three subtle bodies, became human, and came on behalf of the Lord of Heaven to preach the good teachings. A virgin gave birth to the Sacred in a dwelling in the Da Qin [the West] Empire."

The extensive record of China's first evangelists on the stele is on a tablet topped by a cross and bears the inscription, "The Record of the Transmission of the Religion of Light of the West in China."

And so we continue to spread the light far and near. Today billions of Christians in the Church Universal will celebrate that "a virgin gave birth to the Sacred" - along with billions of non-Christians swept up in the gift-giving euphoria of the spirit of the season.

Joy to the world, the Lord has come!

-- Dave Hackett