Tuesday, December 16, 2003
Tuesday, December 16, 2003
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.
(Psalm 51.10
NRSV)
"Gee, it never seemed so bad to me," remarked Diane Abeles, pausing at a local fair. "Huh," snorted Mayor Joseph Daddona of Allentown which is also part of the region MONEY panned. "Lee Iacocca's mother still lives here. You think Lee Iacocca would let his mother stay in a town that wasn't fit to live in?"
"I don't know too many people here who would rather live in Philadelphia or New York," said Dick Strain, executive director of the Bethlehem Chamber of Commerce, referring to the cities that finished in 140th and 28th places, respectively.
"What a remarkable coincidence!" editorialized the Bethlehem Globe-Times newspaper. "At the same time...we were concluding that MONEY was the worst magazine in the nation."
The financial magazine decided that the Allentown-Bethlehem metropolitan area deserved last place primarily because "economic uncertainties outweighed other advantages."
If Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, rated 300, I would hate to think where Bethlehem of Judea would rank in MONEY's listings. If you or I were to rank the perfect places for the King of Kings to be born, I doubt that Bethlehem would even make the list. "Oh, little town of Bethlehem," we sing, and Bethlehem was a little town. It had a rich tradition, but still it was far removed from the centers of influence and power in the world of its day. No, there was little to recommend Bethlehem for the birthplace of the Messiah.
It was more than perfect for God, though. God seems to have a different standard for perfection than we have. Bethlehem was the home town of God's servant, David--who was far from a perfect man as we measure men. Yet he was called a man after God's own heart. God must be looking for something more than what we call perfection. And that's the whole point of the Christmas story.
God of hope, build me up so that I may be a person after your own heart. Amen.
