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<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" align="center"><span style="COLOR: #0000ff; FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><strong>Proclaim Sermon for this Sunday</strong></span></div>
<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><span style="COLOR: #993300; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><strong>December 11, 2011</strong></span></div>
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<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; COLOR: #ff0000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><strong>Witnesses to the Light</strong></div>
<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 8pt"><strong>John 1: 6-28</strong><br>
<em>Advent 3</em></div>
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<div style="COLOR: #993300; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><em><strong>Summary</strong></em></div>
<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><em>The
ancients witnessed to a great light because it was important to them.
John the Baptist was also, in the words of this gospel, "a witness to
the light." We stand in this great tradition, and witness to the light
of Jesus.</em></div>
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<div style="COLOR: #993300; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><strong>Excerpt</strong></div>
<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; FONT-FAMILY: 'Verdana', ' Geneva', ' Arial', ' Helvetica', ' sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"> There
are both written and silent witnesses to the overwhelming light that
burst into the night sky on July 6, 1054. Not that any of the witnesses
to the light we know about would have called the day July 6 or the year
1054.</div>
<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; FONT-FAMILY: 'Verdana', ' Geneva', ' Arial', ' Helvetica', ' sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"> About two hours after midnight, the Chinese royal astronomer Yang Wei-te was a witness to a great light. On the day of <em>chi-ch'ou</em>
of the fifth moon of Chih-ho, he saw what he called a "guest star" in
the constellation of Taurus the Bull. According to Yang, it was a
reddish-white color and displayed pointed rays all around. The star was
so bright it was visible in broad daylight for 23 days, and visible at
night for a couple of years.</div>
<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; FONT-FAMILY: 'Verdana', ' Geneva', ' Arial', ' Helvetica', ' sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"> Japanese
astronomers were also witnesses to the light, and recorded its
appearance in their archives. And thousands of miles away, the Native
Americans we now call the Anasazi were witnesses to the light. They did
not write it down but we know, anyway. How? Go to Chaco Canyon, in New
Mexico, and you will find gently crumbling ruins of an ancient
civilization whose trade routes spanned thousands of miles. All roads
led to Chaco, and Chaco was where all roads ended.</div>
<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; FONT-FAMILY: 'Verdana', ' Geneva', ' Arial', ' Helvetica', ' sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"> Hike
the arid desert landscape of the Peňasco Blanco trail, about
three-and-a-half miles north of the Pueblo del Arroyo and Kin Kletso
cluster of ruins. You will find yourself standing under a rock ledge
where someone painted a many-pointed star, a crescent moon and a
handprint. Many believe this is a record of one who also saw the same
star as the Chinese and Japanese astronomers. And there are other
pictographs and paintings in the American Southwest witnessing to this
light.</div>
<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; FONT-FAMILY: 'Verdana', ' Geneva', ' Arial', ' Helvetica', ' sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"> We
know what they were seeing was not just a nova, an exploding star
nearing the end of its life, but a supernova. Supernovas occur when the
largest stars have spent much of their fuel burning fiercely bright.
With a breathtaking suddenness, they collapse into their now solid iron
cores, and often become for a short time brighter than all the billions
of stars in their home galaxy combined.</div>
<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; FONT-FAMILY: 'Verdana', ' Geneva', ' Arial', ' Helvetica', ' sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"> An
event like this had to have been very significant for all who saw it.
The Chinese astronomer Yang wrote to the emperor to tell him it meant
there was a wise and virtuous person in the country.</div>
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<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; FONT-FAMILY: 'Verdana', ' Geneva', ' Arial', ' Helvetica', ' sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><strong>John, the witness</strong></div>
<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; FONT-FAMILY: 'Verdana', ' Geneva', ' Arial', ' Helvetica', ' sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"> In
today's gospel passage, the author is also talking about a witness to a
startling light, who pointed to a wise and virtuous person. John the
Baptist was sent by God, we're told, to witness to the (1,359 more
words...)</div>
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