| Topic: |
Religions > Bible |
| User: |
"Jim" |
| Date: |
24 Dec 2006 09:22:28 AM |
| Object: |
my wish to you: Happy Christmas, Everyone! |
Have a good Christmas, everyone.
At the age of about 15, I started traveling the United States, Canada and
Mexico. In my teens, I usually hitch-hiked. I remember sleeping under
shrubs just outside of L.A., trying to sleep in the middle of Oklahoma,
curled up on a concrete doorstep of some office building, sleeping in
abandoned cars, and so on.
My point is, I have not always been close to home for the holidays.
Christmas for me was not usually anything to enjoy very much. There was
always a lot of music about rejoicing and happiness -- serious
celebration -- and I seldom felt much like celebrating. My life was often
in a pretty big mess.
Even when I got married and we began to have children I gave no special
attention to Christmas at first. And then one year, when our youngest was
about a year old or so, I began to think about what Christmas would mean to
our children. Would they have happy memories or gloomy ones? Even our
oldest child was only about 3 years old, so it was not too late to begin
building warm memories for our little ones.
That's the year I went out and cut down a small tree (which I later learned
was on private property -- oops). My wife and I put up some lights, strung
some popcorn on thread, and got out the hymnal. We gathered our three
children into the living room and we sang, as best we could, all the
Christmas carols we knew in the hymn book.
That same season, I bought Handel's Messiah on album, and we played the
records over and over until they began to sink in and make sense. I was
shocked to discover that the entire work as all Scripture set to music. And
what a wonderful message was in those songs and choruses.
We did not make any big deal out of Santa Claus. We were young Christians,
very fervent in our Bible-centered faith, and we knew that Santa Claus was
not part of the real story of Christmas. We told our children as much. But
we did get them a few simple gifts.
As I grew older I began to understand more about the whole celebration of
Christmas. I already knew about the pagan feasts of ancient times. But I
began to see the universal need in human hearts for a living hope -- for a
light and joy that would help them to know that spring and summer would
overtake the world once again.
No wonder early Christian leaders saw wintry season as the perfect time to
celebrate the promise and birth of Jesus Christ: the Light of the world! To
this day, a great many sit in terrible darkness with no honest hope of ever
having light in their miserable lives. Only Jesus can really make the
transformation we all need. And not just during the winter solstice.
Christ is the light of every human soul that trusts in Him for eternal life.
In our little Bible-preaching church a Christian brother and I produced a
Christmas skit where the historical Saint Nicolas talked about Jesus Christ
and the real meaning of the Christmas celebration. We included a song by
Randy Stonehill that says, "I wonder if this Christmas they'll begin to
understand, the Jesus that they celebrate is much more than a man..." The
skit was simple but it carried a powerful message to the young people, and
to adults, as well.
Today, all my kids are grown up, and all have their own children. I love
the Christmas season above all others. I love the music, the lights, the
decorations, the whole thing.
I believe with all my heart that this is the best time of the year to talk
to people about the gift of Jesus Christ to planet earth. People become
aware of the darkness in their souls and the strong need they have for a
light that simply will not go out in a cold wind.
We all need friends and family. And for some of us, at various times and
for any number of reasons, that need can become very painful. The Christmas
holiday season is the most painful time of the year for many hurting people.
People just like you and me.
I believe that God Himself inspired the understanding in ancient peoples
that the only fix for a dark, dark season was to celebrate the light.
Songs, and celebrations, feasts and the gathering together with loved ones,
these all help some. And He Himself acted in genuine love to give us the
one thing we truly need: the Promise of eternal life and eternal light in
Jesus Christ our Lord.
Jesus is the Light. Jesus is the Life. Jesus is the reason to rejoice and
celebrate.
As the old Negro spiritual said, "Go tell it on the mountains, that Jesus
Christ is born!"
Today, Jesus will save and help and rescue every human soul that comes to
Him in simple faith. Jesus will take away the sins and scars of a life
spent in darkness. He will give life and health and a peace that the world
can never take away.
Amen and amen.
Merry Christmas to all.
Jim
http://goodword.pazzoom.com
©2006 Jim Sutton
all rights reserved
reproduced here by the author
.
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