Joy To The World

Merry Christmas! Have a Merry Christmas. Or to our English friends, Happy Christmas!
We wish you a Merry . . . What’s that mean anyway. How many times have you heard that this year? How many times have you heard or read about its Christmas and not Seasons Greetings? After all, what does Seasons Greetings mean? If you follow some of their trains of thought, you find something like this. What is the season? Well, it’s winter. And I say, what’s so good about being cooped up inside for four months of the year. Well, except for those that go south.
Yes, it’s Christmas. To some that doesn’t mean much except a time of gifts and giving. If you are reading this column right now, it probably means more to you then you may admit. But then again we have heard it before, many times before. Many, many times before. And that’s not always good.
For us church folk, we have heard it so many times we can almost recite the passages of Matthew and Luke in our sleep. HEY YOU! Wake up in the back row. Yes, you, the one talking in your sleep. I noticed it on Sunday. People who are so familiar that they moved onto other things in their minds until the scripture reading was over. And you thought I wouldn’t notice . . .
You know, but that’s too bad and so sad. One of the most important happenings has become so familiar that we dismiss it and say to ourselves, same things, different years. We forget that this is a historical fact that is substantiated by real people in real places far, far away. They were visited by real angels. Yes, real angels. And a choir like no one in this world has ever heard since. No offence to Christmas Choirs this year or last year or . . .
It’s a story of a first time mom. With a child that has come, in unexplainable ways. And what about those sheep herders and the story they told this young mother. Within hours of sunrise these rough men with wind blown faces had been all over town telling everyone what happened and about a little baby, who would save the world. Yes, real men talking about a real baby. That in itself is a miracle.
You see that it’s all real. It’s the only thing this world needed then and needs now. A child coming into the world to save it from itself. To save us from our sin drenched selves. The Lamb of God, come to touch our lives. Your life. My life.
Merry Christmas, what’s it meaning? It means the world to us who believe. We wish you a Christmas filled with the wonder of the Christ child. If you don’t know Him now, meet Him today.
Joy to The World, The Lord Is Come!
Merry Christmas, Rob