Sunday, December 16, 2001
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Sunday, December 16, 2001 |
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Simple pleasures still point to simple truth of Christmas By MARY JANE HOLT Christmas is the greatest time of the year! Whoever said Christmas is only a kid-thing grew up too fast! The little kid in me comes out at Christmas. The anticipation, the holiday thrills, the countdown to Christmas day. For some, Christmas brings a cringe. The dreaded Christmas rush gets many of us caught up in the marketing madness and we complicate Christmas. We put too much pressure on ourselves to get it all done. Do we miss the truth of Christmas? I still have last minute gifts to buy, deadlines to meet, crowds to fight and commitments to fulfill. I have my list of things to do. We expect this December duress, but is this the main thrust of Christmas? Possibly each of us should ask, "What's this season all about?" Christmas is about a loving God sending Jesus. "The Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world" (I John 4:14). Focusing on the birth of Christ helps to make Jesus the center of the celebration. He came into the world in an humble manger in a plain stable. There was nothing fancy about that first Christmas. It was simple. Maybe that's why the simple pleasures mean so much. Simple pleasures make Christmas special! It's chocolate drops and candy canes, cranberry bread and divinity, cheese balls and crackers. It's a nibble here and a nibble there. It's baking sugar cookies and watching my kids decorate them. It's green sugar and white icing all over the place. It's Christmas candy in the candy jar. It's hearing "Oh Holy Night" and "O Come All Ye Faithful." It's looking forward to our Christmas musical and seeing a packed house of worshippers. It's a Christmas Eve candle light service. It's standing around the piano singing Christmas carols and listening to sounds of the season on the radio. It's putting up the tree and wrestling with the lights. It's sitting back and watching the kids place 20 years worth of ornaments on the Christmas tree. It's a splash of greenery placed here and a red bow there and candles all around. It's a beautiful wreath on the door. It's riding through neighborhoods and viewing unending displays of decorations. It's Bing Crosby and "White Christmas," Jimmy Stewart and "It's a Wonderful Life," Charlie Brown and "Frosty the Snowman." It's reading "The Night Before Christmas." It's lighting an Advent candle each Sunday and preaching on Christmas themes. It's being in worship as a family. It's relishing Christmas morning with wide-eyed kids opening presents and emptying stockings. It's sounds of surprise and joy. It's the warm feeling of being with loved ones and of knowing you are loved. It's knowing God loved us and gave us his best Christmas present. Which brings us back to the simple truth that makes Christmas such a pleasure. We celebrate the coming of Jesus. Leonard Griffin told a beautiful Christmas story of a young doctor who became very ill. He recovered from his physical illness, but he didn't recover mentally. He was very depressed and withdrawn. He was miserable. His wife thought perhaps something could happen at Christmas time that could bring him back. She suggested that the two of them go to their church on Christmas Eve. No service was scheduled but the door would be open. The two of them could sit there and see if somehow God could touch his life. He agreed to meet his wife at the church at 5 p.m. The wife then called an actor friend and asked a favor. "I want to ask you to do something that might really help my husband. Please be at the church at 5 p.m., step into the pulpit and read the Christmas story from Luke. Perhaps there would be a breakthrough." The actor agreed. The husband arrived at the church ten minutes early. He found it so peaceful as the sun was setting and as all was quiet. There was a strange presence he had not known before. Then a figure appeared, a man stepping behind the pulpit. But instead of reading the story from Luke's gospel, the voice began to recite from the first chapter of John's gospel: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us ... and as many as received him he gave power to become children of God, to those who believe in his name." Something great and mysterious happened. In the quietness of that moment, he had a life-changing experience and received Jesus into his heart. When his wife joined him moments later, he said, "The most wonderful thing has happened to me," and he explained. She was totally amazed because just a few moments earlier she had received a phone call from the actor saying he could not come. Then she told her husband what she had planned. In amazement, he said, "Jesus really did come to me, didn't he? Now we really can celebrate Christmas, can't we?" Joy to the world, the Lord has come! The Rev. Dr. David L. Chancey is pastor, McDonough Road Baptist Church, Fayetteville. The congregation invites you to join them this Sunday for Bible study at 9:45 a.m. and worship at 10:55 a.m. The church meets at 352 McDonough Road.
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