'Twas The Week Before Christmas

“A child has been born for us, a son given to us…” (Isaiah 9:6)

“‘Twas the week before Christmas when all through the town,
Men, women and children were running around,
Giving left signals and then turning right,
Shopping and spending much money all night.

Elbowing in at the counter of toys,
Buying up gifts for their girls and their boys.
The meaning of Christmas is clear in our city:
Mail carriers and clerks never get any pity.

Father is groaning; his checkbook turns red,
While visions of bankruptcy churn in his head.
Mother is baking cake after pie, saying
“If I see one more pastry, I think I will die.”

Only for children it can’t come too soon.
They’ll talk about next year on Christmas at noon.
With all of the holes in our nerves and our shoes,
The meaning of Christmas we almost will lose.

But then comes the strains of that music so light
And soon we are humming the tune ‘Silent Night’.
Our minds take us back twenty centuries past,
And the meaning of Christmas comes through to us at last.

No hurry, no bustle, no trees with their lights,
No honking, no hustle, no toys gleaming bright.
But Jesus our Savior, in Bethlehem born,
Becomes the true meaning of our Christmas morn.”
       [--Author Unknown, cited from an old Fayetteville (GA) First United Methodist Church newsletter]

How do you and your family experience Christmas? I pray that on you and they will make the difficult but rewarding choice to remove yourself from the stress and strain and rush of the holiday long enough both to remember and actually experience the true meaning of the season.

As part of that choice, I hope you'll join myself and your fellow church family to celebrate Jesus, "the reason for the season." at one of our Christmas Eve Candlelight Communion services, available December 24^th either online from our church’s website HERE any time after 9:30am – please have bread and juice ready for Communion; OR outdoors in our church parking lot at 5:00pm – please wear your mask if you intend to sit in a chair outside, or you can listen from your car radio at 88.1 FM.  Merry Christmas, and always remember that God loves you and I do, too!