Where Do You Fit Into The Christmas Story?

This past Sunday I was called upon to preach for one of our pastors who had to go out of town with a family emergency. I readily said yes, though I had planned to attend another church. After all, who couldn't preach a sermon the Sunday before Christmas - or at least fill the time.

I chose the traditional scriptures for my text. Luke 2 and the Matthew account of the Magi. We are all familiar with the story - perhaps too familiar. We have heard it so many times, we just go through it again and it may not speak to us the way that it really ought to.

I talked about the townspeople - preoccupied with self and caught up in the hustle and bustle of activity due to the census - they took no note of what was going on that night. NOT EVEN when the multitude of angels began to sing praises to God and lit up the sky with their glorious light.

I spoke about the shepherds and how the Angel of the Lord had appeared to them and brought them the Good News. How they left EVERYTHING to run to Bethlehem to see if what they had been told was true. they told everyone that would listen of the Good News and the people of the town were awestruck with what they were seeing in and hearing from the shepherds, but they still did not flock to the stable to worship the newborn King.

I spoke about the Magi/Wise Men from the East. They had been busy studying both the skies and the prophets of old and had come to believe that the King of Kings was to be born - so they left all to follow a star that led them first to Jerusalem, where they stopped in the palace (a logical place) and discovered that no one knew anything.

I spoke of Herod. The jealous ruler of the kingdom that was so afraid of a little baby that he ultimately had all under a certain age killed - thinking he could stop God. He called in the Chief Priests, who - like the Wise Men - studied the prophets almost daily. they reported to Herod and the Magi that the prophets foretold that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem.

As I prepared for that sermon, it struck me! Common courtesy and protocol should have been extended to the Magi. These learned men from the East should have been guided to Bethlehem by the learned men from Jerusalem. The scripture records that the learned men from Jerusalem did NOTHING to change their agenda - they went back while the Magi went own and worshipped the new born King and gave Him fine gifts.

It is my prayer that more of us will be like the Wise Men and the shepherds. Praising God as we go - even back to work. And giving Him our finest gifts - our very lives - as genuine worship.

Though that is my prayer, it is my fear that most who profess faith in Christ will actually be more like the townspeople, Herod, or the Chief Priests - too preoccupied with self, our own agendas, etc. to come unto Him, worship Him, and experience the joy and fulfillment that ONLY Christ can bring into our lives.

The Busy-ness of the Christmas Season

This time of the year, we get BUSY! I have often joked that the choir needs to record their Christmas Cantatas early on and be ready to lip sing the cantata in December with all the colds, etc. that seem to beset choirs at that time. The reality is - trying to juggle more hectic schedules, scheduling more in a day than we can effectively do, rushing to extra practices and church or community events of the season, grabbing a bite on the run, etc. - all contribute to weakened systems and an overwhelming feeling that stresses us out.

Donald Whitney's book, Ten Questions To Diagnose Your Spiritual Health might be a good read for this time of the year for those of us in ministry. The piercing question in both our personal lives and in the life of the church is simply "Are YOU spiritually healthy or just spiritually busy?"" Sometimes I just think we are busy - nothing spiritual to it!

I encourage you to take some extra time to maintain a strong spiritual health for the season. Don't get caught up in the familiarity of telling the story of Christmas again - get caught up in knowing the Christ of Christmas and become renewed in who He is and relay that old, old story in a way that is alive, fresh, and new to a people who desperately need to HEAR that message of hope, help, deliverance, and salvation.

Please know that you and your families are in my prayers as you serve the church in the busy-ness of the season. In the busy-ness, may you find time to renew yourself in Him and from the overflow of being in His presence, may you expereince the true joy of this Holy Season.

In Christ,
Dougald