Think about Christmas morning. It will be here before you know it. What comes to your mind? One picture that comes to my mind’s eye is the huge scattering of ripped wrapping paper, busted boxes and battered bows, left in our living room when all of the presents have been unwrapped. Have you ever lost a gift or part of a gift in all of that mess? Dad I lost one of my action figures?” “Mom have you seen my dolly’s hat?” Jess and I look at the huge trash bag filled with wrapping paper, and not wanting to tear all of that paper back out, we respond, “Nope… we haven’t seen them.” I wonder how many gifts are caught up in all of that wrapping paper and thrown away each year. I wonder how much we lose in all that clutter.
My job, as your pastor, is to remind you not to lose the gift in all of the wrappings. Don’t allow the gift to be caught up in all of that clutter. E.B. White once said, “To perceive Christmas through its wrappings becomes more difficult with every year.” He is right. It is all too easy to forget Christ at Christmas. If we don’t purpose otherwise we can get caught up in all of the clutter. Don’t lose the gift in all of the wrappings. I didn’t say that all wrappings are evil. No, they are not necessarily evil; they are only peripheral and not necessary. Wrappings come and go, but Jesus remains. Traditions die. Jesus lives! Wrappings are burned in the fire. Jesus saves our souls from hell. Christmas is a Christian holiday that revolves around Jesus Christ, God’s Son and our Savior. Celebrate Christ’s birth this Christmas!
For the next three Sunday mornings we will examine four of the Old Testament prophesies fulfilled by the birth of our Lord. This Christmas sermon series is titled, “Mary, The Magi and The Maniac.” Come each week, and we will study through Matthew chapters 1 and 2. Finally, please join us on Christmas Eve. We will celebrate the birth and sacrificial death of our Savior in a special Christmas Eve Candlelight Communion. The service begins at 6:30P.M. If you are in town, bring your family as we remember the sacrifice of our Risen Lord!
Have a truly Blessed and Merry Christmas!
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