Joy to the world! The
Lord is come; Let earth receive her King; Let every heart prepare Him room, And
heaven and nature sing. Joy to the earth!
The Savior reigns; Let men their songs employ; While fields and floods,
rocks, hills and plains repeat the sounding joy. He rules the world with truth and grace, and
makes the nations prove. The glories of
His righteousness, and wonder of His love.
Hey Gang: I vowed
this is the year I would spent time each day snuggled up to the Lord and listen
for His calming voice. This week I made
a list and I checked it twice and I promised myself that I would follow it to
its completion. But, that was before God
choose this time to send a major snow storm, and the snow blower chose this
time to be very stubborn and refuse to come to life, from its summer slumbers,
and after getting out extension cords and heater it sprang into action. But, on
my first round of the day, it tried to swallow a stick and sheered a pin. Off to the hardware store I must go!
It seems most talk a
good game -that this Christmas year I am going to simplify Christmas-less
parties, less shopping, less competing with the mobs on Black Friday, (I detest
that name). I vowed I would begin
earlier this year to get the decorations in place, write the Christmas letter
and get the cards prepared for Uncle Sam’s delivery system and the dozens of
little things that make this a special time of the year.
Once again the bride of my youth came to my rescue, as I was
preparing to write this morning message. One of her many special devotional
book appeared on my desk, open to the following story. It was a neat story that tells it like it is,
in our ever growing colder world.
The story was of a crèche that had a missing piece. “When
my sister Joy, who is a Methodist minister outside of Chicago, saw our
Bethlehem memento, she said that her family also displayed a crèche at Christmas,
except theirs was different. “Several
years ago the figure of Baby Jesus came up missing” she reported. “and, when all our searching failed, I
considered the crèche ruined and it should be discarded, but I had a second
thought and once again placed the crèche on the mantel without Baby Jesus. Christ is often missing from our self- centered
celebration, I reasoned, and the missing baby reminds me that it is up to us to
find Him. Not in the noisy hubbub of Christmas,
but in sharing God’s quiet love made manifest in the manger”.
As I read his story, I thought of another that happened many
years ago- the baby Jesus disappeared from the town nativity scene. The town people searched high and low but
without success. Then one day a young mother brought the missing baby and laid
it in the manger of the nativity scene. She said her baby had recently died and
the crib in their home would be empty this Christmas Season and that was more
than her younger brother could handle, so she borrowed the baby Jesus from the
town crèche and placed it in that crib.
One last story before I close this epistle and send it along
to you. At the edge of another town was
a hospital for folks with mental disabilities; it tended to be a very noisy
place. The doctor, who was in charge,
told this story: 364 days of the year the hospital was filled with pain, agony
and the anguish of souls of the people housed there. But there was one day when peace filled the
hospital. It was the day the local towns
people went to the hospital and spent several hours loving the people there and
singing Christmas Carols.
He said it was always amazing that when “Hark the herald
angels sing, Glory to the newborn King, Peace on earth, and mercy mild, God and
sinners reconciled” filled the air, the people would settle and become quiet”. When asked, “Why do you not fill the air
with Christmas Carols every day? He responded, “O little Town of Bethlehem,
Silent Night, O Holy Night and all of the Carols are as the balm of Gilead to
these hurting people but- only when the people come and sing God’s praises in
person.
I vowed his year-did you vow this year- to take time to snuggle
up to the Lord each day? I challenge you
to find a hymnal, or get on the computer and read a Carol or two each day. Why? There is only joy in these creations and,
in this day of ever growing darkness, we need the joy of Jesus in our heart. Listen to the words, for most tell the story not
only of His birth, God’s greatest gift to you and me, but also His mission as
Savior and coming King Eternal.
Blessings,
Gramps
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