| Good Morning Everyone, Our theme for this month: “Celebrating is good for us” Our Bible verse for today: “When the angels left them and returned to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “let’s go straight to Bethlehem and see what has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” They hurried off and found both Mary and Joseph, and the baby who was lying in the manger. After seeing them, they reported the message they were told about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.” Luke 2:15-18 (CSB) Our thought for today: “Celebrate the reason for the season” Two of the primary complaints we often hear about the Christmas season is first that it is so busy, and second, that it’s so commercialized. Both complaints are valid. Most of us live busy lives all year long. But then at Christmas there’s shopping for gifts, parties to go to, relatives to visit, extra cooking to do, etc. And in a society that’s already assaulted with a never-ending blizzard of advertising (both overt and covert), during the Christmas season Madison Avenue is on steroids. So yes, the season is too busy and it is too commercialized, and therefore it’s easy to lose sight of the true reason for the season. In Luke chapter two, as part of the Christmas story, Luke tells us about shepherds who were out in a field tending to their flocks when angels appeared to them to announce the birth of Jesus. The shepherds then hurried off to find the child so they could see for themselves and worship Him. Then they went and told others about what they had seen. There are some lessons in this for us. First, those shepherds had a life, just like you and I do. They had a job to do and they had sheep they were responsible for. They must have also had families they were thinking about, along with all the other cares of life that any normal person in that time would have had. Also, this appearance of the angels happened in the middle of the night, and surely those shepherds needed their sleep. But they put all those other concerns aside and chose to focus on Jesus instead. We should too. The second lesson in this for us is that they then went off and encouraged others to focus on Jesus too. They did so by telling other people about their own Christmas experience. There are lots of things each of us can do to refocus on the true reason for the season, such as listening to Christian Christmas music, using special Christmas devotional messages, talking to others about the birth of Christ, and we can also attend the Christmas celebrations at our church. At Oak Hill Baptist we will celebrate Christmas in song and sermon this Sunday, December 20th, at 10:00. We would love to have you join us. We will also celebrate the birth of Jesus with a Christmas Eve candlelight service at 5:00. The best way to keep yourself from getting distracted and overwhelmed this Christmas season is to be very intentional about celebrating the real reason for the season. God Bless, Pastor Jim |
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