A little food for thought as we enter this beautiful season…

This morning I heard a story on the radio of a woman who was out Christmas shopping with her two children. After many hours of looking at row after row of toys and everything else imaginable; and after hours of hearing both her children asking for everything they saw on those many shelves, she finally made it to the elevator with her two children. She was feeling what so many of us feel during the holiday season time of the year.

Overwhelming pressure to go to every party, every housewarming, taste all the holiday food and treats, getting that perfect gift for every single person on our shopping list, making sure we don’t forget anyone on our card list, and the pressure of making sure we respond to everyone who sent us a card.

Finally the elevator doors opened and there was already a crowd in the elevator. She pushed her way into the elevator and dragged her two children in with her and the bags of stuff. When the doors closed she couldn’t take it anymore and stated, “Whoever started this whole Christmas thing should be found, strung up and shot.”

From the back of the elevator everyone heard a quiet calm voice respond, “Don’t worry we already crucified Him.” For the rest of the trip down the elevator it was so quiet you could have heard a pin drop. . .

Don’t forget this year to keep the One who started this whole Christmas thing in your every thought, deed, purchase, and word. If we all did it, just think of how different this whole world would be!!!

The world imposes its way
governments do what they do
people get counted and taxed
taxes pay for the armies
the mighty hold sway over the meek

law-abiding Joseph does what he has to do
Mary also, in spite of her condition
no midwife comes with her
no old aunt to attend her
the birthing time is near

Bethlehem
house of bread
surrounded by wheat fields
and pasture for sheep

Joseph
carrying the promise
a messiah would come in his line
was Joseph the father?

Yes.
An adopted child is truly of the line.
As good as blood.
sealed by love
love like epoxy
stronger than any bond
strong enough to carry the promise

a child is born
always a miracle
but this time more so
a birthing bed of straw
on a cold stable floor
did Joseph help
or did she manage, somehow, alone?

shepherds keep watch
on a nearby hill
the stars so brilliant
against the blackness
wheeling through the night

bright angel stands before them

the hair stands up on their arms
they fall on their faces afraid

but the news is good
great joy for all people
a Savior born
Messiah
Lord
a baby
weak as a kitten
no bigger than a loaf of bread
in homespun wrappings
in a cow trough

Heavenly chorus
mighty blast
of music, Gloria, Gloria
peace on earth
what is that?

shepherds run, run
breathless
sheep left asleep
on the hill
vulnerable

must go
must tell
must make it known
must worship

Mary pondered
what did this mean?
Did she know
that her soul would be pierced
that she would watch
her son die
to save the world?
Did she try
without success
to keep him safe?

I found this as a posting on the lectionary forum at www.desperatepreacher.com

Gold Christmas Bulb
The Gold Christmas bulb reminds us of Heaven which is filled with the glory of God. The Bible tells us that in Heaven, the streets of the city are pure, clear gold-like glass (Rev.21:21). God wants you to be with Him in Heaven someday.

Have you ever seen a BLACK Christmas Bulb?
THERE IS NO Black Christmas Bulb. Just like there is no black Christmas bulb, there is one thing that can never be in Heaven. That is sin. Doing, or saying, or thinking bad things is called sin. Sin is anything that displeases God. Sin has caused sorrow and sadness in our world. God tells us in the Bible that all have sinned (Romans 3:23). But just like there is no black Christmas bulb, God doesn’t allow sin in heaven.

Red Christmas Bulb
The Red Christmas Bulb shows the way God made for you to have your sins forgiven-taken away. God loves you. He sent His own Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, from Heaven to take the punishment for your sin (John 3:16). Jesus came into the world to save us from punishment for sin. He is called our Savior! “…the blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, cleanses us from all sin” (I John 1:7).

White Christmas Bulb
The white Christmas bulb reminds us that you can be made clean from sin. When we sin, we can tell god about our sin, and ask for rogiveness and when we do his blood washes away our sin and makes us white as snow! (I John 1:9).

The Green Christmas Tree
The green Christmas tree reminds us of the new life, everlasting life, we can receive from God. The Bible tells us to “grow in grace in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” (II Peter 3:18).

The Blue Christmas Bulb
The blue bulb is the same as water. Jesus, to show he was giving his life to God was baptized in water.

Christmas Lights
Jesus was born as a light of the world. He came to bring us out of darkness and into the light. Do you want to walk in the light of Jesus this Christmas?

A Silver or Gold Star
You can add a star at the top of the Christmas tree as a reminder that the wisemen followed the star looking for Jesus. Will you seek Jesus this Christmas?

Applications
Use this as a presentation of the plan of salvation for a Christmas Children’s sermon or as a Christmas Object Lesson.

Quoted from www.creativeyouthideas.com/blog/evangelism_ideas/christmas_tree_evangelism_1.html

“And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow,
stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so?
It came without ribbons. It came without tags.
It came without packages, boxes or bags.
And he puzzled and puzzled ’till his puzzler was sore.
Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before.
What if Christmas, he thought, doesn’t come from a store?
What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more?”

If using as a sermon illustration play the DVD 1:18:50 or 1:19:18 to 1:21:14
or for a shorter clip 1:20:14 to 1:21;14

From How The Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr Seuss

Dear Honey,

I know you mean well, I know you think you know best, but enough is enough. I have suffered in silence for long enough. I’m stepping out of the closet and opening my heart. This year as you shop for my Christmas present please don’t buy me what I need. I know that I need to smell better and looks nicer, I know you like me in warm pyjamas and new underwear. But I don’t know what to say when I open these gifts you give me. How can I fake enthusiasm over a pair of slippers, how can I look happy holding a new nose hair trimmer?

Begin with the most basic — can he play with it? Does it to swing, bounce, shuffle or roll? Can you find a trigger, rip-cord, grip or stick-shift on it? Does it consume or oil or dog food? If it does then buy it. It doesn’t matter if I already have one, this is not a time to be practical.

Question number two takes us into the area of clothing. When considering an item of men’s apparel for me here is what you need to ask — does it make him look cute or does it make him look like a hunk? If the clothing makes me look cute, drop it. If it makes me look like a hunk, buy two.

If you still can’t decide, when all else fails Honey, try this — can he eat it? Note the question is not would you eat it, do other humans eat it, or is it edible? The question is, can he eat it? Any time the answer is yes, consider yourself on safe ground.

In closing I offer you the same respect. Buy me what I want, and I will do the same for you. By the way I already have, without revealing any details I’ll tell you this much — I’ve found some fishing lures that double as earrings. And you thought I was insensitive.

No need to thank me, your loving husband.

Max Lucado Illustration from his talk The Perfect Gift

When the song of the angels is silent,When the star in the sky is gone,When the kings and the princes are home,When the shepherds are back with their flocks,The work of Christmas begins:

To find the lost,
To heal the broken,
To feed the hungry,
To release the prisoner,
To rebuild the nations,
To bring peace among brothers,
To make music in the heart.

Poem by Howard Thurman

A cold coming we had of it,
Just the worst time of the year
For a journey, and such a long journey:
The was deep and the weather sharp,
The very dead of winter.”
And the camels galled, sore-footed, refractory,
Lying down in the melting snow.
There were times we regretted
The summer palaces on slopes, the terraces,
And the silken girls bringing sherbet.
Then the camel men cursing and grumbling
And running away, and wanting their liquor and women,
And the night-fires gong out, and the lack of shelters,
And the cities hostile and the towns unfriendly
And the villages dirty, and charging high prices.:
A hard time we had of it.
At the end we preferred to travel all night,
Sleeping in snatches,
With the voices singing in our ears, saying
That this was all folly.
Then at dawn we came down to a temperate valley,
Wet, below the snow line, smelling of vegetation;
With a running stream and a water-mill beating the darkness,
And three trees on the low sky,
And an old white horse galloped away in the meadow.
Then we came to a tavern with vine-leaves over the lintel,
Six hands at an open door dicing for pieces of silver,
And feet kicking the empty wine-skins.
But there was no information, and so we continued
And arrived at evening, not a moment too soon
Finding the place; it was (you may say) satisfactory.
All this was a long time ago, I remember, And I would do it again, but set down This set down This: were we lead all that way for Birth or Death? There was a Birth, certainly, We had evidence and no doubt. I have seen birth and death, But had thought they were different; this Birth was Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death. We returned to our places, these Kingdoms, But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation, With an alien people clutching their gods. I should be glad of another death.

It was just a few days before Christmas. Two men who were next-door neighbors decided to go sailing while their wives went Christmas shopping. While they were out in their sailboat a storm blew up. The sea grew angry and they had a hard time keeping the boat under control. As they maneuvered toward safe harbor, they hit a sandbar and the boat grounded. They jumped over and tried to push with all their might, trying to get the boat afloat.

With his feet knee deep in mud, the waves pounding him against the boat, the wind whipping his hair about wildly and his heart pounding from the effort, one man said to the other (with a knowing grin on his face), “This sure beats Christmas shopping, doesn’t it?”

Source: James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited, p. 86.

In his book, Science Speaks, Peter Stoner applies the modern science of probability to just eight prophecies regarding Christ. He says, “The chance that any man might have …fulfilled all eight prophecies is one in 10 to the 17th. That would be 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000.” (one hundred quadrillion).

Stoner suggests that “we take 10 to the 17th silver dollars and lay them on the face of Texas. They will cover all of the state 2 feet deep. Now mark one of these silver dollars and stir the whole mass thoroughly… Blindfold a man and tell him he can travel as far as he wishes, but he must pick up [that one marked silver dollar.] What chance would he have of getting the right one?”

Stoner concludes, “Just the same chance that the prophets would have had of writing those eight prophecies and having them all come true in any one man,…providing they wrote them in their own wisdom.”

Do you know what would have happened if it had been “Three Wise Women” instead of “Three Wise Men”?

They would have asked directions, arrived on time, helped deliver the baby, cleaned the stable, made a casserole, and brought practical gifts.

A girl of ten years went with a group of family and friends to see the Christmas light displays at various locations throughout the city. At one church, they stopped and got out to look more closely at a beautifully done nativity scene. “Isn’t that beautiful?” said the little girl’s grandmother. “Look at all the animals, Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus.” “Yes, Grandma,” replied the granddaughter. “It is really nice. But there is only one thing that bothers me. Isn’t baby Jesus ever going to grow up… he’s the same size he was last year.”