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Christmas Season MessageDecember 7, 2005The Christmas season creeps up on us in a hurry. We realize we should be buying gifts and preparing all the food and decorations for the festival celebration. We then get everything finished just in time for it to happen. Then there is a moment of serenity and joy we enjoy food and presents. This is just a message to encourage you to not forget to enjoy Christmas season for the reason we celebrate, and study hard enough to remember, but not hard enough to drive yourself insane. John 1:6-23 "There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light" This is the testimony given by John when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, "Who are you?" He said, "I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord." Christmas is just around the corner. It has come faithfully the same day year after year, but it always seems to sneak up on me anyway. I know many of you are bogged down taking tests and finishing projects. Others are bogged down having to read, review, and grade those tests and projects. With our eyes burning into the computer screen and our brains a jumbled mess of information, the spirit of the Christmas season can be easily forgotten, put on hold, and pushed aside. I am reminded of the season when I go to the store and hear the sounds of the Salvation Army Christmas bells ringing; see the bright red poinsettias in pots and the fruit cake, always the fruit cake. Christmas is here; do you perceive it? We are reminded in the text for this week that something is about to happen. John the Baptist is preparing, making straight the way of the Lord. John is anticipating something special. John is anticipating experiencing God in a new way. In John�s preparation, he points beyond himself and testifies to the light as a living testimony. He does this so that others might also anticipate experiencing God anew. John is testifying to the coming of Christ; do you perceive it? During the Christmas season we get distracted by so many other things. Students are predominately concerned with cramming a semester's worth of information in their brains. After finals, there's a week to "prepare" which generally includes: cramming in all our shopping; fighting for parking spaces at the mall, traveling to visit loved ones and not so loved ones, etc. This is how we prepare for Christmas, but John is also preparing for the coming of the Lord. His preparation seeks to "make straight the way of the Lord." He is anticipating, expecting to experience God anew. In all of our hustle and bustle do we anticipate experiencing God anew? John is waiting for God to break into this world, but his waiting is not idle. In his expectancy, John is actively testifying, making the way straight in order to experience God in a new way. Rather than simply preparing for Christmas in the way that we always do: shopping, decorating, visiting, take time this holiday season to testify as John did to the true meaning of the preparation: the coming of Jesus Christ. Christmas gives us the promise of experiencing God more personally than ever before. We wait to share the in the birth of Jesus Christ, Immanuel, God with us. This Christmas anticipate, testify, experience, and believe. Christ is on the way, do you perceive it? For more informationRev. Leigh Martin |
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