Sometimes at Christmas, it gets difficult to come up with new ways to wish you a Merry Christmas, and remind you to keep Christ at the center of your focus. Geez, it is hard for me to remind myself of these things. Too often, the message of Jesus’ birth and life becomes routine, because we hear it so much, and hear it throughout the Christmas season. The real danger is that the Gospel can become like the flu shot for us. The idea of an inoculation is that you receive just enough of a virus that you become immune to it, so that you will not be affected when you encounter it in greater quantities. Too many times we hear and receive just enough of the Christmas story that we become inoculated to the Gospel. We know just enough to almost be immune to this message, the incredible story of God becoming human. Rather than moving deeply within, it can become routine.
Well, my challenge for you is that during the next couple days, don’t let this happen. Be like the Shepherds and the Magi… Go find Jesus, see him in all his glory, and be changed. Let the words of the final chorus from the carol Oh Little Town of Bethlehem lift you and sink deep within your soul. Have a wonderful Christmas, enjoy time with your family, but most of all, let the beauty and the majesty of Jesus find you these next few days!
O holy Child of Bethlehem
Descend to us, we pray
Cast out our sin and enter in
Be born to us today
We hear the Christmas angels
The great glad tidings tell
O come to us, abide with us
Our Lord Emmanuel