Rocky

DON’T MISS THE HEADLINE! How many of you grew up in a church where Christmas was a “Jesus-free” day? You could talk about Jesus any other day of the year except the Sunday closest to Christmas. You could sing "Joy to the World" in July (which was always weird), but don't you dare sing it on the Sunday closest to Christmas. Christmas, and the celebration thereof, has always been somewhat of an elephant in the church. Some don’t know what to do with it. They celebrate it in their homes, but avoid it at all costs in church. They don’t believe it to be the actual day of Jesus’ birth; therefore, they ignore it all together, lest someone gets the impression that they believe Jesus was actually born on December 25th. In all our efforts to avoid the appearance of celebrating Christmas as a church holiday, we can actually fail to celebrate Jesus. When the whole world is at least giving some attention to our Savior, I want to help them understand more about Jesus. I want to promote Jesus at a time when so many others are commercializing Him. I’m not going to spend my time arguing about whether He was actually born on December the 25th. I want to spend my time helping people understand why He was born in the first place. It’s never wrong to talk about Jesus’ birth. It is wrong, I believe, to purposely avoid it. When it comes to the story that surrounds Christmas, we need to spend more time talking about it, not less. Rather than avoiding Christmas because we’re afraid of being too secular, let’s redeem it. Let’s remind others what Christmas is really all about. In all our fervor to denounce December 25th as the actual day of Christ’s birth, let’s not be a Grinch. Let’s not miss Jesus. This Sunday morning at the Walnut Street Church of Christ, we will sing those scriptural hymns focusing on Jesus' birth. We will pray to the God who became flesh and dwelt among us. We will remember the sacrifice that was made on our behalf as we partake of communion. We will celebrate, just as they did when Jesus first came into the world. In all the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, in all our gift-giving, in all our arguing over when Jesus was actually born, we miss the headline. The headline is not: “Tis the Season to Be Jolly.” The headline is not: “Jesus is the Reason for the Season.” The headline, in big, bold letters, is this: “IMMANUEL--GOD WITH US!” SEE YOU SUNDAY! Walnut Street Church of Christ 201 Center Avenue Dickson, TN 37055 wscoc.com WORSHIP at 9:00 a.m. BIBLE CLASS at 10:15 a.m. WORSHIP at 5:00 p.m. CONNECT GROUPS meet in various homes throughout the day.