Conneaut Church of Christ

December 24, 2006

Will You Welcome Him?

O Come, All Ye Faithful #997

O Little Town of Bethlehem #996 (vss. 1-3)

The First Noel #999

Welcome and Greet One Another

O Little Town of Bethlehem #996 (vs. 4)

Sermon      Will You Welcome Him?       Tim Kraus

Joy to the World #1018

Jesus’ Birth Medley #1000

Communion

Beautiful Star of Bethlehem #1005

Offering

Scripture Reading         Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:18-25;  Luke 2:1-20

Praise and Prayer

We Declare That the Kingdom of God Is Here #730

I admit to a certain queasiness about the way the coming of the Son of God is portrayed.

Tradition usually takes precedence over truth when the Christmas story is told. After all, Christmas is a tradition, as opposed to a Biblically-mandated holy day!

When I am confronted by the religious expectations surrounding Christmas I feel a combination of annoyance and embarrasment.

“We don’t put as much emphasis on the celebration of Christmas as some churches do,” I hear myself saying. “Don’t get me wrong,” I usually qualify, “We believe the birth of Jesus is true and very important. We just don’t have all the pagentry.”

The terminology and the symbology of the relgious aspect of the holiday have always been a little foreign to my low- church leanings. Don’t get me wrong, I can tolerate, even enjoy, the liturgy and candles of those who see Christmas as a high holy day. It’s just that I have seen what happens when religion becomes a yearly pagent instead of a daily lifestyle.

The real meaning of that baby in the manger, is that God humbled himself and became our servant, to the point of dying for our sins. The incarnation says that God inhabited human flesh so that he might win our freedom and inhabit us by means of his Spirit.

That makes people who are generous gift-givers 365 days of the year. They hold doors open, tip waitresses generously, allow a car to merge in front of them, donate to feeding ministries, and talk about the loving God who wants to adopt us…all year long.

After saying all that, I must admit that it does my heart and my imagination good to see portrayals of the star, the angels, the wise men, the shepherds and the baby in a crude manger.

It reminds me of the wonder and the mystery of God’s entry into our world. It makes me want to declare, “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”