"A CALL TO WORSHIP"

Good Evening to All!

A Call to Worship and Obedience

Oh come, let us sing to the Lord! Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving: Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms. For the Lord is the great God, And the great King above all gods.
(Psalm 95:1-3 NKJV)

While this verse has really NO relation the Christmas celebration, the first thought through my mind while reading it was :

O Come All Ye Faithful,
Joyful and triumphant,
O Come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem.
Come and behold Him born the King of Angels
O Come let us adore Him
O Come let us adore Him
O Come let us adore Him,
Christ The Lord.

This song should not just be sung at Christmas. That's a special thing about my church. We don't classify songs. We sing this song year round, just as we sing Easter songs all year.

Christ should be celebrated all the time. Every day of the year. We should sing or make Joyful noises to the Lord all the time. God coming to earth as a child, and sacrificing His fleshly body and blood for our sins are NOT just events in time. They are significant happenings which should not be taken lightly. We should not look at these to specific events as we do Halloween, Independence Day, Memorial Day or any other holiday for that matter. These days are special.

We get so wrapped up in buying gifts, decorating and cooking that we forget what these days are all about. Maybe forget is the wrong word, but we put the reason for the celebration in the back of our minds while we are busy making sure our house is clean for company, the decorations are just right, the tree is all spruced up and our company is taken care of. Then afterward we are so afterward, we are busy with clean up, visiting with friends and relatives, that we still haven't thought about the main reason for the celebration. Speaking of decorations, I couldn't resist posting this picture. It is Clifton Mill in Clifton, Ohio. It is decorated with OVER 3.5 MILLION lights. Can you imagine what good they could do with the money they have to spend on the light bill? Not to mention the time it took to string them.

Easter is the same thing. Maybe not to the extreme of Christmas, but people still go shopping for new clothes, clothes that they may only wear once a year, and maybe only one time. Then we buy special food ( we like turkey and dressing for Christmas, and Ham for Easter). See what I mean?

The point I am trying to make is that years ago, people celebrated Christmas for what it is. They sat around the living room while someone read the Christmas story from the Bible, maybe drank some Hot Chocolate and then on Christmas Day, opened a gift or two. Nothing extravagant. A lot were homemade.

I wish we could go back to those times.

This made me think of a movie that I have watched several times, called Debbie McCombs' Mrs. Miracle. (I'm not positive about the Title, I know it Debbie McCombs, and Doris Roberts plays an angel named Mrs. Miracle. Anyway, there are two different movies, but my favorite one is where the manager of a toy store wants to go back to selling old fashion toys, instead of these new fangle sometimes dangerous ones. Of course there is a lot more to the movie, there is romance in it, a good moral, and I always love movies with kids so it has kids as well.

Goodness! Did I get on a rabbit trail or what?! Maybe part of the reason I feel this way is because I have never had children (with the exception of a step son from a previous marriage), but other than that I have never had to deal with the pressure of my child saying I want this and I want that for Christmas.

While I'm on the subject of non-extravagant gifts, prayers for our precious military men and women who can't be home for Christmas would be a nice gift. If they can pray and be thankful given what they are in the midst of, I think we over here OWE it to them to at least do the same.

I must say I was blown away by a young man at church I think he is about 14 or 15 years old. Anyway, his mom asked him what he wanted for Christmas, and he told her he wants to buy a new outfit, shirt, pants socks and shoes for a classmate because he doesn't have anything. Now to me, that is a special request for a child of 14 or 15 years old. This boy definitely knows what Christmas is all about. Jesus told His disciples what you do for the least of them, you do for me.

Well, I wanted to make tonight's post short and sweet, so I think I made it.

Good Night to All and May God Bless!