A church where we've enjoyed meaningful worship barely celebrates holidays. Veteran's Day receives nary a mention. Independence Day, Thanksgiving, Easter, and even Christmas are left to individuals and families to celebrate on their own, I guess. What gives?
When it comes to Christmas, you know the tensions we believers feel about the commercialism and greediness that can mar this sacred time. Advent loses ground to Tinsel and Santa. I assume that's why that small denomination has decided, much like our Puritan forefathers, to push holidays to the sidelines in church worship.
However, we weren't convinced to give up on special days. I loved preaching during the Advent season. Some folk brought families to worship who rarely attended church at any other time. I reached out to them with the gift of Jesus, the reason for the season. What could be better?
Plus I relished the challenge of looking for new angles about Advent and Christmas. Not the same old, same old. But asking the Lord to deepen this special season, focusing on remembering the coming of the Christ child from a different vantage point. To challenge my preaching gray cells, always placing the spotlight squarely on Jesus!
With that in mind, let's spend a moment in the Old Testament. Of all places in the Book of Amos, chapter five, where the Lord God reaches out to His wayward people saying this--'...Seek me and live...' (5:4); and--'Seek the Lord and live...' (5:6); finally--'Seek good, and not evil, that you may live; and so the Lord, the God of hosts, will be with you...' (5:14). There's a Christmas message, from deep in the Old Testament, from what's called a minor prophet who actually proclaims a major message.
About what? That God reaches out to us to come to Him, to come home to the One who loves us, to a safe place found nowhere else. In His arms. In His house. Under the shadow of His wings, so to speak.
Why is it that only wallowing in some desolate creek without a paddle drives us to our Lord? We're so stubborn. When nothing else works, then we cry out to the Lord. Too often I try to figure things out all on my own, and when it falls apart, then guess who I turn to to bail me out?
When we do come God's way for help, even way too late in the game, we find that He's right there, having already made the first step toward us. As it says in 1 John 4:19--'We love because He first loved us.' Notice the order. God takes the first step, waiting for us to get in line behind Him.
Guess what? That's the Christmas story in a nutshell. Jesus comes to you. And for you. Making the first move. Taking the first step. Hunting high and low to find you and love you, forgiving all your sins.
This week, put your inner spotlight on the coming Lord. Seek Him who first seeks you. Ask His help. Get behind Him. Follow. Amen? Amen.
Thank you, Jesus, for finding me with salvation and forgiveness. Amen.
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