I have recently read "The Purpose of Christmas" by Rick Warren, and I am using it as the outline for my Christmas messages this season. I was shocked when I contemplated Warren's first "purpose." He states that Christmas is a time of celebration. Don't get me wrong I know that Christmas is the time where we "celebrate" the birth of Christ, but do we really?
My congregation will host a living nativity this Friday where we reinact much of the birth narrative of Jesus. We have a bunch of animals including my favorite-the little known Christmas llama. We have gifts and goodies. Activities for the kids, wassail for us all, snow if God blesses, and carols galore. But do we celebrate?
When I was a kid I can remember celebrating Washington and Lincoln's birthdays in February. Once President's Day replaced those holidays, I rarely remember a commotion about the births of the men that day is set to honor. Don't get me wrong. I don't remember grand celebrations about their births, but I do remember that we celebrated them.
When was the last time you celebrated with your church family? I can think of weddings, funerals, mortgage burnings, new building openings, but they are all connected with a specific event. When was the last time that celebration broke out during worship?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment