Christmas Crisis
Is 40: 1-11
Are you ready for Christmas?
Many people change the saying to, “At Christmas be merry and of good cheer . .
Thank God it comes but once a year.”
Some sing, “Juggle bills, juggle bills, juggle all the way . .
Buy your gifts at Christmas time and pay ‘em off in May.”
Or July, or next November . . . whatever
Instead of merry, most say their lives are hectic
And the church is no exception
Every Sunday special as we prepare for the birth of Christ
When we set extra time aside for any reason, we become stressed out
We must:
Clean house inside and out
Put up decorations inside and out
Gifts, Cookies and breads, shopping….then
Presents to wrap, cards and presents to mail,
Parties to plan and attend
Chatty newsletters to write
We promise, “Not going overboard this year.” But. .
We set ourselves up for frustration
We try to do too much
Write lists, set goals
Stay on schedule
Meet expectation of friends and family
We tend to forget that our friends and family are not like those on TV or magazines
Some of our friends and family are WHACKO
We get mad at them and mad at ourselves
Are we missing something very important to our core being?
Advent, the season before Christmas day, = preparation
We must pause and reflect on for what we prepare
We prepare our hearts and minds for the coming of the Christ
We give thanks for the babe in the manger
We are full of hope and anticipation of the second coming
So, instead of pre-Christmas preparations
Hang a sign on your door, “Martha Stewart does not live here.”
And tell your WHACKO family and friends the preacher told you to
Spend more time to focus on important
spiritual housecleaning,
Renewal, repentance, and drawing near to the heart of God
Instead of giving the best of ourselves to others
Give our best to God
Set aside time every day
Contemplating magnitude of God’s gift
Prepare for Christ’s return by living as if He is walking beside us right now
Seek out those from whom you have been estranged.
Family, neighbors, former friends
Seek forgiveness, no matter who was at fault
“Forgive me”
Spend time with the lonely
Time with the cranky
Model Christ to them
Demonstrate His love
Rather than looking for perfect container or spending hours in lines
Reach out to those who do not expect to be loved
Be gentle and patient with angry customers and clerks
They are probably doing the best they can
And, haven’t heard this sermon
Many times, anger masks loneliness and pain
Do something for those that can do nothing for you
Shovel walks, bake, sit and listen
Take food baskets, ring the doorbell, run and hide
Gift bags...run and hide
Just to recap
Focus on what is important
Do some spiritual housecleaning,
spiritual renewal,
repentance and
drawing near to God
Contemplate the magnitude of God’s gift
Walk as if He is walking here and now beside you
Reconcile with the estranged
Ask forgiveness and forgive them
Spend time with lonely...cranky
Model Christ to all you meet
Reach out to those that do not expect to be loved
Be gentle and patient with angry
Do something for those that can do nothing for you
Deliver food baskets
Deliver gift bags
You will...Have the Merriest Christmas ever.
God bless us everyone
Think about it
To read more go to www.opendoorstochrist.org
Rev. O. K. Neal
