Tuesday, January 14, 2025

 I enjoyed last Friday's Miss Mary's post about change. If you haven't read it, go to Mary's Moments and give it a read. It won't take but a few minutes and it is much worth your time. 

From a pastor's point of view, change is a nasty thing. Most pastors take change in stride, but it is the church that the pastor is going to that feels change is nasty. I wish I had a dollar for every time I have sat in a Board meeting, Deacon's meeting or Elder's meeting and heard the phrases "We've never done that before" or "That isn't the way we do it here." I was in a church in Binghampton, New York because they had called me for help. The building was massive but the congregation had dwindled too next to nothing. In a meeting with the church leaders on Saturday night I had suggested they do something in particular and one elderly lady spoke right up and said, "That isn't the way we do things here."  To which I replied, "Well, your way of doing things here is killing this church. Trying something new might actually help." This was not well received. Churches hate change even when change is the only thing that will save them.

In school we had a Ministry professor who addressed this issue. He told us that all things either change or die and the way to get a church to change is slowly, with baby steps. "And fellows, never go into that first meeting with the leaders when you are a candidate and tell them what changes you want to see them do. They know their people and they know their history and they know the struggles they have faced. Watch for about a year and then slowly introduce your thoughts." Very sound advice and advice that I adhered too. Until that one church.....

I was contacted by a church to see if I would consider coming to their church. I was already pastoring a church and the church that was contacting me was just a few towns away from where I had grown up. I didn't want to return to my home area, so my first inclination was to say 'no', but then I thought that I should at least go and talk with them. So, a time was set and Marsha and I went. When we got there we were introduced to the group. "Wait, are you all Elders?" The response was affirmative, so I said, "Well, that's not right. There should be regular church folks here, too. I would not be very comfortable in an Elder controlled church." They all looked at each other with uncomfortable glances. Marsha and I were still standing, so we said our good-byes and turned to leave. The Elder chair spoke up and said, "Well, this is just how we do things. First couple of meetings it is just the Elders." Which was just fine. It was their way. But I was going no further. Another Elder spoke up. "Well, OK. Maybe you could just sit and talk with us and we could use this as practice?" Marsha and I looked at each other and communicated by our glance and I said, "OK, that would be fine." So, we all sat down and started our little chat. 

The church had some funds that had been donated by folks over the years. These Elders were very proud of the fact that these invested funds could support the church. I told them that this was not good because it gave folks no incentive to tithe. I asked if they each tithed and they all dropped their eyes. I told them that not tithing was a Spiritual problem and since the Elders, Biblically, were the Spiritual leaders of the church, they should be tithing. Now they were really uncomfortable. I went on and asked them if they, individually, shared the Gospel. The eyes dropped to the floor. Again, that was their primary function. When we were led in we passed through the sanctuary and I noticed a floor to ceiling crack in the plaster. I asked how long that had been there. Someone mentioned a small earthquake from about ten years earlier. Marsha spoke up and pointed out that the crack was a bad testimony, especially when they called the building "God's house." No one was even trying to meet our eyes now. The community the church was in had a grape festival each year and I asked if they participated. (I had no problem if they did. I was just curious.) Oh yes, came the proud reply. Their church was known to have the best grape pies in town! "Is the church known for anything else other than great grape pies?" By this time everyone was examining their shoes pretty well.

I was anxious to leave and I told them that we needed to go. They asked me to close in prayer and we went our separate ways. I told them I would be praying about it, but I showed no enthusiasm. When we got into the car Marsha said we probably shouldn't have been so hard on them. I said that since we would never hear back it was our one chance to point them in a different direction. Looking back on it, we were pretty hard on them.

But I had told them we would pray about it.

A week later, Marsha and I sat down to talk about it. We both said that God was leading us there. However, since we had raked them over the coals, we knew we would not hear from them again. And then they called and wanted to set up another meeting. Folks from the church were there and again I told them that there were things they needed to do to live and it involved change. The secretary had given me a bulletin when we walked in and the order of services was so crammed full 'things' that I asked how long I had to preach. I was told they wanted out in an hour and so the pastor got about ten minutes. I laughed and told them they would have to do away with a lot of stuff or expect an hour and a half service. Still, we moved ahead and one thing leading to another, we accepted the call.

We started out on the wrong foot, but it was just the foot God wanted. Six years later the terror attacks happened in New York on 9/11. That evening we opened the church for any of our folks who wanted to come and pray. The church filled with folks from the community. I asked one fellow why he had come to this church, and he said that he knew that this church would meet for prayer. The next day all the pastors met to plan a community service for one week after the attacks. The first thing brought up was the location. They all wanted to be at our church. I protested. I named two other churches larger than ours plus the Community Center was more than willing to host. One of the pastors said no, this service needed to be in the most Spiritual church in town. I sat down and let the tears flow. In six years we had gone from being a church known for making a great pie to being the church that was known to never fail to stand for Jesus. Then, after eleven years, I stood in that pulpit for the last time. I spoke into a state of the art sound system. The walls and windows and floors were in perfect shape. New pews filled the sanctuary and every seat was taken. In the beginning they needed that gifted money to survive. Just eleven years later we had spent a small fortune and didn't even think of that money anymore. And we had baptized one hundred people in those eleven years, up from the one hundred in the previous century. 

Now, one could say that they would welcome change if they thought that would happen in their church. But that is not how the Lord works. He leads us into change and we may not see any benefit for a while. That isn't the point. The point is to follow the Lord and leave the blessings up to Him.  

Either welcome the Lord's change or accept death.

Tuesday, January 7, 2025

I knew a gentleman a few years back who was a 'name dropper.' This is a phrase that is not used as much as it used to be, so you may be a bit unclear as to what it means. A name dropper is someone who talks endlessly about the people they know. Now, someone who served in the Secret Service might talk of presidents and leaders that they had the privilege of protecting. This would be expected since they had actually met these people and had known them. Yet, these types of people really don't talk of the ones they have known all that much. But a name dropper will talk of people as though they actually know them well, even though they only had a chance meeting.

My name dropper was a new minister in our town. My usual response to a new minister was to take him out to lunch. If he was someone who had been in the ministry for a while, I wanted to pick his brain. If he was new to the ministry, I wanted to encourage him. This fellow was in his mid-fifties but had spent his working career in business as an accountant. His career change to ministry came late. Going from a business background to the ministry was a huge step. The two are often assumed to be very much alike, but the reality is that they are completely different. One of my goals in this first lunch was to help him bridge the gap between the two worlds.

We had made our orders and had just gotten our salads when he casually mentioned that he knew Muhammad Ali. This was so out of the blue that it took me off guard and I asked him how he knew Ali. He said he had met him the first time at a fund raiser in Cleveland. Then he went on talking about other people he knew and things he had done. In subsequent conversations, it was disclosed that this man knew many people, from Ali to Trump to the manager of the Cleveland Indians, Terry Francona. He knew them so well that he called them by their first names or by their nicknames. For instance, he referred to Trump as Don and Terry Francona as Tito. And he always referred to these people as 'the salt of the earth' and he would assure anyone who was listening that when you really got to know these people you found out they were regular folks.

After that first meeting I came away feeling that he was so unsure of himself that he created this little world to show others how well connected he was to the important people. This is not an unusual trait amongst businessmen. Some of them do know the movers and shakers in business, but when someone starts talking about famous people from all walks of life, they are usually insecure.

People began to ignore him. No one really believed him when he talked like that, but I tended to overlook all of it. He was still in business mode and this was his way of making a temporary connection that was needed in business to close a deal. Ministry, of course, is about long term connections. Because of this habit, people became distant from him. I tried to talk to him about it, but he would switch to something else.

Marsha knew about all of this and she knew how I felt. This pastor was nearing retirement and was then going to move to Arizona. We were going to go to one last lunch. Marsha put a thought to me that morning. What if he really did do all those things and what if he really did know all those people? Actually, I had never considered that. I had made a judgement at that first lunch and never wavered from it. This was something I always tried to avoid, but in this case, I had made a steadfast decision. What if I was wrong? Whoa! I would owe him an apology!

At this last lunch together, I asked him how he had come to know Ali. He laughed and said that it was a funny story. Back in the early 1980s, Ali was going to have an exhibition fight in Cleveland against a popular local fighter. The purpose was to raise money for a hospital that mostly served the black community. The news conference announcing this fight would be at the hospital. Our hero was the accountant at the hospital. Even though the hospital served mostly African-Americans, this retiring pastor was of a Swedish background. When you say someone is white, that actually includes a lot of variation of colors. But Swedes are WHITE. Apparently, Ali had just stepped up to the microphone during this news conference, when our Swede entered the room right where Ali was standing. Our Swede had no idea this was going on and he was taking a short cut. His hands were full of papers as he was going from one office to another. So, here was a snow-white man in a room filled with black men and women, including Ali. The story was Ali's eyes grew large and he took on that comic menacing face he used sometimes. No words were exchanged and our Swede ducked out in embarrassment. That was it. No other meetings. We had a good laugh. And I then knew my original judgement was correct.

Name dropping of famous people makes you look silly. However, there is one name you can pass along happily. The name is Jesus. If you are a believer, you do know Him. His name may draw ridicule, but it is the Name above all names, the only Name that can change lives. However, if you use that Name, make sure your actions do not bring Him embarrassment.

Be the best name dropper this week and pass the name of Jesus along.

Monday, December 30, 2024

PAY ATTENTION!

2 Corinthians 5:16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard Him thus no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to Himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making His appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake He made Him to be sin Who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.

"Uh, OK. New Years. 2025. If you really feel the need to end 2024 and begin 2025 with a passage of Scripture, couldn't you at least make it inspiring. Maybe a little funny. I just don't see the point here, Pastor."

Well, to be honest, I thought about all of that. Actually fried a few brain cells working it all up. But this passage wouldn't leave me alone. So, I thought we would take a look at this snippet of Paul's writing. It is, after all, a New Year's message.

Paul starts by saying that we shouldn't see others according to the flesh. He says in verse 16 that we even saw Christ in the flesh. You remember. You called Him the big guy upstairs. You would say 'me and Jesus are like this' while holding two fingers touching. You even had that bumper sticker, GOD IS MY CO-PILOT. I bet you even asked the Lord to make your team win the big game. And if we looked at Jesus in the flesh, we certainly looked at regular folks the same way. That moron who passed us doing 65 in a 35. That idiot who flipped me off! WHO IS HE BLOWING THE HORN AT? Or, my personal favorite, "when is that preacher going to shut up?" The correct way to look at the Lord is with awe and humbleness and a desire to serve. And the correct way to look at others is to realize we all have our moments and we all need Jesus. We don't need the Lord to be our co-pilot. We need Him to be our Pilot.

In verse 17 Paul says that if we are believers, we are a new creation in Christ. We are changed! That old language, those old thoughts, those old things that were so important...all changed! We are all new! So why are we holding onto the old things? Why do we let the old language surface? More to the point, why doesn't it bother us? Why do we still look at things as we used to look at things? Why the old thoughts, the old desires? We are new creations, for goodness sakes.

Then Paul tells us what our purpose is as a new creation in Christ. The world is far from the Lord and the world and Christ need to be reconciled. The world needs to be brought back to Godliness. And we believers have that ministry of reconciliation. In other words, we need to be the example, both in word and deed, that draws people to Jesus. It isn't political, it isn't our favorite cause, it isn't signing petitions. It is bringing the world to Jesus. For those who know me well, you know that I despise abortion. Back in the 1980s I was pastoring a church in Warren, Ohio. The local antiabortion group was going to hold a well publicized protest and it was going to go right down the street on which our church was located. They asked me to bring a fifteen minute message condemning abortion. I told the nice lady that I would open the church to all the protesters to come and spend the same amount of time they would use to protest, to pray instead. I was told off in interesting language and a sign was placed in front of the church proclaiming me a baby killer. And so, our little group of praying believers prayed for these 'Christians' and the abortionists to be reconciled to God. Reconciliation first involves prayer and then seeking the action God wants from you.

Then Paul says we are ambassadors for Christ. A USA ambassador is on his or her best behavior. They follow the plan of the country and they put forward the best face of our country they can, or they face the consequences. As believers, we are citizens of heaven and we are ambassadors. 

And finally, Paul reminds us of what Jesus did for us. We talk of His sacrifice, but we tend to focus on the horrible physical ordeal. We should never forget that. But equally as horrible (maybe even more horrible) was the fact that Jesus took on the sins of all people for all time. Jesus had never crossed the line. He was tempted in all ways as we are, yet He stayed true. But in His sacrifice, He became sin for us all. He didn't just pay the price. He took our sin as His own.

So, dear friends, this is my New Years message for you. Be that new creation in 2025. Take seriously the ministry of reconciliation that the Lord has placed in your hands in 2025. And never, ever forget the full impact of His sacrifice as you navigate 2025.    

Saturday, December 21, 2024

CHRISTMAS IS A TIME OF JOY!!!

-----except when it isn't.

A woman is grieving over a brother who has had a debilitating stroke. He may not make it to Christmas. If he does it will likely be his last. Another woman is awaiting the results of a cancer test. It would be the second instance of cancer for her in the last four years. One gentleman is losing his ability to walk. Another fellow faces his first Christmas in sixty four years without his beloved wife. Instead of the festivities and joy she infused into the holiday for him, he has only the jarring memory of her recent death. The list of Christmas time concerns goes on and on. These are not just random things that I know of, either. These are things happening right here where I live and minister. So many here have lost the joy of Christmas and have replaced it with grief and sadness and concern and fear. And it has been this way for generations. People wanting the joy of Christmas but instead finding pain and desperation.

Some try to push through the gloom. Pretty lights, festive decorations, shopping, familiar carols. All of those things that have marked the joy and fun Christmases of the past. But when your heart is breaking or your worry runs deep, nothing can lift you up.

Sometimes Christmas is ruined forever. One gentleman in a church I pastored years ago sat in a hospital room watching his beloved dying on Christmas Day. He said to me as he watched her struggle to breathe, "Pastor, Christmas will never be good again." A pastor who suffered a terrible auto accident on Christmas Eve told me from an ER cot on Christmas Day that Christmas would never be joyful again. 

As you go through life you find that the dark clouds of despair that come upon you at times throughout the year are even darker and more ominous when they drift in on Christmas. Where is the joy? Where is that light hearted feeling? Where is the hope and wonder? Where is, well, the Christmas spirit?

So, has it ever crossed your mind that maybe Christmas really isn't for the kids or for those who are, even if just temporarily, carefree? Maybe, just maybe, Christmas is for the hopeless. Maybe it is for those who are beaten down. Maybe it is for those who have lost that elusive 'spirit.'

The Jews expected Messiah to come in royal themes to throw off the hated Roman overlords. The Jewish Zealots were tired of waiting for Messiah and were beginning to commit small acts of terror. Whole groups of Jews, out of despair, were beginning to believe Messiah would never come. The local ruler, an appointee of the emperor, was unspeakably evil and mean. It was no wonder that the people were on edge and ready for revolt. A man had escorted his betrothed over ninety miles on foot over rough and treacherous terrain based on a dream he had and a story she told. That man, Joseph, had to be having some doubts. A group of shepherds were settling in for another night in the open, smelling their sheep, feeling the weariness that comes from laboring in a nasty, dead end job. Despair, fear, disillusionment, hate and doubt. Above all, a sense of hopelessness. 

Into this brew of despondency, a Child was born. In time, He was rejected by most, but He came to infuse hope into a hopeless situation. His birth, what we call Christmas, was never intended to create Santa Claus or discounts on TVs or extreme online shopping. Messiah came for those who are hurting, for those who are struggling to overcome. Messiah came to offer life eternal, but He also came to bring hope back into shattered lives. Messiah came...for you.

Consider: Jesus Christ, Immanuel, the Son of the living God, the Prince of Light and Peace, stepped down from His home and position in heaven to be born into a world without hope, a world of despair, OUR personal world, and He did this because He loves us. That stroke victim may die, cancer may take hold, death, or the memory of death, may dog us, physical infirmities may pull at our bodies. But that doesn't mean a bad Christmas. It means we can feel the comfort of our Lord. His gift to us.

So, with the understanding of all of this, I wish you all a Merry Christmas. With that, I pray you count as your best gift, the gift of a loving Savior.

CHRISTMAS IS A TIME OF JOY!!!

Blessings.   

Monday, December 16, 2024

I am enjoying Miss Mary's series on 'Anticipation.' Realism is so much more powerful than myth. Miss Mary looks at the Scripture like I do. Why did they do the things they did? Why did they say this or that? When the Bible says, "as it is written," where is it written? The reality surrounding the birth is so much more meaningful than the myths we tend to embrace.

I do not come from what anyone would call a religious family. it was just the way it was. My folks both grew up in the same small town in Kentucky and they both went to the same little Hardshell Baptist church just outside town. A Hardshell church is a church that doesn't believe in Bible education or even studying before you preach, Strictly Holy Spirit driven. Or rather, Holy Ghost driven. The King James says 'Holy Ghost' and that is all there is to it. The Holy Ghost delivered the message to you as you walked to the pulpit. My father was five years older than my mother, so she was a girl while he was a teenager. The each knew the other, but not well. Although, they were cousins. That always bugged my wife. Anyway, Pearl Harbor came and my sixteen year old father went down to enlist. He lied about his age and got in. By the time he got home after the war and a period of time in service afterward, my mother was an adult and one thing led to another and they got married.

They eventually ended up in Ohio where there were no churches for them to attend. Of course, there were churches and many Baptist churches, but no Hardshells. Since all the other churches were modernistic and liberal, they chose not to go anywhere. (Hardshells consider any church that is not Hardshell to be modernistic and liberal.) Then, when I was five years old, they heard about a Hardshell church in a nearby town. The preacher was from West Virginia, and that bothered them a little, but as they say, Kentuckians and West Virginians are double first cousins. So, we attended there for a few years until they found out that the pastor attended the local ministerial group, therefore, rubbing shoulders with modernistic and liberal preachers. That ended my church life for many years.

In Sunday School there I saw pictures of Jerusalem and Bethlehem and all of the Holy Land. Arid and dry and desert-like, we were told it was very hot year round. But when Christmas came around, the pictures we saw were snow scenes in Bethlehem. How could that be? I asked my mother, who was the one with answers. "How could there be snow if it is hot." Remember, I was five. She thought for a bit and replied, "They have snow one day a year, and that turned out to be Christmas Eve." Wow! I bet the kids had fun on that one day! I absolutely believed my mother. We had a young lady in our church who loved to bicycle. When she was five or six months along, I heard her tell my mother that she really missed riding her bike because it hurt. When Christmas came, the picture showed Mary riding a donkey. I was only five, but I had ridden a donkey. If it hurt a woman to ride a bike while she was pregnant, how would a donkey feel under you. So, I asked my mother. She thought for a bit and then said, "Donkeys over there have really soft backs. Now quit asking questions! It is enough that the Bible says so!" And I absolutely believed my mother. I didn't know that the Bible said nothing of snow that night and I didn't know that the Bible doesn't say she rode a donkey, and neither, I am sure, did my mother. But we tend to believe what trusted adults tell us.

And that is how the myths grow.

Of course, in time I learned to look up answers to my questions on my own. With that, the nativity story became more and more amazing. The reality is so much better than the myth. 

And this is why I am enjoying Miss Mary's 'Anticipation, Part One and Two.' The Jews had their own myths about how the birth of Messiah was to be, which had only a little to do with the Old Testament prophecies. They painted a very different picture than Scripture, so when it came about, He was rejected. A mere carpenter and a girl? Nonsense! The shepherds said what? They've been drinking bad wine! This man Jesus does miracles? A fake who must be stopped! The guards saw an angel and the tomb was empty? No, they must have stolen the body! Reality can be tough to handle, especially when it goes against all we believe.

Time is growing short. Christmas is upon us. Lay the myths aside and read the reality. Matthew 1. beginning in verse 16 and Luke chapters 1 and 2. This is the Story. No presents, no pretty lights, no snow, no Wisemen, no animals that we know of, no Santa. Just the parents and some shepherds beside their selves with joy. And, of course, Jesus. 

Amazing.

If you don't get Miss Mary's blog, go to Mary's Moments and give her a read.

Blessings.





Thursday, December 12, 2024

I went to the doctor's this morning at 8 AM. Some snow, but not too bad. Coming home was another story. There is a gale blowing off Lake Erie right now with winds in the 55 MPH range. Waves at 14 feet. It slows down a bit when it hits land, but just a bit. At times coming back from the doctor's office I couldn't see past the hood of my car. Wind chills just below zero. A Lake affect is setting up and we will get more snow by this evening. I am supposed to take a man around to do his banking and such around noon, but that isn't going to happen. He is not happy, but I have always hated to go sledding on the highway. Just miserable out there right now and will be until Friday.

So, why am I telling you this? Partly to say that I really miss my Miami days when snow was something you read about. I even miss my Indiana days. They get the bone chilling cold, but not the snow. But coming home this morning a Bible verse popped into my head. I had to look it up when I got home and I wanted to share it with you. Matthew 5:44-46---But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?

I looked around at the other drivers. Intent on staying on the road with high winds from the northwest pushing them along the ice. Faces set in concentration. No way to know what their lives are like. No way to know if they believe in Christ or Allah or Buddha or whatever. All of us in the same boat, fighting a storm and trying to get where we were going. And EVERYONE of us in need of a Savior, the Savior, Jesus Christ. It is easy to love our pewmates. Easy to love our Sunday School class. But it is a different story when someone cuts you off or mocks your faith or shows little regard for you. However, if we don't react with love, they might never find Jesus. When our trials come, it is important to remember that others face the same trials and how we deal with our tribulations may point someone toward Jesus. 

We all live on this earth. We all face difficulties. But what sets a Christian apart is love. Spread the love around.

Blessings.  

Tuesday, December 10, 2024

          We all love our Christmas hymns. But usually we just know the first verse well, then stumble through the second verse and then we are back in the hymn book. However, most of these writers built the song through all of its verses to come to a wonder end with a wonderful message. What was the writer thinking? What emotions were present? What was the story? We love these songs for how they impact our lives.          

        How does a Christian not love “Silent Night?”

Silent night, holy night, (Maybe not so silent, but certainly holy)
All is calm, all is bright (Had to be Spiritually bright as the light of the world came)
Round yon Virgin Mother and Child
Holy Infant so tender and mild (Beautiful image of Christ)
Sleep in heavenly peace
Sleep in heavenly peace (Captures the mood)

Silent night, holy night!
Shepherds quake at the sight (They were startled!)
Glories stream from heaven afar (The angels sang from Heaven!)
Heavenly hosts sing Alleluia!
Christ, the Savior is born
Christ, the Savior is born. (The most blessed event in Jewish history)

Silent night, holy night
Son of God, love's pure light (Yes! Yes! Love’s pure light!)
Radiant beams from Thy holy face (We don’t know this, but it is powerful)
With the dawn of redeeming grace (Dawn broke with new promise)
Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth
Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth
 (Even as a baby, He was the Lord!)

        And then there is the beautiful and powerful “O Holy Night.”

O holy night, The stars are brightly shining;
It is the night of our dear Savior's birth! (Surely it was glorious!)
Long lay the world, in sin and error pining, (Sin everywhere, then the sinless One came)
Till He appeared and the soul felt its worth. 
A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices, (Even for those whom didn’t know, it all must have felt different)
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn. 
Fall on your knees, oh hear the angel voices! (Worship! Worship!)
O night divine, oh night when Christ was born!
O night divine, oh night, oh night divine! (A divine and holy night, indeed!)

Led by the light of Faith serenely beaming, (He came for us, so we are, in a Spiritual sense, standing by.)
With glowing hearts by His cradle we stand. 
So led by light of a star sweetly gleaming,
Here came the wise men from Orient land.
The King of Kings lay thus in lowly manger, (The rustic setting, but still the King and our Friend!)
In all our trials, born to be our Friend! 
He knows our need, to our weakness no stranger;
Behold your King! Before Him lowly bow! (Bow before Him, world. Bow before your King!)
Behold your King! Your King! Before Him bow. 

Truly He taught us to love one another; (Much is said about the Law in the Bible, but love is the key.)
His law is love and His gospel is peace. 
Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother (Written in 1847, the song was banned for a time for saying the slave was a brother.)
And in His name all oppression shall cease. 
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we, 
Let all within us praise His holy name! (Let praises ring for Him!)
Christ is the Lord, oh praise His name forever,
His power and glory evermore proclaim (Never cease to proclaim Him!)
His power and glory, evermore proclaim!

          But, my favorite Christmas hymn, and my all time favorite hymn of any kind, is “Joy to the World!” The first verse is about the Birth, but the song as a whole is about His life.

Joy to the World , the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King; (Oh, if only the world would receive!)
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And Heaven and nature sing, (One day, even the rocks will cry out and proclaim His holy name.)
And Heaven and nature sing, 
And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing.

Joy to the World, the Savior reigns! (Even as a humble carpenter, He ruled the world, if only a few knew.)
Let men their songs employ; 
While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains (One day all will know and all of creation will repeat the sounding joy!)
Repeat the sounding joy, 
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, repeat, the sounding joy.

No more let sins and sorrows grow, (Now, we do not have to let sin rule.)
Nor thorns infest the ground; (The curse of Eden no longer has to infest our spirit. It is His blessing.)
He comes to make His blessings flow  
Far as the curse is found,
 (Since the curse is over all the earth, all can be free of it within our souls.)
Far as the curse is found,  
Far as, far as, the curse is found.

He rules the world with truth and grace, (We don’t always acknowledge it, but He does rule!)
And makes the nations prove,  
The glories of His righteousness, (He is righteous,)
And wonders of His love,  (He is love,)
And wonders of His love,  (He is wonderful!)
And wonders, wonders, of His love.

          I don’t appreciate the way Christmas is celebrated by the world, but I do appreciate the Birth of our Savior!

          What is your favorite Christmas hymn?