Of the dates and times we celebrate, there are elements of paganism in most of it. Not really surprising. We follow a Judaeo-Christian theology. The Jewish faith started out in a relatively small area. They were supposed to spread their faith, but they did not, so it didn’t spread much beyond Palestine until they were over run and carried off into captivity to other countries. By that time, other areas had established their own religions and beliefs. Those beliefs began to creep into the Jewish faith. By the time of Christ, pagan beliefs were everywhere. As Christianity grew, people threw off the old pagan beliefs and embraced Christianity. But, there were still some elements of paganism that remained. They are easy to see in our celebrations of Easter and Christmas. Because pagan beliefs varied from place to place, the manner in which we celebrate these holidays now have variations. As an example, in Eastern Europe in the days before Christianity spread there, it was believed that at midnight on the winter solstice the animals would all have the gift of speech for a short while. This was incorporated into the Christian faith, but it became at midnight on Christmas Eve. As a little boy I heard about this and one Christmas Eve I grabbed the cat when I went to my bedroom. At midnight I began talking to Dusty, fully expecting him to talk back. While he enjoyed the attention, he really had nothing to say. Hard for a little boy to be disappointed on Christmas Eve, but I was, a little.

          When these pagan practices become our emphasis in our celebrations, we are in trouble. When we make Christ the central part of our celebration, we do well.

          New Year’s is like this. Firmly based in paganism, it is yet something that we have to observe. Unlike our religious celebrations, the change of the year is something we have to have. This has been recognized from the beginning of time in every culture. The beginning of a new year just naturally gives itself over to the making of resolutions to better ourselves. So long as we keep it realistic, this is not a bad thing.

          The ancient Babylonians are said to have been the first people to make New Year’s resolutions, some 4,000 years ago. They were also the first to hold recorded celebrations in honor of the new year, though for them the year began not in January but in mid-March, when the crops were planted. During a massive 12-day religious festival known as Akitu, that typically ended on the Spring Equinox, the Babylonians crowned a new king if one was needed, or reaffirmed their loyalty to the reigning king. The country could have been leaderless for nearly a full year, but their tradition did not allow for the new king, even with the death of the old king, until the spring equinox. They also made promises to the gods to pay their debts and return any objects they had borrowed. These promises could be considered the forerunners of our New Year’s resolutions. If the Babylonians kept to their word, their gods would bestow favor on them for the coming year. If not, they would fall out of the gods’ favor—a place no one wanted to be.

          In ancient Rome Julius Caesar felt the need to mess with the existing calendar. Most of our months now are named for either Roman gods or Roman emperors. Julius established our calendar pretty much the way it is now, except they started the calendar at the beginning of the Roman republic. Centuries later, the Pope in Rome continued with the months, but started the calendar at the moment of the birth of Jesus. Anyway, Julius made the new year to start on January 1. The reason for this was because January was named for the god Janus, the two-faced god whose spirit inhabited doorways and arches. Passing under a bridge, a traveler would see a face engraved on one side of the bridge and a different face on the other side, but it was the same god Janus on both sides. January had special significance for the Romans. They believed that Janus symbolically looked backwards into the previous year and ahead into the future. Because of this, the Romans offered sacrifices to the deity and made promises of good conduct for the coming year.

          It took centuries for this to become a religious celebration for Christians. In 1740, the English clergyman John Wesley, founder of Methodism, created the Covenant Renewal Service, most commonly held on New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day. Also known as watch night services, they included readings from Scriptures and hymn singing, and served as a spiritual alternative to the raucous celebrations normally held to celebrate the coming of the new year. To me, this is funny. As a young man I was a part of a very strict, legalistic style of Christianity. They really believed that if you didn’t believe as they did, you would go to Hell. They seemed to particularly despise the Southern Baptists and the Methodist. Every New Year’s Eve we would have what they called a Watch Night Service, in which we would pray in the new year. They had no idea they were walking the path of John Wesley. After I left there and pursued my education in the South, I became a Southern Baptist. Hardly anyone in my ‘home’ church would talk to me after that and most still do not. Back to point, Watch Night services are not practiced now as much as they used to be. To me, that is a good idea. The roads are not really safe on New Year’s Eve because the holiday is typically celebrated with a great deal of drinking.

          Regardless of its origins, the year is about to change. Maybe you will make a resolution to lose weight. What usually happens with that is you lose a little, you gain a little and you wind up pretty close to the same. Maybe you are going to resolve to spend more time with family, but that is a struggle that is hard to win, too. We make resolutions to better ourselves and to benefit those around us. We do this because we really do want it to be better. However, so much of what we want is dependent on others to do what is right. That is where it gets sticky.

          As Christians, though, we can make it better. Think about how your life would be altered if you spent just fifteen minutes a day more in reading the Bible. Think about how your life would be altered if you spent just fifteen minutes a day more in praying. Think about how your life would be altered if you would bring the Lord into the decision making process of your life. Think about how your life would be altered if you would bring the Lord into your conversation with someone just once a week. Not talking about your church, but talking about your Lord. This is a new year. We don’t need to make great, sweeping resolutions. Those are very hard to keep. What we need to do is make little, positive changes in how we act Spiritually in the world. The little changes are easy but have the greatest impact.

          So, Happy New Year. Just do not waste it.

         For me, it happened many times. November. A rainy and chilly day, wind blowing the sodden leaves through the cemetery, a small group of family and friends gathered around a fresh grave, a few flower arrangements looking very out of place on such a day. And, the casket. A blue, metal casket, offering the only bit of color, other than the out of place flowers. In this case, not even a tent. No chairs for the family to sit in. The cemetery scene is always sad, but this one even more so. The deceased was not part of the church I pastored, but one of the parents of a high school friend. I was doing the service as a favor. It was painful to see someone I had grown up with in such personal pain.

         Yes, it had happened before, but this was different in one detail. One of the children of the deceased belonged to a mega-church. A serious mega-church. Over 10,000 in attendance every Sunday. A complete department dedicated to the music of the church. The music leaders and instrumentalist were all paid living wages. The sound people and video people were all professionals, all paid well. Those who worked with the Youth age all had degrees and were paid accordingly. A pastoral staff with, in that case, ten associate pastors. The senior pastor had to have the ten associates because he was busy writing sermons and books and giving interviews. As the choir would sing there would be a light show in the background timed to accentuate the rising and falling tones of the music. A place where love and compassion was preached and practiced.

         So, why was this relatively small group of people huddled in a cold cemetery on that dreary November morning? Why was the minister someone who was, essentially, borrowed from a local church? Why were we all standing in mud rather than the rich carpet of the mega-church sanctuary?

         Well, everything at the church was professional. To prepare for Sunday services the technicians and music people and sound people and everyone involved had to be at work in that great sanctuary throughout the week. The only funerals or weddings ever done in that sanctuary were for important people. The founders of the church, the wealthiest members, family of staff. An aged parent of someone who was just a member hardly qualified. None of the pastoral staff could take time from their overflowing schedules to conduct a funeral of an aged parent of someone who was just a member of the church. The senior pastor was away somewhere doing something of great importance for the Lord and he would not have done the service anyway. Besides, it was cold and wet and miserable in Northeast Ohio. Surely you wouldn’t expect…..?

         Surprisingly (or maybe not so surprisingly), my friend still goes to that church. Where else can one go and be entertained with music and a show and a witty speaker and walk away with a smile on your face, week after week? My friend rarely misses. It is awesome! The Lord is blessing His people!!!

         Or, is He?

         The Biblical era model for church was a house church. Typically, a church would be started with just a few and would meet in a house. When it grew to around twenty or so folks, it would split (without argument) and the new church would begin to meet in another home. Both church A and church B would now have around ten people. When they each got around twenty or so, they would split. This would continue on, each church splitting over and over, but none getting very large. In 1 Thessalonians 1:1, Paul writes these words, Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace. Paul is not writing to a single church as we think of a church. He is writing to the full body of Believers with in a single city, which is the concept of the New Testament church. The body of Believers in any town or city is the church of that town or city. They didn’t meet together, but they were one. The only large, single ‘churches’ in the Bible era were the pagan temples and the Jewish synagogues. Under the new Christian system, the church of Believers grew at an astronomical rate. The mega-church of today may have had great growth, but is that from Jehovah God?

         Consider this; in a mega-church, you simply go to church. You are entertained. But you rarely have anything to actually do. No way to serve the Lord through the church. They have staff for all of that. If you want to join the 150 voice choir you have to have a series of tryouts before ever more important music personnel before you are told we will get back to you when we have a need. Anything you might want to do to help out will require extensive interviews and background checks and, finally, why bother? Just enjoy that Sunday service. It is the price you pay for excellence. But you don’t grow, you are entertained. You don’t grow, you are made comfortable. You don’t grow, you are told your service is in giving money. I have no doubt whatsoever that if my friend was in one of our services, that afterward I would receive a condescending smile and be told it was all very nice. And as my friend climbed into the car the thought would rattle around in my friend’s head, “Boy, did Larry ever waste his life!”

         But Larry is fine and hasn’t wasted a moment. Consider this past Sunday. Larry got to see several people step out of their comfort zones and do things that they either do rarely or have never done. During the choir, during the Advent candle lighting, during the Youth praise song, people who never, ever saw their own selves singing a solo or duet or in a group or speaking in front of a group were now doing those things. All of them nervous to some degree. Sweaty palms. Accelerated hearts. But, reading Scripture, singing for the glory of the Lord, offering a prayer. I have been in some mega-church situations. I have never been impressed. But I was impressed on Sunday. Just blown away. I go around before church to talk to as many as I can and no one treats me like I am something special, like they would if they met that mega-church pastor. No, I am treated like a friend. But, then, the icing on the cake from Sunday. In the mega-church, when the service ends you cannot get near the senior pastor. He is hustled out. But at Urbana Yoke Parish this last Sunday, as I walked through the crowd, Vi Miller caught me and thanked me for suggesting to the congregation to read a chapter of Luke every day of December, 24 chapters. Then, on Christmas morning you can reflect on the entire life of Jesus, rather than just the birth. Vi said she had read Luke many times, but this time it seemed different. She was pleased with her readings! That is an incredible thing.

         The funeral was over in that wind swept cemetery on that cold, November day. I shook hands all around and gave my childhood friend a hug. I walked over to my little car and got in and headed back to my church. I still had a counseling session and there was special Christmas choir practice that evening. My friend headed home and then, on Sunday, headed to that huge church that could not be bothered with the likes of my friend in time of need. My friend probably appreciated my help that day, but also probably felt a little sorry for me that I never hit it big.

         But I have hit it big. This past Sunday was big. And you have hit it big, too. You have the opportunity to serve the Lord with gladness and come into His presence with singing!

         Blessings to you and may you enjoy the glory of Christmas.

          I know it is the Christmas season, but this is on my mind, put there by a Christmas card.

         The old saying goes, “laughter is the best medicine.” It may not cure (although there are many stories where a person gets better after a good, heartfelt laugh) but laughter will certainly make you feel better, at least for the moment. Most folks don’t think about workers at a funeral home needing the blessing of laughter, but they need it more than most. Every day they are dealing with someone else’s grief and sometimes they deal with their own at the same time. But, they need to keep it together for the families they are serving. My job working with a funeral home for nine years was supposed to be to lift up families in there time of need and to follow up with them. However, my co-workers were often in need as well. Many prayers were given in our offices or in the funeral home itself before families arrived. And, in some cases, I wasn’t the one doing the praying. There were times when one of them was praying for me.

          But there was humor, and there was laughter. 

          People assume that funeral home humor is dark humor, but that is not really so. There were things that happened that would only be appreciated by someone in that business, but the humor mostly made everyone laugh.

 Most funeral homes no longer keep caskets in stock. The family picks one out and then you order it overnight. It arrives the next day, which is in plenty of time. Occasionally, though, one of the directors had to go to the warehouse and pick the casket out visually. There came a time when one of the directors needed to make the trip and there were no vehicles available to drive. All of the vans were being used and the ‘lead cars’ were being serviced. So, this director got the keys to the hearse and took off in it. This wasn’t usually done. Actually, it was never done. This director just didn’t want to wait a bit for one of the vans to return. He got to the warehouse and explained to the manager there what he wanted and, surprisingly, they had exactly the one he wanted in stock. He had them load it in the hearse and he headed back to the funeral home. By the time he got back it was well after hours, so he parked the hearse in the garage and figured he would get some help in the morning and remove the casket.

It was that gentleman’s custom to sleep in occasionally. He picked the next morning to do so. We had two funeral homes, the main one in Madison, Ohio, where all the vehicles were kept, and the other was in Geneva, Ohio. There was a funeral in Geneva that morning. A prominent man in the community and a World War II vet who was very active in the local American Legion. The hearse driver for that funeral arrived at the Madison location to get the hearse ready. It was dirty, which didn’t make sense to him since, as far as he knew, it hadn’t been driven since the last funeral. (The hearse was washed after each funeral so it would be ready for the next one.) The driver, Bob, was now rushed. On most hearses, the rear windows are darkened to the point that you can’t see in. Bob hurriedly washed the car, but never looked in the back of the hearse. When he got in he found it was nearly out of gas. He had to stop on the way to Geneva. By the time he got there he was cranky and irritated. He had to sit for a spell in the funeral home and collect himself. By the time the funeral was over, Bob was doing better. But he still had not checked the back of the hearse. It wasn’t something you did, really. No one was supposed to use it between funerals.

The funeral ended and the people filed out of the funeral home. The American Legion guys took their place to form a corridor for their fallen comrade. In that part of the country, it is customary for the family and anyone else who wanted to, to stand between the building and the hearse to pay final respects. A nice wide path was there for the pall bearers and the casket to pass through. Bob stood at the back door of the hearse ready to open the door at just the right moment. As the honor guard snapped to attention, Bob opened the rear door. To another casket. A gasp traveled over the people.

The funeral director for that funeral was named Ford. Odd name, but his father was Wilford. He named his son Wilford. Everyone had called the dad Wil, so they called the son Ford. Dignified. Serious. A wicked sense of humor. Ford stepped around the pall bearers and up to the hearse. He took hold of the rear handle of the casket which was in the hearse and lifted slightly to see if it was empty. Of course, it was empty. Without a word, Ford began to pull the casket out. Bob waited until he could reach around and take hold of the other end and they walked it over to the grass. (Metal caskets are much lighter than wood and easy to move.) Still without speaking, they set it down and then took their places at the hearse and the funeral continued. It was done in such a way as to look perfectly normal. The gathered people weren’t sure what they had seen, but went along with it. What really seems funny to me, though, is that for the next two hours a casket sat on the front lawn of the funeral home at a spot where it might have rolled out of the hearse. I wondered what people driving by thought.

I had my own experience with the hearse. I rarely drove the thing. My duties took me elsewhere. I didn’t like driving it. Handled kind of weird, as you might guess. But it seemed that when the weather was bad and it was a long trip to the cemetery, I was behind the wheel.

One such day the cemetery was a seventy mile drive and the forecast called for severe Lake effect snow. Last winter I was driving to Ft. Wayne and the weather said Lake effect snow, with accumulations of four to five inches. In the Cleveland area, when they called for Lake effect, it was almost always followed by the words, “up to a foot or more expected with more accumulation in some areas.” It held off till we got to the cemetery, then we found out that the cemetery was in the ‘some areas’ designation. In fact, it was like that all the way home. The funeral director for the day was Ford again. After the graveside was over, he told me to get the hearse out of there while I still could. He would stay and make sure the grave was taken care of. When he left the cemetery he found a motel and hunkered down for the night. Meanwhile, I am trying to get home.

Two hours later I had gone about fifteen miles. Being a diabetic, I need to eat at certain times. I was starting to feel it, so I got into the glove compartment to get my stash of candy out, since my sugar was dropping. I kept a little candy in every vehicle and everyone understood that it was mine and knew what it was for. No one ever touched it. Except that day. The candy was gone. A couple of wrappers. I had to make a new plan. Up ahead, through the falling snow, I saw the golden arches of McDonalds. I don’t like McDonalds, except for their coffee, and we were strictly forbidden to pull the hearse into a restaurant of any kind on a trip of less than one hundred and fifty miles, but this was different. I got off and pulled into McDonalds.

I got into the drive through lane and got up to the squawk box right away. No one was out in that weather. I ordered a cheese burger and a pie and a water. Then I pulled around to the window. Imagine. You are a teenage girl in the drive up. It is a creepy day, snowing so hard you can’t see beyond your little parking lot. Hardly anyone on the road. Then, a large white vehicle is emerging. It looks odd and then you see the light on top and the length and the funeral emblems on the side. As the window rolls down you see a man in a suit and an overcoat with a chauffeur's hat on. Not something you see very often.

Her eyes were huge as I pulled up. I looked at her and held up a finger as if to tell her to wait a second. I turned in my seat and yelled to the back of the hearse, “DO YOU WANT FRIES WITH THAT?” She actually threw the bag of food at me and I didn’t get my water.

Another time we were in a cemetery on another such snowy day. I wasn’t doing the hearse that day. I was there to help the family get seated. I was helping the family to their seats under the tent. In those situations, you try to hear everything that is going on so you can be ready for anything. I heard the sexton explaining to our director that there was a very large hole where an old, dead tree had been pulled out. The snows had come before they had been able fill it in and now it was completely covered. It was necessary to take the casket around a different way. I heard this, but I was helping the family, so I didn’t see where the hole was located. When the family was seated I made my way to the director to find out where the hole was located. I found it on my own before I got to him. It was in plain view of the family as they were faced forward. The hole was covered by snow. I walked right into it and vanished from sight. It was a BIG hole. As far as the family knew, I had fallen in a grave. Actually, I wasn’t sure I hadn’t fallen into a grave. The sexton, director and hearse drive hurried over, reached down and pulled me out. The director, Trevor that day, noticed everyone was staring. “Thanks for marking the grave for us, Mr. Wade.” "Not a problem, sir.” And we went on with the service.

I eventually became the manager of the Geneva funeral home. It was beautifully remodeled but quite old. Since it had boiler heat it would occasionally make strange noises, sometimes loud enough to be heard even over a full house. On those occasions someone would rush up to me and say, “What was that noise?” I would always look at them and say, “What noise?” Banging and creaking and, when the wind was just right, an eerie whistling noise. “THAT NOISE!” I would listen, smile a little and say, “Oh, that noise. Nothing to worry about.” The other person would look at me oddly for a minute, then turn and start to walk away. Then I would mutter under my breath, but loud enough for them to hear, “At least I hope not this time.”

Sadness and grief at a funeral is always present. But sometimes, God gives us a little blessing to ease our minds. It had been the worst week I could ever remember. We only had four funerals that week, but all were children. All the staff was exhausted and tense. We all had kids ourselves. With a situation like that you couldn’t help but wonder what it would have been like for you. I had a family to meet with, so I wasn’t supposed to be involved with the calling hours for the fourth funeral, which was to be my first break from this stretch of services. I had just wrapped up my meeting with the family when my cell phone beeped. It was one of the staff at the calling hours. She was frantic. There was a bat in the funeral home. Nate (the director in charge) needed my help. I went over to the funeral home expecting to see chaos. But everything was fine. None of the visitors had seen the bat and the staff had kept it quiet. For the next half hour, everyone on staff walked calmly and quietly around and in among the people, all looking up. We were all trying to look natural, but we were really just looking creepy. All of a sudden, I saw Nate sprinting through the lounge and outside. He came back in a minute, flushed and shaking. He had found the bat, grabbed it and had wrapped it up in his handkerchief, then rushed it outside. He tossed it into the air and it flew away, trailing the handkerchief behind. I suppose it was the stress of the week and the tenseness as we look for the little guy, but the entire staff crowded into the small office, shut the door and then laughed ourselves silly.

            Every Wednesday morning, at 7:30, almost the entire staff would gather in the funeral home to give an unpaid hour over to our weekly Bible study. During the week it was common to see them praying together. Good, good people. Respectful of the living and the dead. For them, laughter was a blessing, one we cherished. Psalm 126:2-3---Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy; then they said among the nations, “The Lord has done great things for them.”  The Lord has done great things for us; we are glad.  

         Seminary. Pastoring a small church way out in the country. Wayyy outttt in the country. Trying to balance school, work, church and family. Yet, memories from that time are sharp and clear.

         There was a home I was going by to visit. The church had adopted this family for Christmas. The husband had been in an accident and was laid up for several months with a damaged leg. I was taking a check over. I got out of the car and a woman yelled from inside to come in through the back door. It had been rainy and, for the Florida panhandle, unusually chilly. I tried to avoid the bigger mud holes as I made my way around back. As I rounded the house, I came face to face with the biggest domesticated sheep I had ever seen. “Baaaaaa.” Honestly, it sounded as though it was saying “Backkkkkkk.” It put its head down and butted me in the chest. Not really hard, but I knew I had been butted. “Baaaaaa!” And again, I was butted. The sheep was big and wet from the rain and dirty from the mud and it was between the door and me. “Baaaaaa!” Head down and another butt. Each one just a little harder.

         “Gloria,” called the lady from the back door. “Let the preacher alone!” She looked at me and said, “I am sorry, Reverend. She just wants you to scratch her head.” I reached up and started to scratch her head. “BAAaaaaaaaaaa!” I would swear Gloria was smiling. I slipped around her and went through the door. Gloria rushed behind me and nearly knocked me over getting inside. “NO!” I said, trying to grab her. The lady of the house was holding out some lettuce to Gloria, who was eagerly munching it down. “Don’t worry none, Reverend. She’s a house sheep.” I grew up country, but I had never heard of a house sheep. The lady directed me to an old sofa and when I sat down, Gloria came over and put her massive head into the lap of her new friend.

         Every church has its own little traditions and peculiarities. 1983 was the first Christmas we spent with that church. Back in those days a lot of churches, in fact, around there, all the churches had Sunday evening church. Christmas was on Sunday that year, so the week before Christmas when we got there for evening church, we were surprised to see a pretty good sized crowd. Just because we had church on Sunday evening in addition to the morning service did not mean many folks normally came to the evening service. But this night the church was pretty well packed out. No one had told us that the week before Christmas was the church’s Christmas party and that was why all these people were there. Everyone met in the fellowship hall, which had been decorated in just about the most gawdy fashion you could imagine. Over against one wall there was a raised platform area put together with pallets and plywood and two chairs were mounted on the platform. That was new to us. It was a carry in meal and Marsha felt bad because we hadn’t known about it and had prepared nothing, but I, as a man, saw only that I was getting free food. After about 45 minutes of good food and conversation, the chairman of our Board stood up and announced it was time. Everyone became almost deathly quiet. Our little son was fidgeting and Marsha shushed him, but that was the only noise. The chairman cleared his throat and looked right at me. I realized that I was supposed to do something, but I had no idea what. He looked at me then looked at the platform then looked at me again, motioning with his head toward the platform. I still didn’t know what to do, but it had something to do with the platform, so I headed that way. The chairman looked at Marsha and said, “Mrs. Preacher.” Marsha started to follow with our son in tow. “Leave the boy, Marsha. Greta will see to him.” Now, during all this it was completely quiet except for the chairman’s few words to us. Marsha joined me on the platform and, since there were two chairs, we sat down. The room was silent. A young couple got up and walked forward, placing a wrapped gift on the platform. We looked at the gift, then at each other. We had no idea what was going to happen. Then another couple and their two kids got up and brought a gift forward. No words. Family by family came forward and placed a gift at our feet in silence. When all the families had placed a gift, everyone started talking again and started getting their coats. “Night Preacher!” “Merry Christmas!” “Have a great week!” We were still confused, so I caught the Chairman, whose name was Keenan. “Keenan, what are all these gifts?” “Why Preacher, these are your Christmas gifts. Don’t folks up north give gifts to their preachers?” “Well, yes, but not like this.” “Well, you yankees have strange ways. You probably didn’t know that you and the misses and the little one there are going over to the Blankenship’s now, did you? Well, get a move on. They are waiting.”

         The Blankenships. Darius and Thelma. The oldest folks in the church and the sweetest people you would ever want to meet. They hadn’t been there that evening, but they didn’t drive in the dark so I had thought nothing of it. But apparently, tradition demanded we head over there to their farm house. “Leave these presents, Preacher. My boy and me will take ‘em over to the parsonage. Don’t keep Thelma waiting.” We got in the car and drove over.

         Every light in te place was on. We walked up to the door, all three of us and the door flew open. Heat rolled out the door. “Welcome! Welcome!” Darius shouted. “Come on in out of that cold!” It might have been 55 degrees outside, but no colder. Florida folks, though, even the ones in the Panhandle, hate the cold. In the house it had to be 100 degrees, and that is not a joke. Everyone there had ceramic gas heaters in their walls. Turn them on and a flame would start to warm the ceramic until it glowed red. Darius had two big ones in each room and they were all glowing bright red. They also had a massive fireplace that was open on both sides, one side opening to the living room, which we had entered, and the other side opening to the kitchen/dining room. A fire roared in the fireplace. “Must’ve gone a little long at the church. Starten’ to worry. Well, come on, Thelma’s got the noodles all ready!”

It was the biggest pot of spaghetti I had ever seen. I don’t really care for spaghetti and, normally, would have taken just a bit. But Darius was serving and my plate, and Marsha’s and Adam’s, were mounded high. The table was close enough to the fireplace that the wood that the table was made from was hot. All three of us were sweating and Darius and Thelma were wearing heavy sweaters. We had just eaten a large meal at the church. Now we had pasta and bread and heat and this lovely couple whom we had come to love. Marsha and Adam liked spaghetti, but even they had a hard time. But we all toughed it out, even through second helpings. After we were done we all helped clear the table and Thelma shooed us out of the kitchen. It was time to go. There, tradition said you visit before you eat and during the meal, but when the meal was over, the show was done. Bye, see ya, drive careful. All three of us had headaches from te heat and stomach aches from all the food and we all felt sick.

It was late when we got back to the parsonage. All those gifts were arranged around the tree. They had left the lights on and it was so pleasant. We just went to bed.

Christmas will be here before you know it. You have your own little family traditions. Keep them, enjoy them, get tired of them. But remember the oldest of the Christmas traditions. Give glory to God in the highest and seek out peace on earth and good will to all mankind.   

          December is a month I really do enjoy. It has very little to do with Christmas. All the flash and dazzle of the holiday depresses me. Where does the Birth of our Lord fit in with tinsel and our exchange of gifts? But I do love this time, specifically December.

          I went into the ministry in 1975. I was a Youth Pastor and then an Associate Pastor and then, in 1983, I became a Pastor. That boggles my mind! That means…..I am getting old! Never mind, enough of that. Back to point. By 1989 I was a grizzled pulpit veteran of six years. I found myself becoming more and more upset with the way Christmas was being celebrated by the world as well as the folks in the church. I didn’t like all the commercialization and misdirection. So, the Sunday before Christmas that year, I boldly went where no pastor had gone before. I preached on Hell. Let it rip, too. HAH! I showed them!

          The closing song was “Silent Night.” I stood and greeted people as they went out. The words I got from the people stunned me. Have a Merry Christmas, Pastor. Looks like we will get some Christmas Eve snow! You folks going up to see the parents? What time do you folks get up for Christmas? My mind was jumbled. Were these people nuts? I had just preached a barn burner message on Hell, and it’s like they didn’t even notice.

          There was a good reason for that. They didn’t notice. Probably because they didn’t listen. I was really crushed that our people could be so sucked into worldliness!

          Fortunately, the Lord whacked me in the back of the head with a Yule log and got my attention.

          Christmas time is a time when people focus on Christmas things, just like Easter is a time people focus on Easter things. As much as I would like those things to all be sacred things, we do live in this world. The things of the world will come through and, if we watch ourselves, that is not always bad. I really enjoy seeing kids in their new Easter clothes. I like to hear the stories of what loved ones got their wives or husbands or kids for Christmas. It is OK so long as our focus is right…….

          So, the Lord took me to the woodshed a little. But, He also inspired me.

          In terms of preaching, December is a limited month. You have to spend four Sundays on the birth of Jesus and one Sunday on the coming New Year. It is just the way it is today. If you are looking for a church, don’t bother looking in December. The birth of Christ only takes a few chapters in the New Testament, although there is much in Old Testament prophecy. In December, the preacher is going to preach on the Birth. I have done so since 1983 (I have to quit saying that year. I can’t really be that old.) with the exception of the ill-fated message on Hell. There is a challenge in preaching on the same topic and still making it interesting. But it is still the same topic.

          Because of this, however, I came to a wonderful discovery.

          The Lord called me to pastor. What most people do not consider is that pastoring and preaching are two different callings. There are many wonderful preachers who are sad pastors, and many really good pastors who are poor preachers. I recognized this early on. Preaching was a struggle for me. Consequently, I struggled for years to be a better preacher. In seminary, I pursued a degree in ministry, but I read everything I could that was in the reading list for a preaching, or homiletics, degree. By the time I had my master’s in ministry I had done all the reading for a doctorate in homiletics. Marsha was the one who pushed me to go ahead and go for the doctorate, since I had done all the work already, except for some field work and the dissertation. You would think I would be a better preacher, but I am what I am.

          In all of that preparation, I came across an chapter in a book concerning something called a Planned Program of Preaching. The PPP involves sitting down and planning your preaching for a month or even three months. Scripture passage, sermon topic and maybe some thoughts. You are not preparing the sermon in advance, just putting ideas together. Then, when you get to that week, you have the Scripture and topic, all you have to do is prepare (which is the fun part). At the time I first read the chapter, I dismissed if. How can you let the Spirit lead if you program it? Never thought about it again.

          Until the week between Christmas and New Years of 1989.

          The Lord brought it to my mind while I was in prayer one morning. I resisted, He insisted, so I thought I would give it a month. I spent a lot of time in prayer that week about messages for January. By the end of the week I had a basic outline for the month. You pray about it and the Lord leads and there were four weeks of topics. Pretty cool! One of the hard things about preaching is coming up with a topic. That January there was no feeling of rush during those weeks that were heavy with pastoral duties. I already had the topics. The amazing thing was, we did have something suddenly come up that January in the church that needed to be addressed from the pulpit. The sermon that was on the PPP was exactly what was needed. What? You mean to tell me that the Holy Spirit knows what is coming and can direct my paths a month away? Un-stinking-real! As January drew to a close I looked to February and March. Again, the Lord didn’t disappoint. Having sought out the Lord and having prayed over everything, I found my messages were always on topic. It was unreal! As March wound down, I went for three months. Everything was perfect. There were weeks when I was at hospitals for various needs, when others had other kinds of problems, when I had to leave town suddenly for four or five days. In those cases, I was ready.

          When December 1990 rolled around, I was excited. I found I was already putting those messages for the first three months together in my mind. Easter was coming, and I love to preach during the Easter season. Not only that, but I had been invited to speak at Kent State University on the topic of Resurrection, so I needed to prepare for that. There would be ridicule and questions from ‘educated’ young people. I began to prepare at the beginning of December.

          One sermon led to another. The Lord was really moving! By the end of December I took stock of what the Lord had accomplished during the month. I was actually quite surprised that every Sunday during year had a topic and Scripture. No, no, no, that can’t be right, I thought. And what is this, starting in June? I had two topics and two sets of Scripture for each Sunday through the end of the year. I remembered doing that, but why? Did the Lord want me to preach two messages on those Sundays? That wouldn’t go over well at the church. Now I was a little worried. How could I prepare for a whole year in advance, and why the double messages for more than half a year? I was doing something wrong, for sure.

          But the messages were right on the money.

          When we got to May there was a small, struggling church in the community where we lived (we didn’t live in the same community as the church I pastored) that was coming into some real problems. Knowing some of the folks, because we were neighbors, I was asked to come on Wednesday evening to talk things over from a Biblical perspective. My church’s weekly Bible study was Thursday evening, so that worked well. It would only be a couple of weeks, anyway. After a couple of weeks the little church asked if I might fill the pulpit for a couple of Sundays. Of course, I was pastoring, but they offered to change their times to accommodate my Sunday schedule. From that, I was there every Sunday for the next 80 weeks. The very first Sunday of preaching that dual situation was the first Sunday I had two messages listed for a Sunday on my Planned Program of Preaching.

          Last year I didn’t do this for the first time in a long time. If you recall, last year at this time I had resigned effective in February. Marsha had left and I really didn’t think I could pastor anymore. But the Lord wouldn’t let me go and you folks wouldn’t let me go, and here I am. I have been looking forward to December so much I actually got started in November! It is like the coming year is revealed to me, at least as far as sermons go. I also can pick out the Liturgist Scripture reading for each week to go along with the messages. From that I can select the congregational songs, which will also enhance the ‘theme’ for each Sunday. A fellow pastor once told me that the PPP was stupid. It completely took the Spirit out of it. I told him that we obviously had two different S/spirits at work in our lives. His spirit was only strong enough to cover him for a week at a time. My Spirit is strong enough to give me a year! 

          Well, you might say, God has blessed you. But here is the secret. I have access to the same Spirit you have access too. Incredible things can be done, if we just let Him have His way. Not just day to day, but week to week, month to month, year to year. What a Mighty God we serve!

          I do love this month!

          Blessings.