… With Word & Song
It’s that time again, when every store is blasting “Christmas” Music. We have Frosty, Rudolph, “Santa Baby,” Partridges, and poor dear Grandma’s tragic encounter with a reindeer. We have “Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire” while we “Deck the Halls.” We dream of a “White Christmas” so we can go “Dashing Through the Snow.” Clearly, “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.” Everybody says so. Yet in spite of the cheerful songs, there seems to be something missing. What are we saying when we say, “We Need a Little Christmas?”
The happy chaos can make it hard to answer that question. The Grinch answered it this way:
“Maybe Christmas (he thought) doesn’t come from a store.
Maybe Christmas perhaps means a little bit more.”
He was right: Christmas is more, much, much more.
Christmas is more than a time of music, merriment and mirth;
it is a season of meditation, mangers and miracles.
Christmas is more than a time of carols, cards and candy;
it is a season of dedication and decision.
William Arthur Ward
Important decisions:
“The great challenge left to us is to cut through
all the glitz and glam of the season
that has grown increasingly secular and commercial,
and be reminded of the beauty of the One who is Christmas.”
Bill Crowder
Advent means “arrival or coming, especially one which is awaited.” This year as we await Christmas, let’s find that “something more” in the traditional songs and words we sing every year, words about the One Who is Christmas.
I truly believe that if we keep telling the Christmas story,
singing the Christmas songs,
and living the Christmas spirit,
we can bring joy and happiness and peace to this world.
Norman Vincent Peale
It is certainly worth a try. What have we got to lose?
