handy
Member
I'm here at my work, waiting for my son's Christmas program to start...we live too far away from the school to drive home then back again....
Anyhoo, I thought with all the Santa threads and such I'd start an unabashed, thoroughly pro-Christmas thread...:christmas
Last weekend, I was in Half Moon Bay, California, which is just south of San Fransisco...hardly a bastion of conservative Christianity...and yet, while we were sitting on a terrace of a seafood restaurant, eating fish and chips and sipping Iced Tea, we were listening to "Go tell it on the mountain, that Jesus Christ is born." This was followed up by a song containing these words...
Hail the heav'n-born Prince of Peace!
Hail the Son of Righteousness!
Light and life to all He brings
Ris'n with healing in His wings
Mild He lays His glory by
Born that man no more may die
Born to raise the sons of earth
Born to give them second birth
Hark! The herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!"
...and my friend and I were talking about how there would be noway, no how these words would be pumped out over a public speaker within 20 miles of San Fransisco except at Christmas.
Yes, there were plent of Santa Claus is Coming to Town types of songs as well, but intermixed with them were these great old carols, so many of which has very dynamic truths in them...and the folks eating at the restaurant were enjoying the music...hearing the gospel proclaimed and hearing that Jesus Christ is the Lord.
This is what I like so much about Christmas...it's about the one time of year that Christ is proclaimed throughout the whole world, and embraced by even non-Christians with a certain amount of joy. It is such a springboard to sharing the gospel on an individual basis...even Santa Claus can be utilized this way.
I've never understood the animosity that has grown in the past 30 years or so against Christmas within the church...here we have a ready made time of year when non-Christians are humming along with "O Come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord" or "Now ye need not fear the grave: Jesus Christ was born to save! Calls you one and calls you all, To gain His everlasting hall. Christ was born to save, Christ was born to save."
It seems as if the animosity centers around the fact that Jesus wasn't born on December 25, or that there is no mention of exactly how many wise men showed up and that the wise men probably weren't there the night He was born, or that Santa is Satan...
This, in my humble opinion is straining gnats and swallowing camels, probably the camels that the wise men rode in on.
Paul stood on Mars Hill and used an idol dedicated to an unknown god as a springboard to the gospel. We in the church have the world meeting us more than halfway here during the Christmas season, and we turn them away by snapping the head off of some poor sales clerk who said "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas".
I say, "Hooray for Christmas!!" I say it's great to hear all over the world the refrain that Jesus was indeed Lord at His birth! I say, let's spread all the peace, joy and goodwill that we can during this time of year when so many are softened to the message, and follow it up the year through with love and sharing the message entrusted to us.
Anyhoo, I thought with all the Santa threads and such I'd start an unabashed, thoroughly pro-Christmas thread...:christmas
Last weekend, I was in Half Moon Bay, California, which is just south of San Fransisco...hardly a bastion of conservative Christianity...and yet, while we were sitting on a terrace of a seafood restaurant, eating fish and chips and sipping Iced Tea, we were listening to "Go tell it on the mountain, that Jesus Christ is born." This was followed up by a song containing these words...
Hail the heav'n-born Prince of Peace!
Hail the Son of Righteousness!
Light and life to all He brings
Ris'n with healing in His wings
Mild He lays His glory by
Born that man no more may die
Born to raise the sons of earth
Born to give them second birth
Hark! The herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!"
...and my friend and I were talking about how there would be noway, no how these words would be pumped out over a public speaker within 20 miles of San Fransisco except at Christmas.
Yes, there were plent of Santa Claus is Coming to Town types of songs as well, but intermixed with them were these great old carols, so many of which has very dynamic truths in them...and the folks eating at the restaurant were enjoying the music...hearing the gospel proclaimed and hearing that Jesus Christ is the Lord.
This is what I like so much about Christmas...it's about the one time of year that Christ is proclaimed throughout the whole world, and embraced by even non-Christians with a certain amount of joy. It is such a springboard to sharing the gospel on an individual basis...even Santa Claus can be utilized this way.
I've never understood the animosity that has grown in the past 30 years or so against Christmas within the church...here we have a ready made time of year when non-Christians are humming along with "O Come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord" or "Now ye need not fear the grave: Jesus Christ was born to save! Calls you one and calls you all, To gain His everlasting hall. Christ was born to save, Christ was born to save."
It seems as if the animosity centers around the fact that Jesus wasn't born on December 25, or that there is no mention of exactly how many wise men showed up and that the wise men probably weren't there the night He was born, or that Santa is Satan...
This, in my humble opinion is straining gnats and swallowing camels, probably the camels that the wise men rode in on.
Paul stood on Mars Hill and used an idol dedicated to an unknown god as a springboard to the gospel. We in the church have the world meeting us more than halfway here during the Christmas season, and we turn them away by snapping the head off of some poor sales clerk who said "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas".
I say, "Hooray for Christmas!!" I say it's great to hear all over the world the refrain that Jesus was indeed Lord at His birth! I say, let's spread all the peace, joy and goodwill that we can during this time of year when so many are softened to the message, and follow it up the year through with love and sharing the message entrusted to us.
