Spirit of Christmas
Good morning everyone? I did something really dumb yesterday! Do you want to hear what it was? Well, I went Christmas shopping in Murfreesboro, that was my first mistake. So, I had to do some more shopping and I went to the mall, and I was driving around trying to find a parking place. I couldn’t find any place to park, so I just kept driving, and driving, and driving. And finally somebody pulled out and I got their parking place but it was way far away from the mall, so I pulled in and I walked all the way into the store that I wanted to go to and I was just getting real angry.
I got into this store, and it was a sporting goods store. I wanted to get my daughter some running clothes. So, right at the place that I wanted to look at the clothes there was this lady, and she was just like blocking the aisle. You know how it is when you’re in the store sometime and there will be people right in the middle of the aisle, and they’ll be down like this. There was no way I could get by this. I had to wait, and I waited, and finally she moved and I got to get up to the rack where I wanted to look at the running shirts, so I picked up what I wanted.
I went to the checkout and guess what? It was backed up all the way to about the middle of the store. So, by this time I was just almost seeing green, I wasn’t happy at all. There were these two little kids in front of me, and they were so loud. They were poking each other and one threw the other almost down on the floor and I thought, “Why don’t parents make their kids behave?” And, so, all of a sudden though, it was like a magic moment, there was a song that came over the loud speaker and the little kids, believe it or not, started singing this song. And, the song was Joy to the World. Can you help me sing that song?
(Singing)
Joy to the world! The Lord has come
Let earth receive her King!
Let every heart prepare Him room
And heaven and nature sing
And heaven and nature sing
And heaven, and heaven and nature sing
While these little kids were singing that song, the people behind them started humming it, and I started humming in melody with them. And so, all of us, all of a sudden, right there in the store were singing Joy to the World. It was a moment right there in the sporting goods shop that I will never forget. You know what that song did for all of us that were grouchy, and waiting in line, and thinking about all the stuff that we had to do? That song brought the idea to us that we’re not supposed to be worrying about getting our shopping done. We’re not supposed to be worrying about all the parties that we’ve got to go to or the clothes that we need to buy. We’re supposed to relax during this time of the year and think about the reason that we celebrate this season.
Just as we lit the third candle today, that’s the candle of joy. And, may we remember the true reason why we celebrate Christmas. And, I just want to read to you from the Bible a scripture and it says, “And the angel said to them, ‘Fear not, for behold I bring good news of great joy, that will be for all the people, for unto you is born this in the city of David, a savior, who is Christ the Lord.” So, as we go about the hustle and bustle, thinking of all the things we’ve got to do, especially our dress rehearsal this week, right, may we remember the reason that we celebrate this season.
Were you raising your hand because you wanted to say the prayer? Okay.
Dear Jesus, thank you for our food, thank you for letting us all be here today, thank you for bringing joy to the world. Amen.