christmas can mean a lot of things to those of us who celebrate it. it can be a time for the gathering together of people we love. it can be a time for shopping and gift giving for those specials someones. it can be baking cookies, sending christmas cards, decorating mantels and trees and doorposts with green and red and silver and gold (and even blue, brown, and purple). it can be watching wide-eyed children looking out for santa on christmas eve. and it can be the celebration of the birth of jesus christ, a cause for great joy to millions around the world.
even though my own spiritual journey has led me to this time in my life where i engage to a very limited degree in organized religion, i still believe in and treasure the story of the child born in a manager, who would grow up, live, die and live again so that we may know and live in the truth of our great worth as children of god.
this story that has been shared for over 2,000 years has long inspired my approach to this holiday. in that small town in bethlehem god lavished upon us this extraordinary gift as a sign of his incomparable love for us. as such, because of this extravagant gesture, i believe we should give and love extravagantly at this time of year.
the song i'm sharing this morning is a lush medley filled with wonderful imagery that harkens to the christmas story. i hope the thought of god with us inspires that spirit of giving and loving extravagantly in you.
sing we now of christmas/o come, o come emmanuel/emmanuel medley - michael w. smith from christmastime
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