When our children were younger we’d rush around on Christmas Eve to get everyone dressed up and ready for Christmas Eve service at Park Hill Christian Church. The church parking lot would be so full that members would be directing traffic! The church was full and everyone was excited for a special service. The service was beautiful reminding us of the Christmas story and ending singing Silent Night as the lights were turned down and we each held candles in the air while singing.
People would linger in the narthex wishing one another Merry Christmas and the joy of Christmas was in the air!
Then we’d drive around town for a while looking for people who looked they needed a lift and we’d stop, hand them an envelope with money, tell them God blessed us this year and we wish to bless them, and then we’d drive off. We gave money to clerks working in convenience stores, women waiting on the bus downtown on a cold night, people in a laundromat, and even people just walking down the street.
Finally we’d go home, get all our Christmas snacks out and let the kids open 1 Christmas present each.
We'd get a fire blazing in the fireplace, settle in on the couches, chairs, or floor and watch “It’s A Wonderful Life.”
Christmas memories are powerful reminders of how things used to be and, sometimes, how we wish they could always be.
But the world keeps changing, doesn’t it?
As we drove home on Christmas Even we noticed the empty parking lots of churches. Some neighborhoods were lit up with Christmas lights and decorations while others were dark. Worst for me is the phrase that everyone is using now saying “Happy Holidays” for fear of offending each other.
Christmas should be about family, church, and remembering the birth of our savior.
Let us never forget! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
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