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A Message from Pastor Bob

Sometimes I’m a little stubborn.

Especially when it comes to Christmas music. I’m talking about REAL Christmas music – the songs that actually speak of Christ. I prefer the old standbys like the carols I learned as a child, the traditional stuff by Bach and Mozart, classics by The King’s Singers and Cantus. This music is always better than any new Christmas music that comes along. Sadly, I find that even contemporary Christian singers/bands miss the mark when they try to create a “new classic” (those two words don’t fit together IMHO). But I think I’ve found something to change my mind. I recently came across this song which was released in 2012. Below are some of the lyrics from “Christmas Changes Everything” by Josh Wilson.

O Holy night, starry sky, we were dead until tonight     

Christmas changes everything 

Long lay the world our sin, He has come here to forgive 

Christmas changes everything                                                                                                                               

Hallelujah, love has found us   

Hope in a manger, our Savior is setting us free 

This is rescue, Christ has come to make us new   

Oh, Christmas changes everything 

Now God has met us where we are, a thrill of hope for hopeless hearts 

His perfect love will shatter every fear, we're coming back to life again 

And it's all because of Bethlehem.             

Rejoice, oh, rejoice!

What gets me the most is the phrase, “Christmas changes everything.” The term “Christmas” means “mass on Christ’s day” – that is, a worship service celebrating Jesus Christ’s birthday. I know you know that, but it is so easy to forget, es-pecially this year. Yet the fact remains that Christmas certainly does change everything. As the song says, God’s perfect love will shatter every fear. Yet, we are often directed and driven by in fear. It’s our human nature. But, is not the Christ-like nature that we each possess.

When we live in fear, we “turn off” the Holy Spirit that has been give to us. Our hearts and minds belong to the world instead of Christ. The song above says that Christmas is our rescue. Think about that! We are rescued from sin, even as sin surrounds us and tells us to be afraid! Even as sins tells us that death is final, and hope is a foolish daydream.

Christmas and the entire holiday season will be different, even difficult, this year. Our circumstances have changed in every conceivable way. But what Christmas changed, remains constant. Let’s read that again – what Christmas changed, remains constant. The promises born to us on that Holy Night are reliable and eternal. No earthly power can alter them. No sin can cancel them out. So I believe the Christmas theme for 2020 should be, simply, Emanuel. God with us. God with us in our past, our present, and our future. God with us while we endure a pandemic. God with us, a reliable and eternal promise.

So, my cherished friends, may you and yours have a blessed Christmas, however unique and unconventional it may be, and may the New Year offer us renewed hope for our future. I will close with lyrics from the song above.

Hallelujah, love has found us. Hope in a manger, our Savior is setting us free. 

This is rescue, Christ has come to make us new. Christmas changes everything!

God’s perfect love will shatter every fear, we're coming back to life again.

And it's all because of Bethlehem. Christmas changes everything!

Peace,
Pastor Bob