Communion Dec 9 07

‘Tis the season, once again.
And once again for a brief period of time the thoughts of many turn to celebrations. For some the only occasion to celebrate is the season itself, for some it is the ring of the cash register rescuing their business from the red. We might even suppose that for all it is an opportunity to remember that Jesus was born.

The threat that some might happen to be drawn into thinking about Christ seems to coincide with movies this time of year that would convince us that Christmas has nothing at all to do with God. Yet it would seem to reason, that at this time of year the chances are pretty good that your neighbor or someone that you meet along the way is thinking about the real reason for the season.

I’ve been reading a lot of books lately and one of the books I read was about business. One of the chapters was about managing risk vs. achieving your goals. The author said that it’s a fine thing to study your objective. To talk about it and to think about it, to find out as much as you can about it, but he says, until you actually reach the point that you do something about it, with out a “critical success event”; all your efforts amount to very little.

The author was referring to buying a house, meaning that if you never submit an offer, all the information you’ve gained about the market, location and so on is completely wasted.

You may be wondering what all this has to do with communion. At communion we gather around this table to remember a critical success event in the life of Christ. If Christ had not gone to the cross we would not be celebrating our salvation as we do every time we meet here. Christmas time represents the beginning of the life of Jesus and his example to us as the ultimate “Doer of the Word.”

I hope that the time that you spend this Christmas moves you. That as your friends and neighbors or complete strangers to you are thinking about the beginning of the life of Christ, you would be more than a Hearer, Reader, Scholar, Thinker or Discusser of the Word, but that you would take the opportunity to be a Doer of the Word this holiday season.

Give a gift worthy of the occasion. Share the message of the Birth, Life, Death and Resurrection with others during this holiday season.