Christmas ReMix 2011
Part Four
Bells on Christmas Day
December 25, 2011


Piano – Abbie Patton
Cello – Annie Patton
Worship Set
Reading the Christmas Story (Luke 2:1-20) – Bill Palmer
Children’s Sermon – Tawni Haley
(Advent Video - Joy)
(Candle-Lighting / Malone family)

There’s lots of things that are special and fun to us in the celebration of Christmas – watching kids and family open presents, sitting down to dinner with family, and singing Christmas carols in worship.

Then there are all the symbols of Christmas – things like elves, and candy canes, and bells – jingle bells and silver bells and church bells at Christmas. And we all know the line from the classic movie "It’s a Wonderful Life," – "everytime a bell rings an angel gets its wings."

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was a celebrated 19 ^th century American poet who once struggled with feeling the joy of the season during Christmas. What was the source of his despair?
In 1861 the United States was embroiled in the Civil War, and Longfellow’s wife lost her life in a fire at their home. Longfellow himself was so badly burned on his hands and face that he could not even attend her funeral.

This is what he wrote in his diary that Christmas:

"How inexpressibly sad are the holidays." – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The next Christmas, Longfellow’s son, who had been fighting in the Union Army, had come back home because he had been severely wounded. Here is what Longfellow wrote:

"A ‘Merry Christmas’ say the children, but that is no more for me." – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

It was out of this kind of feeling that Longfellow wrote the words to the familiar Christmas carol, "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day."

Here is one stanza from that song:

"In despair I bowed my head:
‘There is no peace on earth,’ I said,
‘For hate is strong, and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men."

I hope you have had a good week celebrating with family and friends, but I know many of you have experienced a challenging year, just like Longfellow. There’s no denying that.

But I want you to know the joy of Christmas is that God is at work everywhere in the world and even in your circumstances to transform everything into the perfect creation that He planned from the very beginning.

God has come into our world and into your life through Jesus so that what is broken can be fixed, every wound can be healed and all that is old can be made new.

When the bells ring at Christmastime, it’s not to let us know that that an angel got its wings, but to herald the victory that belongs to God and all His children over every pain, every heartache, and every sin.

Here’s the rest of Wadsworth’s poem:
(I Heard the Bells Video)
God is not dead and He does not sleep. Christmas is the most joyous celebration, not just because of what God has done for us in Christ, but because of what God is going to do for you throughout all eternity because of the work of Jesus in His life, death and resurrection.

This Christmas you have been a part of that. You have celebrated and shared God’s goodness through your giving. This week alone you gave 200 pairs of shoes for those in other parts of the world who had none. You gave 50 coats and jackets for people in central Arkansas who needed them. You wrote encouraging cards and notes to be mailed to our men and women who are serving in our armed forces around the globe.

I want you to know that not one of those gifts has gone unnoticed by God. He says through His Word that if you sow generously, you will also reap generously. If you are merciful to other, then God will be merciful to you.

Not because you will have earned His favor. But because those kinds of qualities are characteristic of people who belong to God by faith in Christ as Lord and Savior. You show yourself to be God’s children every time you love someone unconditionally, serve someone selflesslly and forgive another graciously.

Those are the kinds of things we are called and empowered to do all year long, not just at Christmastime.

Next month in our January worship, we are going to be talking about how we are going to work to make 2012 The Best Year of Our Lives. I hope you will share that time with us, because I believe and know that can be our experience as we dedicate ourselves to walk wholeheartedly with Christ through everyday.

Today we celebrate the gift of God’s Son – given to us as a baby on a silent and holy night, growing into a man who experienced the harshness of our world first-hand, and ultimately sacrificed on the cross to pay for our transgressions.

We light the center candle of the Advent Wreath to proclaim that the hope, love, peace and joy that all the world seeks comes to us only through walking with Christ.

And we can ring a Christmas bell to declare that Christ is not finished coming into our world. He comes every time someone opens their heart to His saving grace for the first time. He comes through His Spirit into every situation of your life to encourage you with His presence and to guide you with His wisdom and truth. And He comes every time you let His Godly character and purpose shine through in what you say and do.

Ring the Christmas bells – for Jesus has come.
The Wrong will fail. The Right prevail.

Jesus brings peace on earth and good will to men!

(Mike and Peyton Shipp – Walk a Little, Talk a Little with Jesus)