The Senses of Christmas

I had the awesome privilege of speaking at the Peachtree City United Methodist Church Women's annual Christmas brunch on Saturday. It was a joy to see people from the past, including ladies whom I taught their children when I was a music teacher years ago and fellow teachers from my years at Huddleston Elementary school. Thanks goes out to PTCUMC Women for inviting me! Everything was beautiful and it was a delight to be there!

The topic of my message was "The Senses of Christmas." I used the article I wrote with the same title for my monthly column, "Sensesational Musings by Tammy Melton" for www.ithirstnw.net (BTW, you may click on the title of this blog post to be taken to the page to read the article...scroll down to the bottom.), but I added more about Christmas being a time to remind us to serve.

Christmas is the holiday above others that appeals to our senses. You can probably taste that hot spiced cider and feel the warmth it brings to your body and soul even as you read this! And as much as we may say we are tired of hearing Christmas music, imagine a December without it! As we gather for all our festive parties and church presentations, let's not forget the true meaning of Christmas. Jesus indeed left His throne of Glory to come experience the five senses for us that first Christmas day.

Why did he do it? He did it for us. “...the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." (Matthew 20:28) Jesus is the ultimate example of a true servant. (See Philippians 2:5-8) Servanthood is the opposite of selfishness. He gave it all. He gave His life so that we can have eternal life. We've all heard the saying, "Nobody's perfect!" That goes along with the Bible that says we have all sinned and fallen short of God's glory. The Good News is that God Himself, the perfect one, came to take our place. Now we get the best gift of eternal life! That's what Christmas is all about!

How do we thank Him? 1. by receiving the gift for which He gave His life and 2. by serving others as He served us. I encourage you to give money in the red bucket when you pass by a Salvation Army bell ringer. I encourage you to find someone less fortunate and bless them this Christmas. When we do, we will help to soften the hardness of hearts in a society that tries to push Christ out of Christmas.