Christmas, as you know, is not a prescribed celebration in Scripture but is one we joyfully embrace. We are happy to be reminded of the great events in history such as the birth of the Lord Jesus and to remember just what it meant for the Son of God to be born of a virgin. Though the roots of the Christmas season seem to be fading from cultural memory, we still hear the songs that celebrate the birth of Christ on our radios. Often, people may not know what they are singing this time of year but they are singing nonetheless!
Many in fact will come to a Christmas Eve service if for no other reason than to embrace a tradition. Let’s take full advantage of that! For that and many other reasons, we look forward to our annual Christmas Eve Candlelight Communion service at 5PM. It’s an HLPC tradition that I cherish. Would you pray that God uses it as a means to worship the Savior as well as a time to proclaim the good news to those who will be our guests?
As you know, this year Christmas falls on the Lord’s Day! We’ll forego School of Discipleship and meet for Christmas Day worship at 10:30AM. We’ll sing the words “Yea, Lord, we greet Thee, born this happy morning” with special enthusiasm! Please come as you are to this service and even bring your kids in their pajamas if you like (some of you should probably not come in your pajamas and you know who you are). I think we’ll enjoy this Christmas more than most as we “bookend” our celebration of the birth of Jesus with worship!
Sadly, some churches are cancelling their services on Christmas Day. That’s discouraging. Lord’s Day worship should always be a priority for us as God’s people. Yes, let’s thoroughly enjoy the day with our families and also give God praise for the gift of His Son as we gather with our church family!