This is a very special Sunday gathering at Grace, as over 100 students are involved in worship and drama and we wrap up our study of the prophets.
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Grace Fellowship Church
Randy Rainwater
Series: True
December 21, 2014
The Love of Christmas
Hosea 3; Micah 5:2-5; Psalm 23:1-4
Female: Good morning, everybody. Here at Grace this entire semester we have been learning about the prophets and the promises they have proclaimed for us. In Hosea, we see a woman who does not see her need for God, but in that we see the promise of a savior, a God who desires to go to the ends of the earth and save us from ourselves no matter how many times we run away from him. Even if we believe we are undeserving or unworthy, he says, “No, I want to save you anyway, because you are worth it.”
In the book of Micah, we see the promise of a helper, a God who desires to help us in each and every aspect of our lives. If we put our hope and our faith in God and we truly believe he wants to prosper us and he wants to provide for us, he will be faithful in return and help us, because he is a faithful God, and that is who we serve.
In the book of Malachi, we see the promise that we are not abandoned, that we have a Father who desires to be with each and every one of his children in the kingdom, and he wants to love and be in a relationship with each and every one of us. So today we have the incredible opportunity to showcase these promises in a really realistic and tangible way. We are going to be opening up Scripture, but it’s just going to look a little different. So without further ado…
[Skit]
Male: Ah, Christmas Eve once again. Another year, another lame Christmas party that has the honor of having me show up to it. But of course, I’m kind of a big deal. I can’t show up by myself. I’ve got to have someone on my arm to make me look good. So who tonight can I ask to go to another Christmas party? Hmm, let’s see. Who can I call to be my date? No. No. No, no way.
Uh, let’s see. No. Oh! Jessica. I took her two years ago. Oh wait, but I remember she talked about herself the entire time. I have to have her make me look good, so that’s not going to happen. Um, let’s see. No. No. Oh, Kathy. Oh wait, no, I’m taking the Corvette this year, so she’s way too tall. I can’t do that. No. No, okay. Oh, how about a little more festive? How about Katrina? Okay. Feliz Navidad. Hey, girl.
Male: Okay, so we’re going to go from house to house, and our main goal is to spread Christmas cheer. And how do we do that, gang?
Group: The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear.
Male: I love the enthusiasm. Okay, we’re going to start with “Jingle Bells,” and then we’ll just play it out from there. Okay, follow me. [Doorbell]
Male: Yeah?
Group: [Singing]
Male: Yeah, yeah. Hey, how much do y’all need? Thirty? Forty?
Male: No, we don’t want your money, sir. We’re just trying to spread Christmas joy this season.
Male: Want a candy cane?
Male: Oh. No, that’s cute, but I don’t really do Christmas Eve services anymore. I did when I was a kid. It was something fun to do. But I have a party to go to. I’m kind of getting ready for that right now. So, uh, I appreciate it.
Male: Wait, wait. Are you attending a church this Christmas Eve? We’d love to have you at one of our services.
Male: Oh, no. That’s what I did when I was a kid. I’ve got a really nice party to go to. I’ll see you around. Hope you find whatever you’re looking for.
Male: Well, maybe the next house will be better. Come on!
Male: Oh man, Christmas caroling. I remember doing that as a kid. We’d have our whole family around, and we’d be singing the silly songs, and we’d have so much laughter. My grandma would be there dancing. We’d have hot chocolate. We’d go to the Christmas Eve service together. Hmm. I have Katrina now. Hold on.
[End of skit]
Mike Chatman: How are you doing? My name is Mike Chatman. I have the awesome privilege of serving here with middle school. If you don’t have a Bible, just simply slip up your hand, and we’re going to get a Bible in your hand. When you get that Bible, I want you to turn to Hosea, chapter 3. We’ll start in verse 1.
“And the Lord said to me, ‘Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins.’ So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a lethech of barley. And I said to her, ‘You must dwell as mine for many days. You shall not play the whore, or belong to another man; so will I also be to you.’
For the children of Israel shall dwell many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or pillar, without ephod or household gods. Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the Lord their God, and David their king, and they shall come in fear to the Lord and to his goodness in the latter days.” (Hosea 3)
I remember when I read this story for the first time some years back. I had no real understanding at all. I was just reading it. I remember thinking to myself and kind of talking to God and saying, “God, I want to follow you, but not if you’re going to call me to stuff like this.” I’m not married yet. So this was going through my mind, but I really didn’t understand the weight of what’s taking place in Hosea.
You see, in Hosea we see the nation of Israel, a people that in this time, around 750 BC, are prospering. Things are going really great. Things are really well. They begin to now make false gods and those other things their center of attention. Those things have become idols to them, and they’ve forgotten, as it speaks of in Hosea 2:8, that the reason they’re even in this place of prosperity where they’re flourishing is because God is the one who led them there. Their focus is all off track.
Here we see God speak to one of his own people, a prophet, one who would speak to the masses and tell them what it is the Lord would have him to say. The Lord says, “Hosea, I want you to go marry an unfaithful wife, one who’s going to turn away from you, one who will not treat you the way you should be treated. Though you treat her well, she turns away from you. Though you speak kindly to her, she desires the words of another man.”
In such a real way, Hosea gets to experience the heart of God. We ourselves realize we live in a world, as we’re in Christmastime, where for a lot of us things are well, and our biggest concern is, honestly, just making sure we get the right gifts and not the wrong ones. Then there are some of us who maybe that’s not the situation, but the other things, the other craziness of the world and other ideas that are out there… The focus of our attention is on other things, how we’re going to make it, how we’re going to get to tomorrow, how Christmas is going to end up.
Yet we see Hosea, whose name means salvation, and a woman named Gomer, whose name means completion. What we see is Gomer runs off and, by her own admission, basically becomes a sex slave. It could simply be that Hosea says, “Well, that’s the action she chose. This is the consequence. This is what you deserve. I’m sorry. Best of luck.” But God says, “No, I want you to go and love her.”
In other words, “I don’t want you to just love her in theory; I want you to put that love into action. The way you’re going to do that is you’re going to go find her, and then you’re going to go purchase her back.” Talk about humiliating. Hosea has had a wife, and now she has run off with another. Now he has to go and literally ask and seek to find his wife who has run off, and now here she is on display, and he has to buy her back. A man of God.
That’s the heart of God. We ourselves many times will run off, but God in his grace and love looks and says, “I created you in my image. You are supposed to be mine. I led you out of Egypt, and I made a covenant with you, and you rebelled. But I’m not going to look at you and say, ‘This is what you deserve and so be it. Death is what happens, because that’s the consequence of sin.’
No, what I’m going to do is I’m going to show you my love. I’m not just going to tell you about it. I’m going to come in the flesh. Jesus Christ, Immanuel, God with us. I’m going to be close to you. I’m going to be amongst you. Then I’m going to buy you back.” We have to come to the conclusion where we look at the story of Hosea and ask the question, “Seriously, why? You’re a perfect God. We messed up. Why would you come and save us?” There can only be one answer. It’s because he wants to. It’s because he loves you.
[Skit]
Male: And Lord, we thank you so much that you’re so gracious to us. We’re thankful for this new job of mine, and we’re thankful for bringing us safely to this new town. Lord, I’m thankful for the most important thing, that we’re here all together. We thank you for this food and Mom making it for us. Bless it to our bodies and our bodies for your service, amen.
What’s the matter, sweetheart?
Female: Oh, it’s nothing really. I just miss our old house and my old friends. I haven’t made any new good friends yet.
Female: Aw, I’m sure you’ll find some new ones soon, honey. I know it’s hard leaving your school and your friends, but it’s going to get better. I know things do look kind of different around here.
Male: Speaking of different, because we moved just a few weeks before Christmas and all the extra expense, there’s not going to be too much around the Christmas tree this year. But we have what really matters.
Male: Yeah, we have mac and cheese.
Male: Sam, I mean we have each other. Things are going to get back to normal…I hope.
Male: Okay, guys. Remember the plan. We’re going to start with “Jingle Bells,” and then we’ll take some requests. Remember, smiles. Be cheerful and inviting.
Female: It’s so cold. It’s like negative infinity out here.
Male: Alex, my phone says it’s like 55 degrees.
Male: Come on, guys. Christmas cheer, enthusiasm.
Female: Wait. I see a nativity scene. Let’s sing, “Silent Night.”
Male: Hello.
Group: [Singing]
Male: Hey, you go to my school.
Male: Yeah, you’re in my pre-calc class, right?
Male: You know all the answers.
Male: He’s a smart kid.
Female: Hey, you’re in my art class.
Female: Yeah, we should definitely work together sometime.
Female: Yes.
Male: Are you guys new to this area?
Male: As a matter of fact, we just moved here a few weeks ago. We’re still settling in.
Male: Have you found a church to attend? We’ve got a couple of Christmas Eve services.
Female: At two.
Female: Four.
Female: Six.
Female: Eight.
Male: And eleven.
Male: And you can buy your tickets online at my.gfc.tv.
Male: Write that down.
Male: We’d love to have your family attend.
Male: Thank you so much. That’s really what we needed. Merry Christmas.
Male: Merry Christmas.
Male: Wow! We brought them so much joy.
[End of skit]
John Raymond: I wonder what church they were talking about right there. It could have been ours. If you go online you can find all that out. My name is John Raymond. I have the privilege of serving here as the college pastor. I always enjoy this Sunday, with our skits and our choir. This family we just saw… I’m sure some of us can relate to what was going on. They had just moved here. The parents had all this pressure to bring everything together for the family. Two kids.
I’m not a parent. I’ve been married about a year and a few months, so we’re slowly heading down that road. But what I know when I look at my parents and how they raised us (there are three boys in our family) is that there is such a massive weight of responsibility on parents. I think the best way to say it is the responsibility is that the parents are supposed to pull it all together for the family. As we saw in this story, that’s what was going on.
I think in many ways, especially when you have smaller children, the kids look to the mom and dad to be the provider and the protector and the comforter. In many ways, they almost look to us as if we’re God, that we’re supposed to play that massive of a role in their lives. I remember with my dad, if he was around, like if he was in the car or if he was at home, I felt safe. In many ways, your kids look to you, parents, in the same way.
That is a massive weight of responsibility, to pull it all together. You might even feel that right now in this Christmas season, buying the right gifts, coordinating all the different family coming in town. We’re just trying to pull it all together. I think of my own dad. He has been an educator his entire life. He’s a principal. He has been in education for over 40 years. When we were little, when all three of us were born, he wanted my mom to be able to stay home with us.
What he did in order to do that, in order to pull it all together, he took on four different jobs at the school. It went like this. He’d get up at the crack of dawn, and at first he was the janitor of the school. He would clean all of the bathrooms and the gym and all of these different things. After that, his second job of the day was he was the bus driver. He’d get in the bus, and he would go pick up all of the kids in the neighborhoods and bring them to the school.
His third job of the day was finally to be a teacher. And he didn’t slack there. He was Teacher of the Year in Georgia. Then his fourth job was to be a coach. After class was over, he’d have practice on into the evening. All for one purpose: so that for these three little boys and their mother, he could pull it all together for his family. So my dad did it.
In fact, I think of one story to really show how we looked at my dad like he was just this awesome man who was protector. During the Gulf War, my brother (he’s a year older), for some reason, had this weird fear of Saddam Hussein. I don’t know if he watched CNN one time or what it was, but he was terrified of Saddam Hussein. My dad was putting us to bed one night, and we were praying, and my brother interrupted the prayer and said, “Dad?”
“Yes, son?”
“If Saddam Hussein broke in our house, could you beat him up?”
“Yes, yes, of course. I can take Saddam.”
It’s a massive weight of responsibility. Saddam Hussein. I mean, it’s a big deal. But I’m sure all of you parents can relate to that. The prophet Micah… There’s a promise that I think really speaks into families, that really speaks into what a lot of you carry. It comes from Micah, chapter 5, starting in verse 2.
“But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days. Therefore he shall give them up until the time when she who is in labor has given birth; then the rest of his brothers shall return to the people of Israel. And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth. And he shall be their peace.” (Micah 5:2-5)
Micah promises us in the birth of Jesus that we’re going to be given this Great Shepherd, that God will come and care for his flock. God will come and shepherd his people. Now here’s something we know about shepherds. Well, I didn’t know this. I looked this up. I’m not a shepherd. But this is what Google told me about shepherds. They always have two things in their hands. They have a rod and a staff. They always have a rod and a staff in their hands to care for and lead their flock.
Now the rod and the staff do two different things. The rod is used to protect the flock. The staff is used to guide the flock. So you’re walking past a cliff, and the staff has the hook on the end, kind of like a candy cane, and if a sheep is kind of wandering this way, you pull that sheep in. You guide the sheep. So it protects and guides. This is the real work of a shepherd: protect and guide.
I can’t help but think this is all too similar to parenting, is it not? What you’re called to do as a mom and a dad is to protect and guide your family. You carry in life a certain rod and staff to do this. What Micah is saying is one is coming who will do that for all his people. He will carry a rod and a staff for you and for your family.
I think back to my father, that he had to do this for us. I’m sure many nights he was bone tired from those four different jobs, but he had to carry a rod and a staff to protect and guide his little boys. I think of my mother as well. She was home with us, and I think she used that rod a few times on us as well. So both played the role, and today both Mom and Dad play the role of that shepherd.
Micah promises a greater Shepherd, one who will protect and guide all families. I’d have to bet in a room this size there were times (I’m sure my dad and mom felt this) where hope was diminished, whether it was finances or maybe in your marriage or maybe there’s a son or a daughter who grew up in the church but now is off at school and is living somewhat as a prodigal.
In a room this size, there have to be all kinds of different places in our families that need some hope, that need intervention, where we feel that weight of being a parent, and sometimes we feel like it’s way beyond what we can do. I believe there are times, maybe even this morning, when we need to call on that Great Shepherd, when you say as a mom or a dad, “This is beyond what I can do. God, you’ve called me to protect and guide my family, but this is so much. I feel helpless here.”
There are times when we need to call on the Great Shepherd Jesus to intervene, to come in and use his rod and his staff that’s far bigger than ours to protect and guide our families. I want to look at one last passage. It comes from the Psalms. David was a shepherd, and he talks about God in an unusual way, the same way Micah does.
David says, “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” (Psalm 23:1-4)
I think we could all say in this room that we do need that Great Shepherd Jesus for our families and for our lives. In every situation, maybe one you’re even in right now, we need that hope, that we can say, like David, “The Lord is my shepherd. This seems impossible, but the only thing I can cling to is the hope of the promise of Micah, that Jesus the Christ, the ruler of all the world, is my shepherd. He holds a rod and a staff, and he will lead and guide my family, my kids. I’m not on my own. My hope rests in that.”
Hope is a powerful thing. Hope can destroy any kind of doubt. When hope is released from the human heart by the power of God, it can break down every barrier we see in our future. It can break down every impossibility for our kids, for our daughters, for our sons. What we celebrate at Christmas is the hope of the one to come named Jesus who is our Great Shepherd. That’s the hope the prophets give us.
My dad told me later in life that his favorite psalm was Psalm 23, that he memorized that at an early age. “The Lord is my shepherd.” I can’t help but think there were probably times at night when he was putting us to bed, when my brother wasn’t asking about Saddam Hussein, and as he looked at his kids and felt that weight of responsibility from God to be their shepherd, I can’t help but think he recited that to himself and said, “God, you’re my shepherd. My hope is in that. You will guide and lead this family.” This Christmas season we celebrate that hope the prophets give us in Jesus.
[Skit]
Female: Hey, Gladys.
Female: Hello, baby girl.
Female: I’ve got some turkey and some stuffing for you.
Female: Oh, it looks delicious.
Female: How are you feeling tonight?
Female: Oh, pretty well, I reckon.
Female: Do you have any plans for Christmas Eve?
Female: Oh, well, you see, this is my first year without my beloved Gary, and unfortunately my babies are all spread out all over the country. I miss them so dearly. I pray for them every day and think about them every night. Oh, but I do have a grandson. Yes, he lives close in the area, you know, but he’s one of those businessmen, one of those successful executive types.
Unfortunately, though, I don’t get to see him very often, or any of my family, but I’m sure the Lord is doing amazing things elsewhere. Yeah, perhaps he’ll call tomorrow or something, you know. Baby girl, do you have any more of that green Jell-O with the cottage cheese? It is a holiday after all.
Female: Yes, Gladys. I’ll go get you some more.
Female: Thank you. O Gary, sweet Gary, how I miss you so. Oh man, I would give anything to have you here with me. But I’m sure… I can’t even imagine the kind of Christmas you’re having up there.
Dear Lord, I praise you for your mercy and your abundance of grace that you have lavished upon me and my babies. Lord, I pray that wherever they all are tonight that you would just show them new depths of your love and your grace. And Lord, I pray most especially for my sweet baby grandson, the apple of my eye. Lord, I pray that you would bless him. Bless him, Lord.
Group: [Singing]
Female: Oh, carolers! Jenny! Oh, and it’s Gary’s favorite hymn.
Male: Hey!
Female: How delightful you are.
Male: Hey, Merry Christmas. We would love for you to come to one of our Christmas Eve services tonight.
Female: Oh, well, sweet baby boy, that is so kind of you to offer, but it is rather difficult for me to get around these days. I do remember back when I was more of a whippersnapper I was able to enjoy the merry Christmas Eve services. Isn’t that right, Benton, the youth pastor?
Male: That’s right. You were a great whippersnapper.
Female: Well, I wish I could go, but Merry Christmas, all. Precious ones, thanks for stopping by.
Male: Merry Christmas.
Female: Merry Christmas.
Female: Ma’am, I love that scarf you’re knitting.
Female: Oh, well, thank you very much, sweet beautiful young’un. Do you know how to knit?
Female: No, but I was wondering if I could come back sometime. Maybe you could teach me?
Female: Oh, Wednesday is perfect.
Female: Oh, I’ll see you then. Merry Christmas, Miss Gladys.
Female: Bye-bye now.
Female: All right, Miss Gladys, I’m going to go get you some of your meds.
Female: Okay, okay, all right.
[End of skit]
Randy Rainwater: She doesn’t know we’re here, okay? If you’d open your Bibles up to the book of Malachi. The Prophets promise us that for those who see they have no need for God, God would call out to them. For those who needed hope, there would be hope. But there was one other big, big message we saw this fall as we were studying the Prophets. It’s that for those who felt alone, God was coming to them.
It is the biggest fear of mankind, that we would be alone, that we would be left. In the military there’s the phrase, “We don’t leave anybody behind.” It’s the greatest fear. My dad was a POW for a few days, and the captors said, “No one is coming. No one is coming.” It’s what human traffickers say to their victims. “No one is coming. No one cares. No one is looking for you.”
Whether you have gotten there on your own or whether someone else has put you there, that sense of being alone is a reality all of us face, either as a fear or in our common life. It’s the fear of a child who sees their family not being what they thought it was going to be, and they wind up being alone. As a teenager, it’s that fear of not being asked to prom or not being chosen for the team or being picked last at the ball field or not getting into the college, being alone.
For some, in the middle of our lives we think, “It was going to be better than this. This is not what I thought it was going to be.” Or if you find yourself, like our friend here… In the busyness of life, in the hectic running around of raising kids and going to all of the music recitals and the ball games and the school events, you never thought there would be a moment where you sat quiet and alone.
The Scriptures speak to this. The world has an answer as well. There are some who would say that is exactly what we are. We are alone, and we’re just kidding ourselves if we think there’s any answer other than that. We are on a one-way nonstop trip to nowhere. At some point, entropy kicks in. There’s no more usable energy in the sun, and everything we have in this life is done. It doesn’t matter what we’ve accomplished. It doesn’t matter how much good we’ve done. Everything comes back to zero.
Scripture says that is not the case. Scripture says in the book of Malachi, this last book in the Old Testament… It begins with this. Chapter 1, verse 2, says, “‘I have loved you,’ says the Lord.” (Malachi 1:2) That simple sentence tells us two big things. It tells us it comes from the Lord, a transcendent God. Transcendent means different. It’s beyond or above the range of normal or merely physical human experience, surpassing the ordinary, exceptional, existing apart from and not subject to the limitations of the material universe. God is transcendent. He is different.
But God is also immanent. To be immanent means to be close. God is close. This is what it says in chapter 3, verse 1: “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant…” Another descriptive metaphor for Jesus. Look at this. It’s a big phrase. “…in whom you delight…” This God is not going to just be this spiritual force. This is going to be someone with whom you can have relationship. “…in whom you delight, behold [take notice], he is coming, says the LORD of hosts.” (Malachi 3:1)
He is not a God who is far away. He is coming. This is something we read about consistently in the Prophets, that God is coming. This is what we see in the Gospels. Jesus says, “This is what the kingdom is, that I come and I bring this hope. I’m here in the flesh, no longer just an idea for people, but I am here in reality.” But also in the book of Malachi, in the last two verses of the Old Testament, there is an incredibly practical component he brings to this not being alone. Look at chapter 4, beginning at verse 5.
“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet…” (Malachi 4:5) Jesus tells us in the Gospels this Elijah, this messenger we read about in chapter 3, is John the Baptist. John the Baptist would come before the great and awesome day of the Lord, the coming of Jesus, and this messenger would create straight paths, would prepare the way. But he doesn’t just prepare the way for the Lord, because look at what it says John would do in preparing the way for the Lord, in preparing the way of the coming of God.
The last verse in the Old Testament, verse 6, says, “And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers…” (Malachi 4:6) That’s an incredibly practical component of what it would mean for us to be loved by God. How different would our nation be if this one verse was what was happening in our lives? That the hearts of fathers would turn to their children and the hearts of children would turn to their fathers. This is what God says. “When you follow me, this is what I do.”
I had an incredible honor Friday night. I got to officiate my brother’s fiftieth wedding anniversary. I was joking with my brother, because his wife is still a sub-size six, and I said, “You and I are much different sizes.” Now I was 2 years old when my brother got married. Actually not even 2 years old.
Some of you guys are doing the math, and you’re like, “You know, Randy, if it’s your brother’s fiftieth wedding anniversary and you were there, you’re older than we thought you were.” But I was just a little guy then. They thought I was a tumor. I came really late. They really did. My mom thought she had a tumor, and it was me.
But I got to officiate that, and I was so incredibly honored. My brother Vernon, who pastors in Florida, sang this really smooth rendition of Rod Stewart’s “Have I Told You Lately That I Love You.” It was just great. My brother James lit a candle in remembrance of our parents. Earlier in the day, I went out running. It’s the same streets I used to train on when I was at Asbury. Let me just say I was running a lot slower than when I was at Asbury training.
I ran by the police station where I used to work and the grocery store where I had my first job, the restaurant I used to hang out in with my friends, and the church. Then I came to 204 East Linden Street. It’s the house I grew up in. For 15 years after my dad passed away, my mom lived there alone, a lot like this.
As I was running, I stopped and stood for a few seconds and was looking at the house. We sold it a couple of years ago. There were people in the backyard, and they weren’t my brothers. Somebody opened the front door, and when they did that I realized it probably was weird for me to be standing there looking in the house, so I kept running. But I was just thinking about all of those days in that house, the memories of those days.
Christmas and home cause us to be nostalgic and to reminisce. In the first service I was looking, and I had friends from New Jersey who were in the back here and friends from Tennessee over here. A lot of us in Georgia will travel and go home and we’ll remember these things. There’s something about Christmas that calls us home.
We did everything we could do for my mom to live with us. We remodeled our house so she could come live with us. She came and stayed two months. She said, “Randy, I love you, but I want to go back to 204 East Linden Street.” She said, “But you can come and see me anytime you want.” So we did.
During the summer we’d go for a week. It became our vacation every year. We would go on long weekends, holidays, Labor Day, but always at Christmas. There’s something about Christmas that draws us back to each other. We decorate our homes. We bake. We get things ready. We change the beds and get the beds ready for the kids to come. We prepare ourselves for the people we love.
I love that scene in the little movie with Macaulay Culkin, Home Alone. He’s in the church, and there’s a man there who says he hasn’t seen his son for a long time. He says, “Why?” The man says, “I don’t know if he would talk to me.” He says, “You look too big to be afraid.” This is what the prophets say, that Jesus would come and return our hearts back to each other. It’s the spirit of Christmas. It’s the love of Christmas if we’ll listen and if we’ll trust to see what he would do in bringing us back to the ones we love.
[Skit]
Female: All right, Miss Gladys, are you ready for bed?
Female: Oh yes, ma’am. I’m ready for my long winter’s nap. [Doorbell] Oh my, we sure do have many visitors tonight.
Female: I’ll get the door, Gladys.
Female: Okay.
Male: Meemaw? Hey, it’s me. Merry Christmas.
Female: Sweet baby boy! Oh my.
Male: I haven’t seen you in so long.
Female: You look so tall and so handsome and so skinny. Oh my. This is a treat.
Male: I know I haven’t checked in on you in a long time, and I know I told you I would, but something had me thinking today about Christmas as a kid and the family being together, and I couldn’t help thinking about you. I want to spend my Christmas with you, Grandma.
Female: Oh, baby boy, I miss you too. I think about you every day and pray for you every night.
Male: You do?
Female: I do. But don’t you have some sort of youngster shindig to go to, maybe a hot date or something?
Male: No. Grandma, you’re my date tonight.
Female: But I’m not…
Male: Let’s spend the night together. We can go to the Christmas Eve service. We can drink hot chocolate. I have some in the car. We can sing Christmas carols. How does that sound?
Female: Sounds like a merry Christmas indeed!
Male: Absolutely.
[End of skit]