We are coming into a busy season of Christmas. It is a challenge every year to set aside time with the family to help us focus on the real reason for Christmas. Now I know that we are all faced with the same difficulties with many activities going on. We are right there with you. What is the priority? To get everyone a Christmas present they want? Is it to celebrate and have a "good time" in whatever definition that entails? After many years as a pastor, I would spend the month of December helping our church focus on Advent. This year, I am not doing that in the same way. I have no congregation to preach to per se, but with the arrival of two of my nephews visiting from Illinois, that would mean we are 14 in total. Is this not a group of people? Is a small group of believers considered a part of the body of Christ? Why yes, of course. I ask questions like this to help me remember that we are the church. I make excuses as to why I do or don't do something. The business of this season can be an excuse not to get to what matters and why we celebrate the coming of Jesus as a baby. We remember. We remember how God sent Jesus as a baby into the word that we might be saved through him. I need this reminder to continue looking at each opportunity we get to share and focus on how Jesus came and will come again one day.
