The Cracked Acorn: Christmas

It is God Himself that has made us what we are and given us a new life in His Son. –  Ephesians 1:10

Christmas, the holiday season, the time of the year that seems to come earlier and earlier.  No matter how you prepare and plan, it seems to elude you and sneak up on you. MERRY CHRISTMAS! This time of the year brings back memories and gives us the chance to create new ones before the end of the year.

Seeing families shopping for gifts at the major stores, I wonder what their children will remember of the year 2023.  We who are older will remember the severe winters with lots of ice and snow.  Schools never closed; it was up to you to make it to school.  It was still the time when school programs went all out with all kinds of Christmas plays and decorations.  There was even a gift exchange for every student and a visit from Santa Claus.  I liked the gifts but was never able to become his personal friend and climb upon his lap. There was always lots of good food.

The American family has undergone drastic changes since the start of the nuclear age.  Hard times for many have disappeared.  If you have a job, you have a car, as one TV advertisement says.  The stores are stocked with every imaginable gadget known to mankind.  The fact that we have deep problems in today’s world is ignored by our seemingly prosperous economy.  As I write this, the sounds of blasting for a new shopping center keep echoing.

The family is in trouble and has been under fire for sharing its time with other interests.  The families of 50 years ago ate daily meals together.  More than one-half of the population eat one or more of their meals at fast food places every day.  Building a relationship takes involvement and attendance. Absent fathers or mothers and even children just do not cut it. Sorry, I did not intend to preach!

Family is what the church is all about.  The growth of churches that offer everything is evidence that society is suffering anemically for closeness with others of like thought-regardless of the spiritual damage.  As a child, I often asked my father, “Why is the church helping a person or a family that never comes at all to the church building during worship and partake of the Lord’s Supper?”  He always answered, “That is what the church is there for.”  Dad is gone, and I now answer – THIS IS WHAT THE CHURCH DOES FOR ITS FAMILY & OTHERS!

“We’re part of a family that’s been born again; Part of a family whose love knows no end, For Jesus has saved us and made us his own. Now we’re part of the family that’s on its way home.” (hymn)

“What’s for Christmas dinner, Grandpa? Taters, possum hearts fricasseed in hog renderings, collard greens, rhubarb pie, and chickpeas fried with breadcrumbs, and also three bean soup with green onions and ham cookin’ on the front burner and Grandma’s cornbread or freshly baked biscuits.  There’s apple and cherry pie served with iced tea or all the hot coffee you can drink.” HEE HAW!