Friday, Dec 10, 2021
“Real Deal Christmas”
Oh my! Have you seen it? Have you seen Cinderella’s Christmas Castle at Disney’s Magic Kingdom? It’s quite incredible this year during the Holidays. My daughter and I were able to visit the Magic Kingdom during Thanksgiving Break. My goodness, the pictures just don’t capture the full magnitude of that experience. But honestly, just about every awesome experience is so much better in person than in a picture, video, or even live broadcast. There’s just something about seeing it with our own eyes, smelling, hearing, and feeling it for ourselves.
I think this is one reason that the Holiday
Season this year seems to be a little bigger than any previous year. After being locked up by the pandemic last year at Christmas, people are hankering for the Real Deal. We have been so blessed by the expansion of live-video products across many industries. We were able to attend classes, meetings, and even worship without the need to leave our homes. But now, we’re ready for more. We’re ready for the real deal.
This year, I believe Christmas can really make a difference for us. We’ve learned how to appreciate some simple things that we previously may have taken for granted, such as our usual Christmas fare of family reunions and friendly gatherings that were absent last year. Oh, sure, Christmas still arrived just fine in 2020. However, it was so difficult to experience it fully without that actual, physical contact provided in the sights, sounds, feel, and smells.
What plans have you made to experience Christmas this year? As you prepare, don’t forget to include church. Church suffered last year, too, mostly because our folks were unable to freely attend with confidence. This year, however, we’ve figured out how to make it work with in-person worship, even with a large crowd. Watching online is fine, but it’s nothing like the physical attendance that captures our senses and feeds our souls.
It’s time for a Real Deal Christmas!
“They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved.” (Acts 2:46-47, NLT).