Black Friday or Christmas Joy?
Joy at Christmas, where do we find it? Many folks will be looking in every ad from now until Christmas Eve to find just the right gift. They will travel to every store imaginable to find just the perfect sale. Not too much nor not too little should be spent on this gift. Friday morning lines of people will be waiting to get into the right store that has just the right sales. Some, in fact, will camp out all night to save a few dollars on the “perfect” gift. Thereby, assuring themselves of joy for Christmas.
Do you remember Charlie Brown’s Christmas? He was concerned for the overt commercialization of Christmas. December 9, 1965 was the first airing of this classic Christmas message. This Peanut’s special has been shown every Christmas since 1965. Charles Shultz was concerned that people had forgotten the true meaning of Christmas. He battled with the CBS executives over the inclusion of Linus reading Luke 2:8-14. In the discussions with the network he wouldn’t budge on its admission into the final product. He is quoted as saying, “If we don’t tell the true meaning of Christmas, who will?” If he were still alive today how much more amazed would Charles Shullz be?
Joy at Christmas come from keeping Christ as the focus of our celebrations. As you approach Thanksgiving and the onset of Christmas shopping, I want to encourage you to keep Christ in Christmas. Sunday we will look at the subject of the Songs of Joy at Christmas.
