Spiritual Adventure Article

I had the opportunity to write the Spiritual Adventure Article on the back of the Elmwood Church of Christ newsletter this week. It was fun to explore my thoughts on Luke chapters one through four. Here is how it turned out:

Christmas is my favorite time of year. One of the things that makes it so special are the carols that we sing. The words and the music never fail to remind me of the true meaning of Christmas, Jesus’ birth. I don’t remember a Christmas without singing
carols. Every Christmas Eve my family would attend midnight mass. We would sing in Latin and English the words of Luke, Chapter 2 verse 14, “Glory to God in the Highest and Peace to his People on earth…we worship You, we give You thanks, we praise You for Your Glory.” This song commonly referred to as “Gloria” or “Angels We Have Heard On High”, encompasses the meaning of the season for me. The angels invite us to sing with them, at this joyous occasion, the song of Christ and his salvation. They give God their highest praise at this time, the time that God has blessed us with the greatest gift of all, his son,
Jesus.

I was reading a sermon by Reverend Adrian Dieleman of the Trinity United Reformed Church in California. He was giving a sermon titled, A Portrait of Christmas. He began his sermon by asking a question, “What would we see in a photo album of Jesus’ birth?” He then went on to talk about the material portrait of Christmas in today’s society. Showing pictures of the mall, the presents, and cards about declaring Happy Holidays with no mention of Christ. Then using the text in Luke he gives us a spiritual portrait of Christmas. The last picture he describes touches me the most. He describes it like this, “The fourteenth picture shows a choir – a magnificent numberless choir of angels. Rank upon rank, wings and robes and light. Every hand and
every voice is lifted up to a throne. In the bottom corner we see the shepherds. Their hands and voices too, are lifted up to the throne. The caption reads, “‘Glory to God in the Highest.’”

Wherever you are and whomever you are with this Christmas season, pause to sing Glory and Praise to the Most High King.