Tom's Message: what "Joy to the World" is all about!
Hey, everyone!
I hope so much that your home and heart are filled with the sweetness and beauty of thoughts of Christmas! I hope you find some moments of quiet and peace to meditate on two kids having the Baby they lay in the hay…
(You will if you’re at Triple C on Christmas Eve…7:00pm)
In Italy, they always speak of the “grotto” or cave where the Child came into our world. In peasant towns, this is where farm animals were kept. Just think of it…
It’s not always easy to take your heart to that humble scene with all the swirling world of Christmas, whirling all around us!…
There are so many things that we sing and do without asking why…
Almost all of us have a tree in our house! Think about it for a sec…
YOU HAVE A TREE IN YOUR HOUSE!!
And no one knows why we’ve always done this!
Does anyone really know who “Good King Wenceslas” was??
I heard this Christmas carol the other day…
“I saw three ships come sailing in on Christmas Day, on Christmas Day…”
I’ve heard it all my life! I think I first heard it on the Firestone Christmas albums that came out every year!
But no one sailed into Christmas on a ship!
Bethlehem is twenty miles from any water!
And this very Christmas, I’ve sung, “Joy to the world!… Let Heaven and nature sing!”
But nature didn’t sing that night.
Italian legends say the animals spoke like humans when Jesus was born and still do at midnight of Christmas Eve.
But they didn’t.
And don’t.
One day, when Jesus comes to take over this tired, old, mean world…
all the mountains and hills WILL “burst into song”!
And all the trees will clap their hands! (Isaiah 55:12)
In fact, Joy To the World” was really written to remember THAT coming Day and isn’t about Christmas at all! If the trees had started to clap and sing that Holy Night, folks would have flocked to rescue the Baby and family from their misery.
Alone and afraid, a couple of very poor kids held a quivering Infant King in a barn or stall or cave and no one knew or cared except a few peasant shepherds. And all the Heavenly Host!
And everything changed!
Many of us probably have a Christmas manger scene on a table in our home.
Ever wonder why?
On Christmas, in the year 1223, a lion-hearted Italian friar from Assisi named Francis, built a rustic manger, put it into a “grotto” in the village of Greccio, led an “ox and ass” into it and tied them up. After a while, it was stinky, poop-y, nasty and buggy. Then he invited the citizens to enter and reflect.
The animals never spoke once.
And into a world like this…
a world of darkness and yucky-ness…
and heart-break…
our Savior came.
And hope was born!
For many, this won’t be an easy Christmas.
And we don’t know what new problems 2024 might bring.
But we do know this…
Jesus is King over all!
And having Him, we can have a heart-filled with joy, no matter what!
And one day soon He will come to take us home!
What a Christmas that will be!!
Let Heaven and nature sing!
Let Heaven and nature sing!
Let Heaven, let Heaven and nature sing!
Merry Christmas, everyone!
We all thank God for all you all!