Central Family,

In a few short days we will gather to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. In one of my favorite Christmas Carols, O Little Town of Bethlehem, we sing “O Holy Child of Bethlehem, Descend to us, we pray; Cast out our sin, and enter in, Be born in us today.”

I don’t know about you but these days leading up to Christmas can become so chaotic and busy. No matter how often we are reminded to remember “the real meaning of the season,” we eat, we drink, we buy, we receive, we gather and we get caught up in the frenzy of consumption. All the while we try to remember it’s about the truth that God “emptied himself, taking the form of a servant.”

As I read the above stanza from ‘O Little Town of Bethlehem” I am struck by the word order in the hymn. It is not enter in and cast out our sin, but rather “Cast out our sin, and enter in.” Sometimes Jesus needs to descend and cast out! Our lives and hearts are crammed full, jammed with so much stuff, so many ‘should's’ and ‘have to’s,’ such busyness, that the door can’t be opened; how could the little Lord Jesus find room at the inn of our accumulations.

Why did the little Lord Jesus come? The world was lost, the world was in darkness, stuck in sin, caught up in the lie of “self-made autonomy”, very much like Adam and Eve, preferring to be God instead of letting God be God. So the hymn puts it in strong language; “Cast out our sin.” Cast out? Not a nudge or a simple word encouragement BUT a radical act of repentance. So this Christmas pay attention to the word order in the hymn. “Cast out our sin, and enter in.” Don’t block the door when the Spirit comes to cast out the garbage. Get ready for some blunt, forceful work of Jesus. And when we are empty of self and sin – Jesus enters in. Maggie Ross is right: “We feel empty, but it is not because we are empty; we feel empty because we are full of the wrong stuff.” What needs to be cast our in your life these next few days so Jesus can be freshly born in your life?

See you at the manger on Christmas Eve:
Children’s Services – 2:00, 3:30 & 5:00pm
Communion Candlelight – 7:30 & 11:00pm

Or on Christmas Day:
Communion – 10:00am

And when you gather to worship on Wednesday or Thursday make sure you pick up a copy of the DAILY TEXTS – 2009 to help you grow in your relationship to the Lord Jesus. Thank you to Mount Carmel Ministries for this Christmas Gift to Central. Please take a moment to email a word of thanks to Mt. Carmel ministries. You will find their email in the Daily Texts.

Blessings these final days before Christmas!

Paul Johansson