On Wednesday night I went with a group of kids and parents from New Hope Community Church to an assisted living apartment complex. About thirty seniors had gathered to hear the kids sing Christmas carols and help the kids with a craft. The evening began by decorating Christmas door-hangers that the seniors could hang on their doors. The hangers had the little town of Bethlehem already pre-printed on the background and the kids and the seniors were supposed to add Jesus, Mary, Joseph, and the stable. As one little boy worked with one of the seniors, the elderly woman explained the story of Jesus' birth to him. The boy became filled with joy and excitement as he seemed to learn of the real meaning of Christmas for the first time. He was so overjoyed that he wanted to tell someone the good news that he had just realized. The boy came running over to me and a few other parents with great enthusiasm and excitement in order to tell us the good news. With a twinkle in his eye and a smile on his face he wanted to say, "Jesus is born!", but instead, he blurted out, "Jesus is boring!"
As I left the assisted living building, I wondered how many times we Christians send out the message that "Jesus is boring" when what we really want to communicate to the world is that "Jesus is born!" Somehow we've forgotten what good news the birth of Christ is to a dark and lonely world that so desperately needs to hear that the Messiah, the Savior of the world, has been born. I wish we could all capture the enthusiasm, the joy, and the excitement of this little boy and communicate the message of Christ's birth to the world. This Christmas let's help the world to believe that Jesus is born; not boring!
2 comments:
I was with the Jr. High group, who I see as so innocent....and they were telling me that there is this huge idea among their peers that "Christianity is not cool", "Jesus is boring" or that "if you're Christian you can't have fun".
Where does this come from? I think you're right, it is a misunderstanding of the JOY that comes out of knowing Christ...if we truly know Him we would be excited and joyful and every minute of the day and wild when we have a chance to talk about Him!
Ah....Children make it all make sense don't they? I'm reminded of something I heard Zig Ziglar (I think) said. "God does not give us children so we can teach them, He gives us children so that they can teach us." So true. We realize that more and more every day, now, with grandkids around!
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