Pastor's Blog: Go, Tell It On The Mountain (Brook)
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Some news simply was never meant to be kept close to the vest, like the news of Christmas. From the very beginning, the very core of the Christmas message was an angelic announcement that a Savior was to be born “to all people.” No one is to be left out of the Christmas celebration. Everyone is invited to join in on the “glad tidings of great joy.”
Unfortunately, in spite of what seems to be ever-present holly and tinsel, the real message of Christmas stands to fall silent in too many places. Decorations by themselves are insufficient to tell the story. There must also be a clear explanation of how, in Jesus, love came down to be with us in the form of the Bethlehem baby.
Our church takes most seriously this mandate to speak Christmas. Each season, the various musicals start out our Christmas witness, and then they are quickly followed by our Glorious worship experience and the three-day presentation of our Living Nativity. Everything culminates with our special Christmas Eve service, which again this year will involve two services, at 4 and 6 p.m.
Surely you’ve noticed how each year it seems that Christmas will never come. Then in the final days, its dawning seems to happen at warp speed. The same is certainly true this year. This coming Sunday will be the third Sunday in Advent, which means that Christmas is only a short time away.
This Sunday marks the presentation of the Glorious worship experience at the 11 a.m. This creative telling of the Christmas story is a “bringer event” for sure. In other words, you’ll be happy to encourage your friends, neighbors, and business associates to attend this service. Our contemporary worship team has planned a couple of fresh expressions that are sure to heighten the level of inspiration for all in attendance.
Then, our Living Nativity presentation will be December 20-22. Because it’s hard to improve on perfection, everything about this marvelous experience will be repeated, though yet another generation of performers will put on the costumes and take their place in this MBBC tradition. Now over 50 years running, our Living Nativity is something the larger Mountain Brook community relishes, and every year we receive numerous expressions of community appreciation for offering these performances as our Christmas gift to them.
So, whether you offer your presence in either of these celebrations, or you prefer to do so in personal invitation, now is the time to let your voice be heard. Too much is at stake for too many not to join the multitude of heavenly host praising God and announcing His good will toward all people, even the people with whom you live, work, and play. After all, chances are you know someone in those orbits who needs the message now more than ever. Those persons are in good company, and when you share the message of Christmas, so are you.