March 10, 2023

2 Pastors, a Blown Fuse, and a Christmas Cold Snap – Part 2 of 3

Read: Matthew 2:7-12

A sudden death in the family of our daughter-in-law changed our Christmas plans. Instead of hosting the crowd, we drove up the coast to Virginia and had the whole family at #1Son’s house. Upon our return Dec. 23, we found my lifelong BFF out of town. We’ve hosted him and his wife on Christmas Eve for many years since they have no other family. Soooooo, finally after way too many years, we were able to attend a Christmas Eve church service.

We attended a splendid service at a church we’ve been eyeballing for some time. We were very pleased to find it’s got a pipe organ, smaller than ours of course and no Doug, but a talented organist. They also have a guy they call the Cantor. He’s up in the balcony playing a trumpet and these enormous bongo-like drum things as well as some other instruments to accompany the organ. The whole thing pipes through a theater sized sound system that makes the music service come alive as though one were sitting in a symphony orchestra hall.

The Pastor delivered a very nice sermon. He centered it on how so many of the Jews in those days reacted negatively to the birth Jesus and rejected Him being described as the Messiah. Many people were not accepting Him as the Savior. “Certainly, this peasant baby isn’t the gift from the Lord they’ve been waiting for,” was a common belief. Then the Pastor told a story about how we sometimes get a gift, and the gift isn’t what we wanted or were hoping for, but in God’s plan the gift is exactly what we need. Jesus was such a gift back then, and He continues to be for many of us today.
 
Ron Draper