by David Cassidy,Christ Community Church, Franklin
The heat is on. Well actually the air conditioning is on as we ‘swelter’ in unseasonably warm December temps while we navigate the crowds at the malls. Not exactly ‘chestnuts roasting on an open fire’ kind of weather! That said, the pressured days of preparation for celebration are certainly here. Its enough to make the most hearty soul shrink back in timidity and just shop online.
Now look, I just don’t think that’s going to get it done. We can enjoy a season of ‘all is calm and all is bright’ without missing out on ‘Oh by gosh by golly’! Sure, shopping online is cool, and I partake of its ease – that Santa actually wears brown and drives a delivery truck is something we should know by now. But after the box is at your door you’re going to have to walk through it and into the joy of Christmas in Williamson County.
Dickens of a Christmas is this weekend – that would be enough to make us all smush joyfully together on Main Street to enjoy the sights and sounds of the season. Brandon Heath will be leading the community sing there on Sunday. “Do you hear what I hear?’” Yet as the old TV commercial hastily adds, ‘But wait! There’s more!’
Think of it – Vince and Amy, Keith and Kristen Getty, Toby Mac, Melinda Doolittle, Andrew Peterson and so many more at the Schermerhorn and Ryman. ‘Jingle Bell Rock’ indeed! We have the Holiday Homes Tour in Franklin, and the Christmas Parade in Leipers Fork. While ‘Baby it’s Cold Outside’ just doesn’t ring true this weekend, there’s no denying ‘It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year’.
Look, we are two weeks from Christmas and the intensity of the time, the anxiety over the getting just the right present – and not going into debt to do it! – and the madcap prep for family meals and relatives from far and wide coming to stay is only going to ramp up. There’s really only one thing for this: enter the joy! Sing ‘I Want a Hippopatamus for Christmas’ with all your might, watch ‘Muppet Christmas Carol’, go to the Franklin Theater for a film or the Downton Abbey Soiree, shop at new places like White’s Mercantile, and eat too much candy.
Why? We need this. We are still a people sitting in great darkness and we still need to see a yet greater light. We still need an ultimate star to guide us to the One who from the margins of empire and power & deep in poverty centers our souls. It’s time to celebrate. Joy to the World! The Lord has come. Let every heart prepare him room. Yours too.
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