HOW TO CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS

This is the time of year that most people’s thoughts turn toward celebration. Well, how exactly do you celebrate? Some people define celebration by decorating, some by visiting relatives or friends, and some by watching endless hours of football. Some begin celebrating by getting drunk at the office party on the last working day before Christmas and don't sober up until sometime after New Year's Day. But that’s what they think of when they think of celebrating, anesthetizing reality. Fewer and fewer in our culture think about celebrating the birth of the one about whom this holiday is named by going to Church. Maybe that's because for many the church is not the place they think of when they think of celebrating. 

In this sermon we will ask the novel question that frequently doesn't ever get asked: How did those who witnessed the first Christmas celebrate?