Advent-Evangelism

The Acts of the Apostles ends with Paul exhorting his Jewish brothers in Rome to come to Faith in Jesus Christ as the fulfillment of the Law of Moses and the Prophets.  When they disagree, Paul concludes his exhortation by saying, "The Holy Spirit spoke the truth to your forefathers when he said through Isaiah the prophet: Go to this people and say, You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving."  Would that we who have received this same gospel message will not allow the commercialism of American Christmas to keep us from hearing and believing the truth about God's great Christmas gift.  In the hustle and bustle of Christmas it is not the decorations, not the Christmas tree, not the carols or the gifts that gives real meaning to the season.....it is that God has come, Emmanuel, and we have this knowledge that we have not been left alone.  All of the adornment will fail, the glitter will loss its sparkle, but the story of God's presence among us as told in the Gospel accounts as the word of God.....those will be eternal.  God has come and because he has come we have this hope of eternity and restoration with the author of life.  This is the good news of Christmas and we who have heard the voices of angels and have felt the presence of the Holy Spirit and have invited the Christ to live within us; we have become the bearers of this same news to all the world!  Would that our hearts not be calloused as those who heard Paul's pronouncement.  Would that we would have ears to hear and an acute perception and in this knowledge of Christmas we will have voice to sing.  Indeed, the King has come and because of his coming, we have the power to act on his behalf to change the world.  Will we have the courage to sing this new song to those who have not yet heard its life changing word and wondrous melody?