A week ago I was in a department store doing some Christmas shopping.  Christmas music was playing and I was getting into the spirit of it all, when suddenly I realized I was singing along with Bing Crosby, "I'm dreaming of a white Christmas..."!  Now, the chances of a white Christmas in Sarasota, Florida, are pretty remote, almost laughable, as it would be in many parts of the country.  But one thing we can all have is a "right" Christmas.  "I'm dreaming of a right Christmas..."  But how can that happen for us?  Getting right with God is the starting place.  Jesus Christ came into the world to set us right with God, to bring us back to God.

There is an old story about an elderly couple.  They had the radio on one day as they drove through the busy streets, and as they listened to the beautiful music of Christmas the wife became nostalgic, "Herbert, do you remember when we were younger, we used to sit so close together as we drove along?  It was so wonderful back then.  What happened?"  "I don't know about that," said Herbert.  "All I know is, I haven't moved!"    Christmas comes each year to remind us that God has not moved away from us.  No!  We are the ones who have moved.  We are the ones who have drifted away from him.  Getting right with God is the starting place, because that is what Christmas is all about.

And Christmas continues beyond December 25th...

Let us pray: Loving God, the stars shine brightly in the black velvet sky, the moon beams silver over the tops of bare trees, the sun rises golden in the east, and sets warm and red in the west.  The days grow shorter, the light is weaker, our spirits are troubled.  Will the Christ really come?  Can we feel safe?  We hold the shattered pieces of our lives in our trembling hands like an heirloom ornament dropped from a great height.  Compassionate God, bring us face to face with your awesome love and fill our emptiness with your joy and hope.  Surprise us now with your grace in unexpected places.  Watch over the chaplains, and the men and women serving our country in far away places.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.