Merry Christmas to all of you at this most festive time of year.

As the story is told, a concerned little girl approached her father one cold December day and said, “Daddy, I just don’t believe it’s right to ignore Jesus, especially as we draw closer to his birthday.”

The father was a little confused by his daughter’s concerns and said, “I agree with you. We shouldn’t ignore Jesus at this time of year or any time for that matter. But what made you think of that?”

“Well, it’s the Christmas song we sang in church this morning, you know, the one that goes, ‘O come, let us ignore Him.’”

Well, I think it’s still a good question as we begin the month of December. Do we ignore Jesus? I know that too many that may seem like a silly question as we decorate the tree and set-up our little mangers in the living room. It seems obvious that everything we’re doing this month is to focus our attention on the 25^th so no…many of us will answer that question…I am not ignoring Jesus this Christmas.

Fair enough, but I would still ask you to take a moment to look at your calendars and your holiday schedules that you’ve carefully penciled in all those little squares representing the days until Christmas morning. How many of them are expressly set aside for remembering and celebrating the birth of Christ? If I were to venture to guess, I’d guess very few of them. Oh, there will be plenty of parties and gatherings but how many of them will be expressly for worshipping the Christ Child?

Now, I’m not bringing this up to make you feel bad about all the various activities you have planned for this month, but I think it’s important for us to make sure that we don’t forget Jesus…after all…it’s his birth we’re supposed to be celebrating. How would you like it if no one remembered your birthday?

So, as we begin the month of December, might I suggest that you grab a pencil and mark your calendars to attend our mid-week Advent services that begin at 6:15 p.m. each Wednesday this month up until Christmas week and then make sure you’ve got nothing else scheduled for 7 p.m. Christmas Eve or 9 a.m. Christmas morning in addition to all of this month’s Sunday mornings. This way as activities pile up, you won’t forget about Jesus and end up ignoring him.

Just a reminder that after each of our midweek services a meal will be served in the Fellowship Hall. As always, everyone is welcome.

I look forward to seeing you all here at church as we worship the birth of Christ. Merry Christmas.

Until next month….

Pastor Roloff