SOMEONE MAY HEAR

          Yes, I know:  there is no Biblical mandate or example for celebrating the birth of Christ, nor do we have any idea of the actual date.  However, I’m not so sure I want to be fully immunized against this celebration.  I find it refreshing, in fact, that despite the increasing secularization which accompanies its festivities, a pleasant change occurs.  It’s not a radical transition; but people seem more friendly, their focus shifts toward giving rather than receiving, and relationships with families and friends strengthen.  The crisp winter winds carry feelings of goodwill and charity.  Yet most important, people are talking about Jesus.  People, who never mention Him otherwise and who seldom even think of Him, now relate the story of His birth to their children and sing carols to His praise.  They’ll place stars on their trees, display manger scenes, and send cards with the chorus of angels to their friends.  Most of them will never take this story seriously.  Few will care to sift through the fact and fiction of Christmas lore to note the difference between the account of  Jesus and the tales of Ebenezer Scrooge or Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer. 

          Yet somewhere over the bustling crowds, the revelry of parties, the time demands of family and friends, above the cries of children for the latest toys, someone may hear the  voice of God:  Not in a thunder, but in a whisper.  Someone may hear the soft cry of the Bethlehem baby pro-claiming God is with us.  Someone may hear, maybe for the first time, that the God who created all things is desperately in love with them.  Some-one may hear, in a life-changing way, this word of God to man.  Are we open to the opportunities of this season?  Shall we decry the abuse without calling attention to the real story of Christ?  In each season of the year, let us seize every opportunity to proclaim to sin-weary souls the message of the glad tidings - - for WE NEVER KNOW WHEN THROUGH US SOMEONE MAY HEAR THE VOICE OF GOD.

                                                                                                                            Eugene S. Smith / Guest Essay