But my experience is that many of those who will come tonight are what we call "C & E Christians," those who attend church at Christmas and Easter. That's it - twice a year.
Maybe I should be grateful that such folks make that much of an effort. But to cut yourself off from the gifts that God brings to worship: a Word of forgiveness, His presence at the Table, His name placed on the faithful through the Benediction that brings each service to an end. Worship is filled with God's gifts of grace, mercy, peace, comfort and hope. Why would anyone turn their backs on such blessings?
So, the unfaithful will show up tonight. And, again, I'll be praying that the Holy Spirit will work through the Word to change indifferent hearts in strong, beating hearts of faith, joyfully singing, "Jesus, to Thee be glory given." I'll be praying that I'll see such folks next Sunday and the Sunday after and the Sunday after.
But as I sit here typing this blog entry, I realize that I should not be so hard on the "unfaithful." How many times have I been unfaithful. Times when I failed to draw on the strength of God's Word when being tempted...when I counted on something or someone else to give me pleasure or happiness...when I had my prayer list right in front of me but got distracted by something and didn't pray.
Without the grace of God working in my life (and yours too) I would be lost in my unfaithfulness, destined only for God's judgment. But God didn't leave me that way.
He sent His Son Jesus to make us faithful. Jesus took our place under the Law, kept that Law perfectly but then took upon Himself our unfaithfulness and was punished for it at the cross. In return, the Holy Spirit granted us faith through the Gospel to see Jesus as our Savior, the Son who made us right with the Father.
We are made faithful by Jesus alone without any help of our own.
We all need to be in worship tonight, whether we come twice a year or 52 times a year. We can't hear enough the Christmas Story and be reminded how the humble Jesus came into this world with just one thing in mind - to carry out His Father's will to save us from our sins. On this night nothing else matters - not the gifts not the family gatherings, not even Grandma's special recipe for gravy!
So, join us tonight at either 7 or 9 pm and again tomorrow morning at 10 am at Life in Christ. We'll celebrate the birth of the child who through His life, death and resurrection gives us eternal life. We'll sing "O Come, All Ye Faithful," joining our voices together on that glad refrain: O Come, let us adore Him, O Come, let us adore Him, O come, let us adore Him, Christ the Lord!
