Thursday, December 1, 2016
I always look forward to taking my kids caroling for Christmas. We usually go a week or so early to as many nursing homes and our shut in members that we can in a Sunday afternoon. There's something about the singers (whether they can sing or not) taking time out of the crazy schedule, traveling and warming up together in a group after coming in from the cold, that brings joy as we prepare the listeners for celebrating our Savior's birth.
ADVENT ADVENTURES: CHRISTMAS CAROLING
But who were the very first Christmas carolers? The familiar Gospel of Luke 2 tells us, "And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: 'Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!' So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, 'Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us'" (Luke 2:13-15).
What did that first Christmas Carol sound like? Can you imagine the skies filling with brilliant light and sonthe g of the host of angels giving glory and praise to the birth of the Savior? Did it echo in the ears of those shepherds for the rest of their lives? We can't answer these questions specifically, but we can see how this first Christmas carol prepared the hearts of those shepherds to race into Bethlehem to find their newborn Lord and Savior, the newborn baby Jesus!
You and I may not have the voice of an angel, but we can have the heart of a shepherd that runs to Jesus and that celebrates His birth! We can run and tell others about what great things God has done for us and that "which the Lord has made known to us!" Let's grab our kids, family, and friends, and go Christmas caroling! Let's prepare others' hearts to celebrate Jesus' birth just like those first angelic messengers filled the heavens with the praise and joy of our Savior’s birth! "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!" God's goodwill, His astounding grace was found in a lowly manger in our newborn Savior, Christ the Lord.
