Has Christmas Been Cancelled?

Hi, this is Bernie Dake. Welcome to the Salvation Army's Words of Life. Send to us from heaven, Christ has come to save. Sing glory to God, glory to God in the highest. Hear the angels sing, the Savior informed. Send to us from heaven, Christ has come to save. Hark the herald angels sing, glory to the newborn King.

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Born to raise the sons of earth, born to give them second birth. Hark the herald angels sing, glory to the newborn King. Glory to God, glory to God in the highest. Hear the angels sing, the Savior informed. Send to us from heaven, Christ has come to save. Glory to God, glory to God in the highest. Hear the angels sing, the Savior informed. Send to us from heaven, Christ has come to save. Welcome back to Words of Life. I'm Bernie Dake.

And I'm Cheryl Gillum. Merry Christmas, everybody. We're in the middle of our Christmas series with Lieutenant Colonel Eddie Hobgood, and we're so grateful to have him join us, not just on this show, but on the Spanish version of Words of Life as well.

So please share Pohlabras de Vida with any of your Spanish-speaking friends and family. It's such a blessing to get to celebrate unity in this way during the Christmas season. Amen.

This week, Eddie starts off by asking the question we were probably all asking earlier this year in some way. Has Christmas been canceled? Yeah. I mean, so many things got canceled.

Absolutely. Like, I know my son is in theater. His shows got canceled this year. We had tickets to a show here in Atlanta. Yeah.

Broadway in New York. The Great White Way is closed, they say. Unbelievable. For another year. Yeah.

So many things. Plus, I mean, people lost jobs. There were furloughs, terminations.

I'm pretty sure there were a lot of people out of work this year wondering, when is this all going to come to an end? Yeah. But it's Christmas time, and it's a time of joy. And I don't think it would be fair for us to not introduce the opportunity to celebrate Jesus, the perfect gift, Emmanuel, God with us, a son sent to save us all from this world.

Absolutely. That's the real meaning of Christmas. Amen.

It is not about all of the external things, right? I mean, those things bring wonderful, comforting feelings to us. But as believers, our comfort is found in Christ Jesus. Amen.

The Savior of the world. Now, despite all of that stuff, will you get to have people in your home? Will you celebrate Christmas? Will you cook for your children? Will you have family? Well, we're actually going to go to my in-law's house.

Okay. So we're going to go celebrate together with them. And yes, my children will be a part of that, and yes, we'll be cooking. It'll be a smaller gathering, but we're going to be able to do that this year. So we feel blessed.

And the beauty of going to someone else's house is that it's their dishes, and they get to clean up. No, we all pitch in. Hello. Whatever you do for the holidays, we hope that you have a great Christmas time, and we pray that you'll come back and hear us again next week on Words of Life. Visit us today at salvationarmyusa.org. Christmas has been canceled. What did you say? How can you cancel Christmas?

Relax. Christmas hasn't been canceled. But a couple of months ago, there was a story from the United Kingdom about the possibility that Christmas could be canceled because of COVID-19. The article stated that because England was limiting the number of people that could gather together to six meant that families with more than six people would not be able to get together for their annual Christmas celebration. For example, a family of five would have to decide whether Grandma or Grandpa would get to come to their home on Christmas Day for a meal, but not both.

Now, I think that's a little overstated, but that's what the article said. It also said that because of social distancing, Office Christmas Party certainly couldn't happen. Even the way churches celebrate Christmas Eve and Christmas Day services would only be a shadow of what they've been before. And then there certainly could be no singing.

Wow. Whoever thought there would be a day when we talked about canceling Christmas? Well, the good news and the reality is you can't cancel Christmas because Christmas isn't a meal or a party or even a church service. I remember as an eight-year-old kid watching for the very first time the cartoon special How the Grinch Stole Christmas and thinking how horrible it would be to have your gifts and decorations disappear in the middle of the night. But the Grinch hated everything about Christmas, especially the singing, and he decided he would steal Christmas from Whoville. And on Christmas Eve, he did just that. So very pleased with himself, he got up early on Christmas Day expecting to hear lots of crying and sadness from Whoville. But instead, he heard them singing, Welcome, Christmas, come this way. Welcome, Christmas, Christmas Day.

He was confused. He thought that by stealing their presents, food, and decorations he would keep Christmas from happening. And as the story goes, then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store? What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more? For those who have had a personal encounter with the Christ of Bethlehem, the Christ of Christmas, we know that Christmas is not just a little bit more, but a whole lot more.

We understand that Christmas happens and will continue to happen regardless of external circumstances because Christmas happens in the heart. There's a beautiful song that you're going to want to go to YouTube and find. It's called Be Born in Me by Francesca Battistelli. It's a song that is sung by Mary, the mother of Jesus.

Watch the video and listen for the words. You will hear these lyrics. I'll hold you in the beginning. You will hold me in the end. Every moment in the middle, make my heart your Bethlehem.

Be born in me. When Christ was born in Bethlehem, God clothed himself with humanity, with flesh and blood. He did this to show us how deeply and desperately he wanted to be in relationship with us. Sin had destroyed that relationship. And the only way this situation could be reversed was for Jesus to come into the world, reveal God to us through his life, and then give that life as a sacrifice for the sin which had broken our connection to our Heavenly Father. And that's why Christmas can't be canceled. It's about a relationship, a relationship with Jesus.

So cancel the meals, cancel the parties, cancel the gifts, cancel the church services even. What God has done for us through Christ Jesus cannot be controlled by any outer circumstance and especially by a pandemic. So how is Christ born in our hearts? Phil Needham, in his book Christmas Breakthrough, tells the story of when his grandson Will was three years old. It was December, and Phil was telling Will that Advent was coming. What's Advent?

Will asked. It's when we prepare for the birth of Jesus, Phil answered, to which the boy replied, I thought he was born last year. Jesus is being born again this year? Well, that's the miracle of Christmas, that Christ can be born in millions of hearts and has been born in millions of hearts over the past 2,000 years, hearts that want to receive him and the gift God offers of a relationship restored. I love the prayer that the Apostle Paul prays over the church at Ephesus. He prays these words, and as I share them, I pray these words over you, words that will ensure you never, ever have to miss celebrating Christmas because Christmas is in your heart.

Ephesians 3, 14 through 21. For this reason, I kneel before the Father from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches, he may strengthen you with power through his spirit in your inner being so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power together with all the Lord's holy people to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ and to know this love that surpasses knowledge that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now, to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever.

Amen. The Salvation Army's mission, Doing the Most Good, means helping people with material and spiritual needs. You become a part of this mission every time you give to the Salvation Army. Visit salvationarmyusa.org to offer your support, and we'd love to hear from you. Email us at radio at uss.salvationarmy.org. Call 1-800-229-9965 or write us at P.O.

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