Here Comes December

If you’ve been out recently, you’d know that Christmas is coming.

Once December comes along, the streets are decked with lights, shopping centres are transformed with festive decorations, and homes spruced up with Christmas trees and wreaths. And of course who could miss the Christmas music everywhere, be it from Bublé or a children’s choir.

I guess when all these things come together during the holiday season, they’re supposed to make everything around us become merry. But just because “tis’ the season to be jolly” doesn’t necessarily mean that everyone automatically becomes joyous.

As someone once said, “Bah, humbug.”

Those words came to life through Charles Dickens’ character, Ebenezer Scrooge, from his book, “A Christmas Carol”. Ebenezer Scrooge was a character who could never get into the Christmas spirit of peace on earth and goodwill to all. If anything, he was the complete opposite of what Christmas is all about. But while Scrooge may have been a fictional character, that doesn’t mean his personality doesn’t exist. The truth is that there are many people who don’t find the Christmas season festive at all. Perhaps even in church there are some of us who don’t find Christmas very merry.

Well, that’s why I’m really excited about this December. To end off the year, we’re going to have a Christmas sermon series that runs all month long called “What’s So Merry About Christmas” and we’re going to be talking about what Christmas is all about. To me, the most amazing truth about Christmas that I’ll always hold on to is found in the familiar verse,

“For God so loved the world that He gave...”

So what’s so merry about Christmas? It’s that we have the privilege to follow God’s footsteps by loving and giving to others around us. Christmas is all about sharing the message of faith, hope and love, so let’s bring joy to the people around us.

Church, let’s make it our responsibility to make this Christmas joyous. Let’s bring our friends and family to church and our IBHFC parties to receive this heavenly joy. Let’s show the world that we will be merry even if things aren’t going well. Let’s make this Christmas a merry one.

- Deputy Senior Pastor Daniel Khong

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