For Them, Not Me

I had one of those light bulb moments today, one where I had dug deep into my soul to sort out a conflict going on in my head.  While I had already picked up Christmas Eve tickets for our home church, I have been quite disappointed in the lack of Christmas Carols over this advent season.  For years we would sing nothing but Christmas carols throughout advent, Mrs. Chapple on the piano, singing our hearts out for His glory.

This year and last year, however, while the sermon series' have been great (Christmas at the Movies - and last week we dissected It's a Wonderful Life), I am missing the Christmas carols.  However, I am constantly reminded of a message from a few months ago: "If you don't like the music, you have six and a half days to listen to whatever you want.  If you feel you aren't being fed spiritually at church, you have six and a half days to feed yourself."

And yet, I found myself having a little argument with myself today, wanting to sing real Christmas carols on Christmas Eve, wanting to light candles, wanting to leave church with my eardrums intact, because even though I love to rock it out any other Sunday, Christmas Eve is a time for tradition, right?

I really had to remind myself of our mandate: to find the lost souls and introduce them to the love of Jesus.  For the unchurched, an old hymn or a Christmas carol might sound very foreign and stale; it might have no impact on them whatsoever, and I need to remember that.  A lost soul will be drawn to what they can relate to, and that is completely different than what I can relate to, having grown up with the knowledge that Jesus was always by my side.

What cemented this in my brain was when I discussed it with Scott.  Scott, who has never in his life wanted to attend a Christmas Eve service, and he said,"I want to see what OUR CHURCH does on Christmas Eve."  This isn't just a church that the kids and I go to and Scott observes from the outside.  He has claimed this church as OURS, and my heart jumps for joy.

So even though our Christmas Eve will be filled with loud renditions of Christmas carols along with contemporary music, and my mom and dad will probably grimace at the noise, it is succeeding in reaching those lost souls; that is evident when I hear Scott talk about this church.

I can listen to O Holy Night and We Three Kings at home, and I can light candles in our kitchen.  This year I will join our church in reaching out to those who have never known Our Saviour, and I will help teach them about His birth.