Hello, I’m David Jeremiah and welcome to the Why the Nativity Experience as we live out the wonder of his love. It might surprise you to learn that the man who composed one of the most popular Christmas songs wrote a string of television theme songs in the 1960s. His name is George While. While said, “America doesn’t want great music themes, just something it can remember.
” And so he gave us several songs to remember including Gilligan’s Isle and his popular toetapping song about the happiest time of the year. You know it, it’s the most wonderful time of the year. And Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year. But remember the word wonderful means full of wonder which is exactly how we should feel when we consider the incredible entrance of God into human life in Bethlehem.
Mary, Joseph, and the shepherds were filled with wonder as the Messiah, the newborn baby king, lay in a stables manger. Jesus himself suggested that we be childlike, not childish. in immaturity, but childlike in our sense of simple [music] trust and wonder. In our pursuit to be filled with the wonder of his love this Christmas, we need to be wary of things that can rob us of our wonder and steal our joy.
Upon hearing the news that kings were on a journey to find a promised king, Herod immediately attempted to steal the wonder from their pursuit by asking them to return when they found this king and report his whereabouts. Of course, you know the story. The kings returned home a different way to avoid Herod’s threat to Jesus.
This is a good example of something we should be aware of. What can rob us of the meaning and power of Christmas? How do we lose the wonder of his love? One reason we’ve lost the wonder is that we’re too rushed to ponder the meaning of Christmas and our fatigue overwhelms our sense of marvel. We have got to find ways of pausing, of being still, or of quieting our lives and our hearts.
