Welcome to Tuesday and what do you know? It's time for The Notes with just one week to go? Have you checked all your lists maybe once, maybe twice? Perhaps you're giving something that won't come with a price? This year is different, this year there's a way. This year give gifts that don't require you to pay. Our blessings of resources, our holiday cheer. You say will not be spent as they have in past years. 
This year will be simple, this year will be plain. We'll surround ourselves with those down the lane. Our neighbors, our friends, our family so dear. So often are seen only this time of year. In reality, though we will buy some things. An expression of love, the magic it brings. But still, in our hearts, we long for the cue. To hear "All I want for Christmas is You!"
or for those with a nostalgic bend:
In recent years, "All I Want for Christmas is You" has joined the ranks of perennial Christmas favorites Tuesday's Musical Notes - "White Christmas", Tuesday's Musical Notes - "The Christmas Song", and Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Sleigh Ride" to name a few. It returns to the Billboard charts every year after Thanksgiving and stays there until New Year's celebrations have passed. It was released at the peak of Mariah Carey's career, something that is usually not done with a Christmas release. It was subsequently remixed (Extra Festive) and placed on her Merry Christmas II You album from 2010. The first video released included cameos by then-husband Tommy Motolla as Santa. It peaked at #7 on Billboard's Hot 100 this year.
"All I Want for Christmas is You" sells itself as a love song. It appears as a refreshing puff of cold air in a world that seems bent on buying everything they can to fulfill lists of loved ones. It's a throwback to the '60s (hence the second video) where many remember things being much simpler, at least the toys we played with didn't require 60 pages of instructions. Or if we didn't like the rules of the game, we tended to make up our own rules. Does anybody play Monopoly the same way? ("Top Toys of the 1960s" By Stuart Englert - December 15, 2013, americanprofile.com)
Many times, during the Christmas season, we find ourselves drifting to or favoring the less complicated gifts. How many of you had more fun in the box than you ever had with some of those big toys? Why do you suspect that is? Perhaps the business of the season prompts us toward those things that take less time, energy, and effort. Or maybe there is something so much more than that driving us towards the simplicity of a throwback toy.
Our feature song today highlights the relationship between folks in love. It expresses the incredible simplicity of just being together. That is an emotion that has been placed in us as we are created in the image of God. Genesis 1:28-28 New American Standard Bible/The Message paraphrase of the Bible/King James Version of the Bible parallel Why would God create man in His image? It is simple. He is relational and desires a relationship with someone in which He has things in common.
While I don't know the mind of God, I certainly understand the desire for relationships. God created us for 2 kinds of relationships:
1) God created man to have a relationship with Himself. God never does anything without a reason. That's right! You were created on purpose for a purpose. Paul's letter to the Ephesian church, chapter 2, verse 10 NASB/The Message/KJV Christians celebrate Christmas as a way to show that through Christ, the broken relationship that occurred in the garden can be restored through the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Paul's letter to the church in Rome, chapter 5, verses 3-11 NASB/The Message/KJV
2) God created us to have a relationship with each other. The Gospel of Jesus according to the disciple John, chapter 15, verses 9-17 NASB/The Message/KJV It seems plausible that we can only have a relationship with those that we know. So many times our churches and even small groups are populated by those who have a knowledge of one another, yet don't really invest the time in getting to know one another? There is a huge difference! Love is something that is built upon by spending time together doing life. Our love for each other should be so powerful, that nothing can keep us apart. Yet, we allow distractions to keep us away from gathering together.
One of the ways that we demonstrate our love for one another is by meeting together for worship.
If it seems we are challenging you to church attendance, it is because we are. ("5 Reasons to Attend Church Regularly" by Rick McDaniel, Contributor Author, 07/01/2013, huffingtonpost.com, "10 Reasons to Never Miss a Sunday" by Kristen Terrette, contributing author, crosswalk.com) If you are a member of a church, God called you to that place to love those who make up that particular body. Like any family, there will be struggles, but the love we have for God is demonstrated through the love that we have for each other as we persevere through adversity. Every family I know has dysfunctions and so do all of the churches that I know. But we grow together while being dysfunctional. This growing together can only happen if you are present and investing in and with others.
If you aren't a Christian and are wondering about all this love from others that is waiting for you, take a moment and peruse through a few of Tuesday's Musical Notes. There is guidance on how to become a Christian and what that means. Or feel free to email me at rawacr@gmail.com. I would love to have the opportunity to share with you one of the most important decisions you will ever make in your life.
Want the commercialization/materialism of Christmas to decline? Show your love to someone who attends your church. Find a church to attend if you don't already and fall in love with the folks who attend with you. Allow others into your life as they attempt to love you through all of our dysfunctions. Put "love my church enough to attend every time the doors are open" at the top of your giving list this Christmas.
So, as we finalize those lists and get ready to make that last trip to buy gifts, ponder this thought...when was the last time I invested in this person with my time? When was the last time I spent serving them? When was the last time I made their wish come true? Because all they really want this Christmas is you...
'Til Tuesday,
Loving HIM by Loving You,
randy
Welcome to Tuesday and what do you know? It's time for The Notes with just one week to go? Have you checked all your lists maybe once, maybe twice? Perhaps you're giving something that won't come with a price? This year is different, this year there's a way. This year give gifts that don't require you to pay. Our blessings of resources, our holiday cheer. You say will not be spent as they have in past years.
This year will be simple, this year will be plain. We'll surround ourselves with those down the lane. Our neighbors, our friends, our family so dear. So often are seen only this time of year. In reality, though we will buy some things. An expression of love, the magic it brings. But still, in our hearts, we long for the cue. To hear "All I want for Christmas is You!"
This year will be simple, this year will be plain. We'll surround ourselves with those down the lane. Our neighbors, our friends, our family so dear. So often are seen only this time of year. In reality, though we will buy some things. An expression of love, the magic it brings. But still, in our hearts, we long for the cue. To hear "All I want for Christmas is You!"
or for those with a nostalgic bend:
In recent years, "All I Want for Christmas is You" has joined the ranks of perennial Christmas favorites Tuesday's Musical Notes - "White Christmas", Tuesday's Musical Notes - "The Christmas Song", and Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Sleigh Ride" to name a few. It returns to the Billboard charts every year after Thanksgiving and stays there until New Year's celebrations have passed. It was released at the peak of Mariah Carey's career, something that is usually not done with a Christmas release. It was subsequently remixed (Extra Festive) and placed on her Merry Christmas II You album from 2010. The first video released included cameos by then-husband Tommy Motolla as Santa. It peaked at #7 on Billboard's Hot 100 this year.
"All I Want for Christmas is You" sells itself as a love song. It appears as a refreshing puff of cold air in a world that seems bent on buying everything they can to fulfill lists of loved ones. It's a throwback to the '60s (hence the second video) where many remember things being much simpler, at least the toys we played with didn't require 60 pages of instructions. Or if we didn't like the rules of the game, we tended to make up our own rules. Does anybody play Monopoly the same way? ("Top Toys of the 1960s" By Stuart Englert - December 15, 2013, americanprofile.com)
Many times, during the Christmas season, we find ourselves drifting to or favoring the less complicated gifts. How many of you had more fun in the box than you ever had with some of those big toys? Why do you suspect that is? Perhaps the business of the season prompts us toward those things that take less time, energy, and effort. Or maybe there is something so much more than that driving us towards the simplicity of a throwback toy.
Our feature song today highlights the relationship between folks in love. It expresses the incredible simplicity of just being together. That is an emotion that has been placed in us as we are created in the image of God. Genesis 1:28-28 New American Standard Bible/The Message paraphrase of the Bible/King James Version of the Bible parallel Why would God create man in His image? It is simple. He is relational and desires a relationship with someone in which He has things in common.
While I don't know the mind of God, I certainly understand the desire for relationships. God created us for 2 kinds of relationships:
1) God created man to have a relationship with Himself. God never does anything without a reason. That's right! You were created on purpose for a purpose. Paul's letter to the Ephesian church, chapter 2, verse 10 NASB/The Message/KJV Christians celebrate Christmas as a way to show that through Christ, the broken relationship that occurred in the garden can be restored through the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Paul's letter to the church in Rome, chapter 5, verses 3-11 NASB/The Message/KJV
2) God created us to have a relationship with each other. The Gospel of Jesus according to the disciple John, chapter 15, verses 9-17 NASB/The Message/KJV It seems plausible that we can only have a relationship with those that we know. So many times our churches and even small groups are populated by those who have a knowledge of one another, yet don't really invest the time in getting to know one another? There is a huge difference! Love is something that is built upon by spending time together doing life. Our love for each other should be so powerful, that nothing can keep us apart. Yet, we allow distractions to keep us away from gathering together.
One of the ways that we demonstrate our love for one another is by meeting together for worship.
If it seems we are challenging you to church attendance, it is because we are. ("5 Reasons to Attend Church Regularly" by Rick McDaniel, Contributor Author, 07/01/2013, huffingtonpost.com, "10 Reasons to Never Miss a Sunday" by Kristen Terrette, contributing author, crosswalk.com) If you are a member of a church, God called you to that place to love those who make up that particular body. Like any family, there will be struggles, but the love we have for God is demonstrated through the love that we have for each other as we persevere through adversity. Every family I know has dysfunctions and so do all of the churches that I know. But we grow together while being dysfunctional. This growing together can only happen if you are present and investing in and with others.
If you aren't a Christian and are wondering about all this love from others that is waiting for you, take a moment and peruse through a few of Tuesday's Musical Notes. There is guidance on how to become a Christian and what that means. Or feel free to email me at rawacr@gmail.com. I would love to have the opportunity to share with you one of the most important decisions you will ever make in your life.
Want the commercialization/materialism of Christmas to decline? Show your love to someone who attends your church. Find a church to attend if you don't already and fall in love with the folks who attend with you. Allow others into your life as they attempt to love you through all of our dysfunctions. Put "love my church enough to attend every time the doors are open" at the top of your giving list this Christmas.
So, as we finalize those lists and get ready to make that last trip to buy gifts, ponder this thought...when was the last time I invested in this person with my time? When was the last time I spent serving them? When was the last time I made their wish come true? Because all they really want this Christmas is you...
'Til Tuesday,
Loving HIM by Loving You,
randy
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