My pastor told a James Dobson story
last Sunday about a little boy who daddy pastored a church. Each Sunday while his daddy was on the
platform and his mom was at the organ, the little fellow occupied himself by
collecting hymnals to build a fort around him on the front seat and then lobbed
“pew pencil” missiles at his imaginary foes.
His dad
warned him, from the pulpit, that if he didn’t stop that, he would have to be
taken outside and have the board of education applied to the seat of learning.
Of course,
the next Sunday, up went the fort and out flew the missiles as usual. The pastor left the platform, picked up his
boy, put him over his shoulder and headed out the back door of the little
church to take care of business.
The last thing
the congregation heard as they stepped outside was an impassioned plea: “Pray for me!”
As my
pastor pointed out, we all have need of some prayer from time to time.
Maybe during the Christmas season
we need to take measure of those around us who need some special prayer. The scripture is quite clear that we are to carry
each other burdens (Galatians 6:2), but Paul goes on in that verse to say that
in this way we actually fulfill the law of Christ. The classic “O Holy Night” reminds us that
“His law is love and His gospel is peace.”
There are
people all around us who find the Christmas season difficult. They may be struggling to measure up to the
image of gift giving that our culture promotes.
Some face the first Christmas since they lost a job or found out they
had cancer or someone has passed away.
When trauma
or struggles close in, the real message of Christmas can begin to grow dim and
distant. Who do you know today who needs
to know that someone is praying for them this time of year?
And, maybe
those prayers need to come with feet and hands and hearts that, with a timely
touch of grace, can help bring the love and peace of the Christmas story alive
again.
