The Coming of Christmas
By
Don Towle
As the pastor stepped
down from the pulpit
After his message,
his congregation asked him,
“When is Christmas
and what will be the sign of its coming”
The pastor got a far-away
look in his eyes and answered,
Watch out! Many will
come in my name saying,
“Ho! Ho! Ho! This is what Christmas is all about.”
You will hear of sales
and rumors of sales,
But, do not be alarmed,
such things must happen.
Department stores
will rise up against Walmart stores.
There will be so much
candy and sweets
Weight watchers will
quake in their boots.
All these are just the
beginning
Of stomach pains and acid
indigestion.
At that time many
will turn away from the peace
Of the Nativity and
the Wise Men of the past
Who laid their gifts
before the newborn Child.
Instead, they will join
the frenzy of the multitude
Rushing here and there
buying gifts
To lie before their newly
cut trees.
Many false and
misleading advertisements will appear
And deceive many
people.
The rich and the poor
alike have accepted
That without the mark on
the card in their right hand
They will not be able to
buy enough.
Because of the fear
of not being ready by the Eve,
They will not be able
to rest day or night,
And the love of many
will grow cold.
But when the carols of
true Christmas
Are sung throughout the
whole world,
Only then Christmas will
come.
So when you see the
red-suited Clause,
The Snowman, and the
Grinch, spoken of by the TV,
Put in the place of
the Manger Child,
Let the listener
beware.
Let no one who is on the
roof putting up decorations,
Go back down into his
garage.
For then there will
be great distrust,
Unequaled from the beginning
of the year
And never to be
equaled again until next Christmas.
If those shopping days
had not been cut short
By the discipline of
those who wait until after Thanksgiving,
No one would survive.
At that time if
anyone says to you,
“Look, here is the real meaning of Christmas!”
Do not believe it,
for many false Christmas stories
Will appear on TV
performing great Christmas miracles
Even deceiving the
faithful, if that were possible.
See, I have told you
ahead of time,
So if anyone tells you
that
“Christmas is at this mall out in the suburbs”
Do not go out there, or
“Here Christmas is in the inner city square.”
Do not believe it!
For just as lightning
that comes from the east
Is visible even in
the west,
So will the coming of
real Christmas be.
It will come in a flash,
in the twinkling of an eye,
At the realization that
the very shepherds
Who heard the trumpeting
of the angelic heavenly hosts,
And left their sheep to
go see the Christ Child,
Lying in a manger, were
seeing the same Christ,
The Lamb of God, who
suffered and died on the cross,
Shedding His blood for
the forgiveness of your sins.
It will be in that
instance,
What was dead will
come to life.
Your mortal soul will
put on immortality,
Death will be
swallowed up in victory,
And true Christmas
will come.
Merry Christmas!
Don Towle is the newest member of the Inspire Christian Writers group. He is a thoughtful writer whose insights and skills bring a lot to our group. This is his first contribution to my blog (Thanks, Don!) hopefully the first of many. If you enjoyed his writing, please leave a comment and I will make sure he gets it. Meanwhile, let's anticipate with joy, the coming of Christmas.
Gratefully,
Beth
