Christmas is the season to bring people together.
Families travel across the country to share a meal together and exchange gifts. Longtime friends take time to exchange gifts and celebrate as a group. Strangers and neighbors worship as one to recognize the birth of Christ, united by ministers who impart the true meaning of the holiday to their congregations.
From their perspective, Christmas has great power and potential. In that spirit, three Johnson County religious leaders have come together to share some of their thoughts about the meaning of the season, and the unifying power that it holds for all people.
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<h2>Pastor Mark Goins</h2>
<strong>Lifehouse Church, Whiteland</strong>
For 17 years, my family and I have trekked through cold, snow, rain and/or mud each year to cut down a fresh tree. It is a fond tradition that is filled with many mini-traditions.
Once at home and the centering of the tree is finished, my wife, with great care and organization, prepares the ornaments for donning the tree. My five children with excitement begin carefully placing the decorations. This begins one of my favorite parts of Christmas, which is the telling of stories.
Most of this vast assortment of colorful and oddly shaped decorations are vaults of good stories. Remembrances of people past, funny pictures, running jokes and trying to remember what year something happened. The stories conjure up pictures in our heads, situations, smiles, tears and pauses.
Once finished, we all stand back and witness the culmination of our joyful labor. The multitude of stories all blend into one picture. Now you have to look hard to focus on just one without seeing an adjoining story or a story that stands years apart from that story. This tree before us represents a narrative of our life up to that point. It is one tree with many stories.
When the body of Christ gather together, they appear as one body, one group of people. Many stories speak forth from within this picture of one. Different people, different places, different histories all form a beautiful narrative of God’s intersection into their lives.
But each story speaks of the same story: God’s amazing presence through history and meeting with His people. And each person, like the ornaments, tells a story filled with people and experiences.
The story of Christmas is filled with many stories including angels, shepherds, an inn keeper and a young faithful couple. And if we look hard we see the one story, a baby who is the one Lord — the one thread through all the stories.
<h2>Pastor Josh Cadwell</h2>
<strong>Victory Christian Church, Franklin</strong>
It comes the same time every year: Christmas.
We have plenty of time to anticipate it, or in some cases, dread it. And, before we know it, it’s gone as quickly as it came.
But, when you really focus on the message and meaning of Christmas, you find that everything changed the moment Jesus was born. The gift of Jesus is the greatest gift in history. That gift is a reminder that no matter what we are going through this Christmas season — the loss of a job, the loss of a loved one or the loss of a dream — there is hope.
The gift of Christmas, and the promise of Christmas, is that hope has come. Healing has come. Purpose has come. Forgiveness, life and love have come. All because Jesus has come.
So, this Christmas, may we make God’s love our focus. Let’s make this message our mission. Let’s personally change our community, through our words and actions because, the message of Christmas and the meaning of Christmas have impacted our hearts.
<h2>Pastor Mike Wiggin</h2>
<strong>City Life Church, Greenwood</strong>
What does Christmas mean to me, and how can it bring unity to this world? Christmas is simply hope to me, and that brings unity.
Unfortunately, Jesus has not been portrayed as hope by most Christians these days so it may be confusing to think that celebrating the birth of the savior of the world brings hope, but it’s supposed to.
If followers of Christ displayed the hope they have found in salvation through Christ, this world would look completely different. Instead, Christians are typically portrayed as judgmental, non-welcoming, homophobic, prejudiced people who aren’t very hope-giving. We are trying to change that starting here in Greenwood, with the hope that it spreads to the country and world.
Our church is made up of people who are on this same mission. That is why all people are welcome. Whether you’ve never been to church in your life, you grew up in the church, hate God or are anywhere in between, you are welcome at City Life. This is the message Jesus made clear, and it is the one we make clear: Grace and truth.
Jesus brought hope to the world according to the Gospel of Matthew, and we are trying to bring it back by portraying Jesus the way he should be portrayed. This will then bring unity to people instead of division. Jesus is truly the hope for this world.
