A Novel Idea!

Friday morning, November 30, 2007
As you well-know, tomorrow is December 1, the beginning of one of the busiest times of the year for Christians and, especially, for those who serve as church staff members. In light of this, and also realizing that I will probably be considered a heretic, I am going to make this bold suggestion: With the exception of Sunday morning worship services, let us cancel all church programs for the month of December and encourage everyone to purpose to return to the simplicity and purity of devotion to Jesus. Now, I seriously doubt that the leadership of your church will agree with my suggestion and cancel their Month-of-December programs; however, that doesn’t mean that you can’t take the month off for the purpose of returning to the desire of your heart—the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.
I will take the lead and tell you that we at Grace Christian Fellowship have no programs planned for December, other than our Sunday morning worship services (and they are simple, uncomplicated, and free from fluff) and I am praying that each of us will enjoy the break and truly seek to return to that secret place in the cleft of the Rock, that place of intimacy with Him, that place where things are simply, simple.
To be honest, I do not know which is doing the most damage to the Christian community—the organized church or Wall Street. You can rest assured that Wall Street is overtly doing everything it can to make this Christmas season an economic success, and in so doing, it has distracted almost everyone from what is really important and, I might add, it could care less. Sadly, during the month of December, the organized church does an even better job than Wall Street at accomplishing its somewhat covert purpose (attracting the masses in order to receive more money in order to finance its many programs) and, even more sadly, it does it in the name of Christianity. Oh, I know what “they” say, but please don’t be so easily deceived. Is every local church guilty of this? Of course not but many are and that is obvious fact. Put your church to the test by suggesting that all programs be cancelled for the month of December in order to provide its members the much-needed opportunity to return to the simplicity and purity of devotion to Jesus, and this fact will become obvious to you.
Better yet, let your church know that, with the exception of Sunday morning worship services, you are taking the month of December off and tell the leaders why! I promise you that doing so will not keep you out of Heaven, that God will still love you, that He will still be very proud of you, and in all probability you will find a place of intimacy with Him that, otherwise, you would never have known. If I am correct in this, you will be mighty thankful that you chose to abandon all the “fluff” of Christmas and to return to the simplicity and purity of devotion to Him!
After all, He is the reason for the season, and He wanted me to remind you. You really do not have to follow the crowd and, truthfully, you probably need a break from doing so. Yes, I am a renegade, not a crowd-follower—never have been and have no plans to become one.


Blessings!
Mac