Monday, December 12

Zephaniah 3:14, Psalm 100

Loren Walker

Zephaniah 3:14

Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel!

Rejoice, and exult with all your heart O daughter Jerusalem.

Read also Psalm 100. What more marvelous way to express joy than with a joyful noise! The Bible urges us to worship with joyful singing. Our congregation does a good job of this. We have an excellent choir, and we all celebrate with many spirited congregational hymns.

The Christmas music is especially joyful. Consider Joy to the World! or Angels We Have Heard on High with its pealing “Glorias” or O Come All Ye Faithful, Joyful and Triumphant! There are many more.

We should not only sing these wonderful Christmas carols, we should be sure to teach them to our children. They will hear them at church, but it would good if they would hear them at home also. They are not likely to hear them on the radio. The radio versions of Christmas songs are cute, but usually have nothing to do with Christ – “Here Comes Santa Claus”, “Frosty the Snowman”, “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer”, etc.  So when you are listing to Christmas music at home or in the car, put on a CD or MP3 of Christmas carols. A good one is Christmas Sing Along with Mitch (Mitch Miller). There are plenty of others. This music will become ingrained in your children’s Christmas tradition.

Christianity is always only one generation away from extinction.

Prayer:  The birth of Your Son has brought great joy to people of His time and to many generations since. We thank You for the hymns which express that joy. We pray that You would help us to remind our children that although Christmas is about gifts and visits with family, it is primarily our opportunity to share in the joy of the gift of Your Son to us. And to express that joy with a joyful noise!  In Jesus’ name, Amen.