"In the First Light"

"In the first light of a new day 

no one knew he had arrived,

Things continued as they had been

while a newborn softly cried..."

Merry Christmas! Today I want to remind us all once again that Christmas is all about Jesus. Today we celebrate the beginning of the greatest love story ever told, of how God sent His only Son to save us from ourselves. But the story does not end there.  The life of the man we call Jesus should change the way we live.  His death should teach us much about sacrifice.  But first and foremost, we are a Resurrection People.  The Christmas story and the Easter story cannot and must not be separated.  Over the years, the song In the First Light (quoted above and below) by the group GLAD has become one of the most meaningful songs in my life. My prayer is that this video will stir your heart this last week of the holiday season to worship not only the babe in the straw, but the risen savior of the universe.  As Christ-followers, we much never forget this truth:

"Hear the angels as they're singing 

On the morning of His birth,

But how much greater will their song be

When He come again to Earth...

When He comes to rule the Earth!"

Merry Christmas, one and all!!!

A Jones Family Christmas Eve

"It's Christmas Eve! It's... it's the one night of the year when we all act a little nicer, we... we... we smile a little easier, we... w-w-we... we... we cheer a little more. For a couple of hours out of the whole year, we are the people that we always hoped we would be! "  

~From the movie Scrooged

My son Will (after listening to me make up a song during a commercial on TV) remarked the once that "no one in our family is normal- and that's a good thing."  Nowhere is the unusual nature of our family more clear than on Christmas Eve.  Here's a quick look at Christmas Eve with the Jones family...

• I have to go shopping.  For as long as I can remember it has been a personal tradition for me to go out and purchase at least one present on Christmas Eve.  It used to be I had to go to the mall; now I buy very little at the mall, so I just go to Walgreen's or Big Lots or whatever- but I have to get something for Christmas on Christmas Eve.  It's a moral imperative...
• The family (including my Mom, and this year our dear friend Lisa Jewett!) heads out to the Christmas Eve Candlelight Service at Van Dyke Church.  It has been many different churches over the years (and I was usually working at those churches), and each church has given us special memories.  Whether it was Marilyn Burris singing O Holy Night at New Garden Friends, the candlelight circle at Springfield Friends, the marathon of 4 (and occasionally 5) services at FUMC-Kissimmee or any of the other special places we have called home, a Christmas Eve worship service has long been a part of our family tradition.  It's just not Christmas without proclaiming Jesus is LORD!
• Then we head home for a traditional Christmas Eve meal- Hot Dogs!  Yes, hot dogs!  Since we began doing it at my Grandmother Dot's house when I was a little boy for the purpose of ease of preparation, hot dogs have become our meal of choice on Christmas Eve.  But we are natives of North Carolina, and so we are not talking about a wiener and a bun here.  A REAL hot dog has chili, slaw, onions, mustard and ketchup.  This is a Carolina Dog, and there is nothing that compares- and I've tried Chicago Dogs and everything else!  My mouth is already watering...
• Will gets to open one present (of her choosing) from his Gigi (grandmother).  She has tried to kill this tradition as he got older and has fewer (but more expensive) gifts to open.  He has kept it very much alive!
• The family part of our evening wraps up with a viewing of The Muppet Christmas Carol.  It is our absolute favorite, and always our last activity before bedtime on Christmas Eve.  What better way to remember "there's only one more sleep 'til Christmas..."
• And finally, after Will and his grandmother are off to bed, Marilyn will wrap presents.  Somehow, even though we only bought Will a few things this year, my lovely wife will manage to stay up until 1 AM wrapping.  It's tradition!

So there you have it- a Jones family Christmas Eve.  Try these traditions at your own risk.  Better yet, create your own.  It's one of the way we keep Christmas in our hearts all year.  But no matter what you do, remember the reason we celebrate.  Thank you , God, for the gift of your Son and all that means to each of us.  And to all of you who are reading this simple blog, I wish you a blessed and merry Christmas.  Joy to the world, the LORD is come!!!


My Deliverer is Coming...

One Solitary Life

This Tuesday we will celebrate the coming of the Light into a world filled with darkness.  Jesus came to us as a baby, but it was his life, death and resurrection that would forever change us all.  Today I invite you to a Christmas tradition on this blog.  Read these words of faith, adopted from a 1926 sermon by Dr. James Allen Francis, and consider the full meaning of Christmas and who the babe of Bethlehem would become.  Not a myth.  Not a legend.  The savior of the world.

He was born in an obscure village, the son of a peasant woman.  He grew up in another village, where he worked in a carpenter's shop until he was thirty. Then for three years he became a wandering preacher. 

He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never had a family or owned a house. He didn't go to college. He never visited a big city. He never traveled two hundred miles from the place where he was born. He did none of those things one usually associates with greatness. He had no credentials but himself.

He was only thirty-three when the tide of public opinion turned against him. His friends ran away. He was turned over to his enemies and went through a mockery of a trial. He was executed by the state. While he was dying, his executioners gambled for his clothing, the only property he had on earth. When he was dead he was laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend. 

Twenty centuries have come and gone, and today he is the central figure of the human race and the leader of mankind's progress. All the armies that ever marched, all the navies that ever sailed, all the parliaments that ever sat, all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man on this earth as much as that One Solitary Life. 

My Deliverer is Coming...

Never Far From Home

Today I wanted to share a different kind of Saturday Shout Out and a little bit of a Christmas card to all my readers.  Jimmy Buffett has a song on his Christmas album called Merry Christmas, Alabama. I have rewritten it a bit to shout out to some of the people and places I have loved over the years. It is simply a reminder to myself- and to you- of how blessed I am to have served all of the churches and to have all of the friends that I have.  Christmas is a time of joy and of celebration.  It is a time of faith.  And it is a time of family.  I am blessed with a wonderful family that stretches far outside the walls of my home.  Thanks to all of you for the great memories, and for the knowledge that no matter where I am- in Tampa, in a hospital bed or somewhere along the road- I am never far from home.

Merry Christmas, Quaker Lake
Merry Christmas, Kissimmee
Merry Christmas, up at Springfield
To our friends wherever you may be

Merry Christmas back at New Garden
Where I started this wild and crazy run
I'm such a long way from my first birthday
Merry Christmas, everyone

And Merry Christmas, Waycross & Hinsdale
Though far from you all I have roamed
'tis the season to remember
All the faces,
And the places that were home

'tis the season to remember
And to count up all the ports of call I've known
And to thank His mercies tender
For I'm never far from home
Merry Christmas to all my friends on Twitter
Who support me as I roam
'tis the season to remember
All the faces
And the places that feel like home

Guess my life's moved at near light speed
Since I started this wild and crazy run
Such a long way from that first birthday
Merry Christmas, everyone

'tis the season to remember
No we're never far from home
Merry Christmas, everyone.

I love you guys.  Merry Christmas.

An Ornament Story: Trailer Trash

Today is the final day of Ornament Stories.  I hope you have enjoyed these glimpses inside the Jones family Christmas tree!

I am not sure when or how it began, but sometime in the 1980s my good friend Alan (The Asheboro Flash) Brown began giving my parents a Christmas ornament each year.  These were not you average ornaments.  They were meant to be a tacky, a kind of "trailer trash" for the tree.  Above you can see "Hitchhiking Santa" and his trailer.  Other great gifts included a Christmas pelican and a strange little fuzzy man known as Illmar Dammit.  My parents looked forward each year to seeing what AB would come up with, and he never disappointed. This year, for the very first time, the remaining trailer trash ornaments are hanging on our tree for the world to see.  Some are gone now; Illmar was eaten by a critter in my parent's garage.  But the spirit of these ornaments lives on!

A couple of final thoughts about our tree. I have given you 5 stories this week, but the fact is nearly every ornament has story and a history.  That is part of what makes our tree (and yours) so special each year.  And there is one final Jones family tradition that dates back to my childhood.  Each and every year after the last ornament is hung and the lights are on, we stand back and admire the tree as a family, and someone will say, "This is the prettiest tree ever!"  And you know what...it is. Every single time. Thanks for sharing in our holiday traditions.

Merry Christmas, one and all!

An Ornament Story: The Big Balls

When I was growing up in Greensboro, NC as an only child our family Christmas tree was decorated primarily with garland, lights and round glass ornaments.  At some point my Dad purchased a new set of ornaments that were larger than the balls we usually had on the tree.  They quickly became known as the Big Balls (and this was years before the TV show Wipeout). I loved them. Dad loved them.  Mom was never a fan.  As the years passed, new ornaments were added. Glass balls were broken and replaced.  But the Big Balls lived on.  And every year the argument continued- were the Big Balls too tacky for our tree?

After moving to Florida in 1995 my folks downsized their tree and a number of the ornaments they had traditionally used were left in the box each Christmas.  Marilyn, Will and I would always spend Thanksgiving at their home and help them decorate the tree, and then guys made sure that the Big Balls tradition continued- now with Marilyn also fighting them tooth and nail.  

In 2006 my Dad passed away, and for the next several years Mom didn't put up a tree because she was spending Christmas at our house.  All of her ornaments sat unused.  Then last year she brought a box of classic ornaments (more on that tomorrow) to us, and much to my surprise a few of the Big Balls had survived.  She and Marilyn refused to allow them on our tree, which is dominated by Hallmark ornaments and Disney collectibles. Will and I complained, but to no avail.  And so the Big Balls waited.

Fast forward to Thanksgiving weekend, 2012.  I am fresh off of surgery, sitting in my recliner and removing ornaments from boxes as Mom put hooks in them and Marilyn and Will place them on our tree.  I come across the box containing the Big Balls, and Will decides to take charge.  Before anyone can react, Will has placed them on the tree.  It is a major victory for us...and for my Dad, who was no doubt smiling down on us. And after a bit of battling, they have remained on the tree the entire season.  They are another great reminder that Christmas is full family traditions- and not all of them make sense to anyone else.  

I hope that all of you remember your traditions and celebrate the birth of the Christ-child with warm memories and loving family.  From the Jones family, we wish you a Merry Christmas!  And Big Balls...

An Ornament Story: Baby Will

Today's featured ornament really requires no story. So I suppose this is a true Wordless Wednesday.  This ornament has been on our tree for 17 years, and it is still a favorite.

Merry Christmas, one and all!