Pastor's Weekly Word

“Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation.” (Mark 16:15)

Sunday after church the Revelation Youth Choir sang the music of Christmas outside of Dillard’s at North Park Mall. As I sat in attendance, I focused my attention on the shoppers passing by in the seasonal consumer craze. I watched as their rush from one store to another got interrupted. I watched as the hallowed voices of the choir hit their ears. I watched. Some of them immediately smiled. Others got a bright look of refreshment and peace on their face. A few of them simply had to stop and sit down to bask in the beauty of a moment where God showed up in the marketplace. Every single person I saw, in one way or another, gave the impression that they had just received an unexpected gift in the middle of their “go from point A to point B, have to get it all done” day.

Our youth choir is a very talented group, but that is not the best part of them. Their best quality, and this I witnessed first-hand, is that they are completely willing to share themselves with the world. They do it without hesitation. They are filled with joy when they do it. And isn’t that the Christmas gift in a nutshell, a willingness to share our very selves with those around us because God shares himself with us? The choir took that gift seriously on Sunday at the mall, and because they did, hordes of people stressfully trying to complete their holiday sprint went home with the holy sound of Christ’s birth echoing in their ears and piercing their hearts with hope that the world might just have a chance after all.