Psalm 96:1,4,13

1 O sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth. 4 For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised! 13 …He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with his truth.

     Praise the Lord for He made the Heavens and the Earth.  The prophets and the psalmists foretold the coming of Jesus Christ long before the Word became flesh. He will judge the people with righteousness and truth.  But, as we await his coming, we are tempted by worldly things and drawn to idolatry

     Ancient scriptures tell us of the golden calf, Baal, and other false gods and idols.  Modern people may be too sophisticated to worship Baal or a golden calf, but even today, we can be seduced by modern idols. Some seek comfort in conspicuous consumption of consumer goods.  Some are seduced by drugs or alcohol.  Some seek wealth or power or fame.  We may love the things of the world, but the things don’t love us.  All these things are idols.  Idolatry can even corrupt our religious seasons.

     Our culture now refers to the Christmas season as “the holidays”, recognizing that other faiths have important religious observances at this time of year too.  But the holidays are becoming more and more secularized.  Try as we might, we get caught up in the popular culture.  Celebrating the birth of Jesus, God made flesh, can become just a little part of the holidays.  We can forget to praise and thank God all that is good, but we should. 

     Praise God for coming into the world in the flesh to offer us salvation and to teach us his way. Praise him for his love and righteousness.  Praise him for the perfection of his creation.  Praise him that we can choose to be his people. Praise him for his faith in us. Amen.    

Contributed by Bruce Schlegel.