God's Christmas Greeting

GOD’S CHRISTMAS GREETING With Christmas time here once again, I wanted something new, A greeting you have never heard that I could say to you. So, “Season’s Greetings” will not do, nor, “Happy Holidays,” And, “Merry Christmas” is so old; it’s been said many ways. It seems each year the world is worse with wars most everywhere, So, “Peace on Earth” is so unreal a greeting now to share. I wonder just what it was like that night so long ago When people waited for a king—or did they really know? They had no greeting there at all to give each other then, For they were in a bondage deep to cruel Roman men. Augustus spoke an edict that they all must make their way To the home town where they came from to register one day. They had no cars or airplanes there; they had to trek for miles And evil men to look out for as they traveled all the while. I wonder how poor Joseph felt with his new pregnant wife And traveling from Nazareth through miles of stress and strife. He had no good news that he could give to Mary as they went To find there was no room to stay, each place had now been spent. And it was now time for the child to make His greeting here, So in a stable full of straw that greeting did appear. As I think on this quiet night, it’s not really something new, Or a greeting so unusual that I can share with you. I know, you’ve heard it oft before, and yet it’s ever real— It’s a NEW BIRTH that we can have and His salvation seal! Joy to the world! The Lord has come! Let us receive Him now! That silent night in Bethlehem where shepherds came to bow Is when God so loved this old world that He gave us that day His only pure begotten Son to take our sin away. That gift of words to you and me is eternal life to all Who come by faith in God’s dear Son and on His name will call. So don’t look for some fancy words that man may try to say, For many would just rather ban those words from us today. But no one trying hard in might can change God’s greeting now, For there is coming yet a day when EVERY knee shall bow. The greeting then I give to you is one from Him above: Trust God’s gift now of Jesus Christ sent to us from His love. From Clarence E. Billheimer, “The Ready Writer,” Christmas 2014