There is an old Peanuts cartoon strip in which one of the little girls is sharing her philosophy of Christmas and she says, "Christmas is a time for kindness and joy and a time when we forgive each other."  In the next frame, Charlie Brown responds and says, "Why just at Christmas?  Why can't we be kind and forgiving all through the year?"  The girl looks at Charlie Brown and says, "What are you, some kind of religious fanatic?"

There's no doubt that we're living in a day and age when the true meaning of Christmas has been almost completely lost for many people in our society (and sadly, even in some churches).  Not long ago I watched a "holiday special" on one of the network television stations and managed to view an entire hour without hearing a single mention of Jesus Christ or the events that took place in Bethlehem so many centuries ago.  One of the songs performed on the show even included a refrain that asked the question, "doesn't it feel like Christmas?" and then proceeded to include a line celebrating the moment when "my baby gave me a Mercedes Benz!"  Now that certainly captures the "real meaning of Christmas doesn't it!?

My hope for you this Christmas is that you will freely admit to being a "religious fanatic" as you celebrate the birth of Christ.  In a culture where many have rejected the very miracle of the Incarnation, it will not be uncommon for a Christian to be labeled a "fanatic" whenever we seek to remind the world that God voluntarily emptied Himself of His glory and took the form of a servant in the person of Jesus.  In a society where any proclamation of the exclusivity of Christ is considered "intolerant," certainly many of you will be branded as overly zealous when you remind others that it is through Jesus Christ, and Him alone, that we have received the forgiveness of sins, the opportunity to be reconciled to the Father and the promise of eternal life!

The ability to give the love and forgiveness of which Charlie Brown speaks becomes possible when we first acknowledge that the coming of the Savior reveals the lavish outpouring of grace which God has bestowed on us and which we can then, in turn, give back to others...

"Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God.  Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.  Whoever does not love does not know God because God is love.  This is how God showed His love among us:  He sent His one and only Son into the world that we mght live through Him.  This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.  Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another."  - 1 John 4:7-11

In His love and on behalf of the EARCCC Board of Directors, may you have a blessed, Christ-centered Christmas season and a New Year that is filled with the hope and promise that comes from knowing the Lord!