You are a light

You are the light

“You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.  
Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.  
In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” 
                       Matthew 5:14-16
Christmas is just days away. This is one of two days in the year when our churches here in North America are full, quite often to overflowing.
We are also told by psychologist and sociologist that it is a time of high stress for people. That many people go into deep depression. Suicides even go up. This shouldn’t be so.
We as Christians at least not only on this one day of the year but on everyday need to reach out to people in need.
The apostle James wrote,
"What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him?  Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food.  
If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it?  
In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. 
But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.”  
                                James 2:14-18.
At the same time we need to be witnessing not only to the needy but to those in our society who are not needy in physical or financial way. Quite often these people are overlooked.
I know of several people who do not like Christmas who are well off in a material sense. They don’t like it because it depresses them.
They see it as a very stressful time. They see others happy but can’t seem to get in the mood themselves. Some people I know have even tried to take their own life.
These people quite often focus on the secular Christmas. The one pushed by the shops. They see the message ‘you must buy this. The latest and the greatest. Without it you’re not cool’
They feel if you don’t do things that way you’re not a good person. If you don’t give someone a fifty of hundred dollar gift your looked down on.
This shouldn’t be so.
We as Christians need to be reaching out to these people to show them the true meaning of Christmas. The Love of God.
Each year my wife and I have continued a tradition that her mother started decades ago. If we know of someone who’s going to be spending Christmas alone. We invite them to our house.
Our house is very small and we don’t have a lot of money usually, but we can squeeze in four or five in addition to our family. It’s not many but we feel we are doing something to make people’s lives better, while at the same time showing God’s love.
Everyone who comes gets a small present. Usually a scarf of gloves, occasionally a trinket of some kind.
They also partake in a Christmas meal and watch video’s anything from the classic musicals to the latest releases as well as play games.
We don’t spend a lot of money. We can’t we’re not well off by any means, but God provides.
Interestingly enough we don’t talk a lot about God. We say grace before the meal and whatever topic comes up during the course of the day we talk about.
The result has been over the years we have seen people’s eyes sparkle and weights lift from their shoulders. Some have as a result decided to go to church either ours or others.
We do our best to bring a little joy and laughter into the hearts of those who celebrate with us.
We also tend to not only live up to what God would want for our lives but according to the teaching of Francis of Assisi who wrote,
“Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words.”
                                                                                Francis of Assisi.
As Christians I believe this is what we should be doing.
Think about it.