Sunday Morning Service

Skipping ChristmasSome years ago, John Grisham wrote a book entitled Skipping Christmas, which was followed with a movie  called “Christmas with the Kranks,”

You may recall the story of the Kranks dropping off their daughter at the airport the Sunday after Thanksgiving for a year-long Peace Corps assignment, they came back home. The wife was nostalgic over Christmases past, while Luther the husband was fuming over all the hustle-and-bustle and costs and demands of their annual Christmas rituals. Then he had an idea. Luther proposed that they just skip Christmas and go on a cruise instead. It takes a while, but Nora gradually warms up to the idea.

Their neighbors, though, were upset with the Kranks’ decision not to decorate their house that year, as it would likely cost them the prize for the best decorated block in the city. Many others in the story were also dismayed over their decision to skip Christmas.  

Well some of us may also feel like skipping Christmas, we may have thought about just taking a year off from the Christmas celebration.  Maybe the reason is that this Christmas is particularly difficult this year with health issues, family issues, or maybe some of the guys here are like Luther Krank, or who said it is just so expensive, I give up, instead of celebrating Christmas let’s get out of town.

But did you know that 2 of the 4 gospels in the New Testament totally skip Christmas? They mention nothing at the beginning of their books concerning the birth of Christ. We will consider their gospels in our Sunday service and their reasons for skipping Christmas, as we look at the opening verses of the Gospels of Mark and of John. While they may have skipped the Christmas story, they certainly complete the story of the Savior who was born in a stable and laid in a manger.