Jesus came into the REAL world!
Recently our church performed a fantastic original Broadway style musical called “Joe Carpenter.” The story is about Joseph and what it would have been like if the Christmas narratives had been set in a more modern day setting in the rural south. Joe lived with his mama, grandmother, aunt, and sister. It was quite a show filled with the Shepherd Family made up of Carnival workers who were visited with the news of Christ’s birth, along with a small town of busy bodies and gossips. It was as true to life of a story as one could ever experience and it resulted in a number of people giving their life to Jesus and making important spiritual decisions with their lives. However, one of the things that really came out of the show is how narrow focused and how so many “church folks” genuinely miss the real thrust and reality of the Christmas stories recorded in the New Testament gospels. So many “church folks” sadly approach the entire Christmas story with the same legalism of heart ...