The Heart Of The Season

The Dec. 1, 2015 edition of CCM Magazine

As a media outlet, it’s especially easy for us to get caught up in the Westernized view Christmas, and to further perpetuate the misguided hype. I am thankful for my friend Andrew Greer, and the message God has laid upon his heart—especially at this time of year. You may remember his featured series When Christmas Hurts—Comfort In Waiting: The Story Of Advent in the December 2014 editions of CCM Magazine. In them, Greer spoke with several artists on the painful memories that this season only seems to embellish.

Speaking of “holidays” and hyper-glorifications, Valentine’s Day over-promotes the “heart,” yet it rarely discusses getting inside-of, understanding, hearing, and knowing another’s heart. Furthermore, what unique challenges do we currently face as we ponder getting to know someone’s heart, versus attempting to deal with all of the “issues” that seem to get in front of them?

This December, CCM and Greer will highlight six artist interviews surrounding the theme of Christmas & Communion. He brings it all back to Christ, and states, “It seems to me that Jesus’ life was characterized by a sincere desire to be with people, no matter their issues. He looked beyond what they had done and affirmed who they are.” Christ was all about just being with people, it’s such a wonderful thing to think about, particularly as we begin to celebrate his arrival into humanity.

There are people all around us that are hurting—whether it is happening right now, or a past hurt is being brought to the surface again, via all of the Christmastime noises—pause, take note, be thankful, and spend time in connecting with someone’s heart in communion this Christmas.

Merry Christmas,