A Christmas note from the Hopper's one of the Gospel groups that we see... Fran and O.D. Every year millions of people around the world celebrate Christmas. It's a wonderful time of year. It brings out the child in each of us. We do things we never do any other time of year. We visit old friends and neighbors. We share food and clothing with those in need. We bake cakes that we never bake except at Christmas and give them to people we never see except Christmas. Folks bake mountains of Christmas cookies and candy. We look forward to the Christmas play at church, especially the children's' part. We sing the grand old Christmas carols - we decorate. Christmas traditions have been embedded in my very being for as long as I can remember. The family, the food, selecting the Christmas tree, looking for that special gift, I love it all. By far, the most important tradition I received as a child was the ingrained spiritual value that I still celebrate today. The entire landscape seems to take on the attitude of celebration. As we travel to our Christmas concert dates, we see sleepy little towns come alive with Christmas lights and the hustle and bustle of busy streets. I love the smiles and greetings as the crowds intermingle. The crispness of the wintry air often sprinkled with snow only adds to the magic of the season. I enjoy listening to Christmas music while getting out our decorations, making sure all of the little bulbs are working, trimming the tree, placing the carolers on the mantle amid the holly and pine branches that have been wrapped with lights and making sure everything is in it's proper place. Then with a cup of freshly brewed coffee, I stand back and watch as the interior and the exterior of the house comes alive with the brilliance of those tiny beautiful bulbs----while the hands on the electric meter start churning. Sounds busy doesn't it? There was no business concerning Christmas in Nazareth the day the Angel Gabriel appeared to Mary. In those days I'm sure a teenage girl had a lot of responsibility - but did she have any idea what was in her future! Just as it happened over two thousand years ago in Bethlehem, a lot of people today miss Christmas. Even though they participate in the gift giving, enjoy the holiday music, eat their share of prepared delicacies, and join in the festivities, they miss the real meaning of the incarnation of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Bethlehem was filled to capacity with people coming for the taxation the night Jesus was born. While festivities were being enjoyed in the "in crowd" shepherds were watching their flocks as they did so many other nights on the hillside outside of town. It was an ordinary night watching the same sheep, probably no blue ribbon winners. They were simply sheep, and if you think about it, the shepherds must have smelled somewhat like the sheep and looked just as wooly. Isn't it wonderful when God enters the realm of the ordinary? "THE ANGEL OF THE LORD CAME UPON THEM AND THE GLORY OF THE LORD SHOWN ROUND ABOUT THEM." The angel declared, 'UNTO YOU IS BORN THIS DAY IN THE CITY OF DAVID, A SAVIOR WHICH IS CHRIST THE LORD." An unknown author declared, "He became a man that we might become the sons of God. In infancy He troubled a king. In boyhood, He puzzled the teachers. In manhood He ruled the course of nature. He walked upon the billows, hushed the sea to sleep and healed multitudes without medicine. He never wrote a book, yet the libraries of the world are filled with volumes that have been written about Him. Never penned a musical note, yet He is the theme of more songs than any other subject. Jesus was born into the midst of oppressed people. People who were searching for hope and assurance. They needed to know that they were loved. Doesn't that sound like our world today? Be encouraged in the midst of global turmoil we have HOPE. Merry Christmas... The Hoppers