Come Let Us Adore Him

[00:00:00] Foreign. [00:00:10] This is Chuck Allen and I'm back with another weekday podcast. On this Friday after Thanksgiving. And today, we're pausing for something beautiful, something ancient, something that beckons us right into the heart of Christmas. Because it's that time. It's the carol, oh, come, let us adore him. [00:00:26] You hear those words and suddenly you're in a candlelit room, maybe a crowded sanctuary, or maybe just your car in December traffic. That phrase, oh, come let us adore him. It's not just a lyric. It's filled with wonder. It's a movement, it's a shift. It's a posture we're invited into every single day. [00:00:46] A season of wonder. [00:00:48] But pause for a second. What does it mean to actually adore? [00:00:53] Is it just about feeling something warm and fuzzy for Jesus? No, no, no. I think it's way more. It's about reorienting our lives around the reality that God has come close. [00:01:04] Word of the Father now in flesh appearing. [00:01:08] The teaching of Jesus, when I read it in the message, puts it this way. In John 1:14, the word became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood. [00:01:18] I love that our world is heavy, noisy and divided. But this carol invites us to enter the story not just as spectators, but participants. Joyful, triumphant, faithful. We're not left outside. [00:01:34] We're welcomed in. Oh, come all ye faithful. Sounds like a command, right? But it's also a whisper. It tells us we're never too tired, too messy, too overlooked or too out of place. Jesus is born not at the temple, but but in a manger, a back alley, a place nobody expected. [00:01:53] The angels sing glory to God in the highest. The shepherds show up wide eyed and amazed. The magi bring gifts. But the greatest offering at that manger wasn't the gold. It was open hearts. [00:02:04] So what do we bring? Our attention. [00:02:07] Our presence. [00:02:08] Our imperfect stories. [00:02:10] The carol repeats, oh, come let us adore him not once, but over and over again. Because adoration is about giving Jesus our now. [00:02:19] Not just our Sundays or our good intentions, but our ordinary Friday mornings and weary holiday evenings. [00:02:27] The message says, so let us come freely and boldly to where love is. [00:02:32] That's Christmas, y'. All. God doesn't just invite kings and priests, but regular people, folks like me and you, to come to a door. [00:02:41] Let's step toward the manger today. Slow down, drop the hurry and bring your whole self. Hurts, hopes, doubts and dreams. Oh, come, let us adore him. Christ the Lord in the middle of our real lives, right here in our neighborhoods, may you find yourself welcomed and loved and caught up as we begin this wondrous Christmas season. God bless you, friends. Thanks so much for joining me on today's weekday podcast, Sa.