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We learned last Sunday in church how hard it is not to sing, “O Come, All Ye Faithful.” Kelly chose it as one of the hymns for us to sing for the Sunday after Christmas. But due to the restrictions of the coronavirus, we could not sing it out loud. It was agonizing! We wanted to burst out in song.

When I asked for people to suggest Christmas carols to be topics of our Sanitizers, this carol was mentioned more often than any other, “O Come All Ye Faithful.” No Christmas celebration would ever be complete without it.

Having said that, its origin is contested. We are not sure who wrote it. It is also known by its Latin rendering, adeste fidelis.

But I would like us to consider something else today. It is the words, “O come, all ye faithful.

Who is to come to the Christ child? The faithful!

To say that is to say that there are some who will not come to adore him. What about that? What about those who do not adore the new born king?

You and I know there are people who do not acknowledge the Bethlehem baby born to Mary and Joseph as the Christ child, the Son of God.

It is nearly indisputable to even the coldest skeptic that the baby Jesus actually existed. That is not the issue. The issue is our belief in who he is – Christ the Lord. We believe he is the Christ, the one anointed of God to save all humankind, that he is, we have no doubt, the true Son of God.

So when we sing, O Come All Ye Faithful,” who is in mind? Christians throughout history have disagreed on what this means. Are some saved, or all saved?

No matter how one answers that question, this truth stands firm, some come to the manger at Bethlehem and adore him, Christ the Lord. Others do not. Some see in that stable the salvation of the world, others do not. Some embrace God’s love in Jesus and others don’t.

Here is the thing. It matters supremely what we believe. It matters that we accept Jesus as the incarnate Son of God. If we do, we are of all people the most blessed.

What of those who do not so believe? How do we deal with them? First, we love them. Secondly, we pray for them. Thirdly, we live in such a way that how we live leaves no doubt that we have abandoned the world’s forsaken way of life and have embraced God’s holy way, and having embraced God’s way of living we are willing to suffer the consequences of that. It will show. How? In “joyful and triumphant living.” We come to church to “behold him.”

Which would you rather be? If you are reading this “Sanitizer,” it is more than likely that you are one who comes to the manger and bends the knee and loves the Christ being born to save us.

O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant!
O come ye, O come ye, to Bethlehem
Come and behold Him
Born the King of Angels
O come, let us adore Him
O come, let us adore Him
O come, let us adore Him
Christ the Lord!
Sing, choirs of angels, sing in exultation
Sing, all ye citizens of heaven above!
Glory to God
All glory in the highest
O come, let us adore Him
O come, let us adore Him
O come, let us adore Him
Christ the Lord!
Yea, Lord, we greet Thee, born this happy morning
Jesus, to Thee be glory given
Word of the Father
Now in flesh appearing
O come, let us adore Him
O come, let us adore Him
O come, let us adore Him
Christ the Lord!

Please pray with me. “Lord, I want to be one of the faithful who goes and adores the Christ child. Remove form me any impediment and doubt. Purify me to make me worthy to worship. Remove from my heart the darkness that condemns those who do not believe and make me a good, true and holy witness to the faith that goes to Bethlehem and believes. I ask for the sake of your Son, Jesus. Amen.”