‘Christmas at the Crossroads’ brings the community together to celebrate the meaning of the holiday

PERRY — “Our worship is not predicated on the piece of ground we stand on. Our community of faith is going to be a good community of faith to the degree where we, as the church that meets in Perry, Georgia, put Christ in the center of all we do and the way we’re unified together.”

Those were words from Grace Church Pastor Don Caulley at a community worship service last Sunday night.

“Christmas at the Crossroads,” an inclusive yearly event held by the Perry Ministerial Association, is typically held outside. This year, rain moved the event indoors to Grace Church, but the spirit of the Christmas season service remained the same.

The service featured pastors from several area churches, as well as Mayor Randall Walker.

Walker said the event is a chance to hear the Christmas story before the holiday hustle and bustle.  He also asked attendees for three favors this year:

“Be kind to each other. Help somebody that’s less fortunate than you are. And please pray for world peace,” he said.

First Baptist Church of Perry Pastor Thomas West read the Christmas story from the gospels of Luke and Matthew. Perry Presbyterian Church Pastor Daniel Stanphill delivered the sermon, based on 1 Timothy 3:16, saying the heart of Christmas wonder can be linked to Christ, the heart of Christian faith.

“As we think about this mystery that is at the heart of this time of year especially, we pray that You would give us ears to hear the good news of the gospel, we pray that hearts would be open and that we would behold and meditate upon the glory of our Savior,” Stanphill prayed.

Stanphill hinged his message on two concepts. The first was that Jesus Christ is not optional. The second was that Jesus Christ must be welcomed.

Compared to other belief systems, Christ first came down to save humanity, offering hope that is celebrated at Christmastime, Stanphill said.

“Ultimately, if there’s any divine help, it’s gotta be supplemented by the effort and the work of man, but not so with the Christian faith. Christianity says unequivocally, and we feel it, especially this time of year, that God Himself has condescended to save sinful humanity. God Himself has taken the initiative,” he said.

God’s method of manifestation was a method that would have defied human reasoning, Stanphill explained.

“The wisest minds in the world would have never figured out that sinners would be saved through a savior coming into the world like this, born as a vulnerable infant being manifested in the flesh,” he said.

Stanphill explained that being born in the flesh meant dying in the flesh, part of God’s plan for atonement. Jesus verified the plan during His prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane.

“No other way of salvation was possible for people in the flesh. A savior had to come in the flesh to die,” he said.

Jesus’s birth, his sacrifice, and his approval by God prove that salvation is necessary, according to Stanphill.

“Jesus was revealed as the Son of God to human eyes at his birth, but he was proven to be the Son of God at His resurrection, not only dying for sinners, not only entering the tomb, but coming out of that tomb on the third day. That tells us that the sacrifice he gave in the flesh was approved by God. It was accepted by God Himself.

“What this tells us is that Jesus is not optional. He is absolutely necessary. He said it Himself, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life.’ If you would know this salvation, if you would taste and see that the Lord is good, it must be through this one who came in the flesh, who was manifested in the flesh,” Stanphill said.

Stanphill said he noticed interplay between the spiritual and the human world in the Christmas story, with the angel Gabriel announcing his birth. He also said Jesus was accompanied by angels during His ascension and taken up to the right hand of the Father in glory.

“This one who came as a vulnerable infant is this very moment, seated enthroned on high as the King of kings and the Lord of lords, he was welcomed back into the throne room of heaven. But the question for you tonight, and that’s really the question for everyone: Have you welcomed this Jesus?”

The services featured traditional Christmas carols as well as fellowship.