December 14, 2023 Giving, Sharing, and Loving

Giving, Sharing, and Loving

A song that captures the true meaning of this season, Christmas, for me in a simple but salient manner is Pastor Shirley Caesar’s “Giving and Sharing.”

“Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2 NLT).

Giving, Sharing, and Loving

Giving and sharing at Christmas time,

Helping one another all the time,

Thanking God for giving His Son,

At Christmas time salvation has come.

I heard that song for the first time many years ago and I knew immediately who wrote those words. This morning I googled the lyrics as I sat down to write this message and had to fight back tears as I read them while reflecting on my late friend, Michael Mathis, who went home to be with the Lord suddenly back in February of this year. In the 1980s, I often sat with Mike in his home studio as he wrote and composed songs that glorified God. He wrote songs for so many people, even a few for me, but most of his writing was for Pastor Shirley Caesar who over time has won eleven Grammys, and multiple, Stellar and Dove awards.

While there is a certain cheerful energy that permeates our spirits and warms our hearts as we get closer to Christmas, the holidays also spark reflections of special times spent with loved ones who live now only in our cherished memories. For the past couple of years at this time I have written about the two sides to the season of peace and good will. It is a dichotomous phenomenon, so it seems, that often plays out quietly and often unnoticed all around us. We may not know the depth of emotional pain that someone we are with each day is carrying deeply within. We miss it, because, as the great poet, Paul Laurence Dunbar, expressed, “With torn and bleeding hearts we smile… We wear the mask. We smile, but O great Christ, our cries to thee from tortured souls arise.”

When I was a principal, I observed that many children who had not been provided with appropriate strategies and support to manage their feelings of loss often resorted to acting out behaviors. Accordingly, I deemed it critical to remind my adult staff of the increased importance of upholding our in loco parentis responsibilities to be parents to the students during the pre-holiday days.

And just as every child in the school environment needs a caring adult to help them feel valued, we adults also need shoulders to lean on, someone or some others to help us bear our burdens. So as the teachers in the schools I led were encouraged to treat each student as though he/she were their own child, I believe we should value our ministry colleagues as members of our own family. Appreciate that some, possibly more than usual now, maybe smiling with “torn and bleeding hearts” during this special season of the year. Give them your shoulder to lean on. Give everyone a genuine smile and a warm and sincere greeting. Even if your smile is still covered by a physical mask, it can be experienced through the twinkle in your eye and the warm tone of your voice. We all need sincere caring more

than we need the things we often give during this season. As Mike inquiringly penned:

Is it more than just a fantasy?

Is it more than just a Christmas tree?

It’s having Christ in your life,

Remembering His sacrifice.

And so, just as God loved us so much that He gave us the gift of His Son, may we all give the gift of ourselves to each other—a shoulder to lean on, a listening ear, a kind smile to a stranger, a warm embrace to a friend.

Focus Quote: “Keep on loving each other as brothers and sisters.” -Hebrews 13:1 NLT

Please Visit my Website: altonesumner.com

(L to R) Mike Mathis, Shirley Miller (Edward & Hawkins Family), and Me back stage at the Bobby Jones Gospel Show in Nashville, Tn. circa 1987

Special Note: Thank you for praying for my brother Griffin Sumner. He received his pathology report yesterday which showed NO CANCER cells in the tissue taken during the operation a couple of weeks ago!!! The prayers of the righteous avail much!!!

Please Visit my Website: altonesumner.com