(Verse 1 - Spoken Word Recitation) Well, friends, it’s that time of year again. The tinsel is hanging from the gutters, and the department store lights are blazing green and red. Everybody’s rushing. Everybody’s searching. We’ve built up this massive machine called the holiday season. We call it a project. We plan the budgets, we map out the travel, and we check off the lists. But if you pull back all the wrapping paper... If you turn off the blow-molded lawn ornaments and silence the noise... What’s actually left standing at the center of the room? (Chorus - Sung with Rich Southern Harmony) Let’s go back to the foundation. Back to the star in the eastern sky. Back to the manger where eternity stepped into time. Oh, strip away the trimmings, clear out the restless mind. This is Project Christmas... and the project is Jesus Christ. (Verse 2 - Spoken Word Recitation) You see, we like to talk about the baby in the manger. He’s sweet. He’s manageable. We like the peaceful scene with the shepherds and the gentle lowing cattle. But we can’t let the story stop at the cradle. Because that little wooden box of hay was just the shadow of another wooden beam. Let this truth settle deep in your spirit today: Without His birth, there could have been no death. That perfect, sinless life had to be wrapped in human flesh so it could be given away. And without His death... oh, brother, without that cross, we wouldn't have a single shred of hope. (Chorus - Sung with Rich Southern Harmony) Let’s go back to the foundation. Back to the star in the eastern sky. Back to the manger where eternity stepped into time. Oh, strip away the trimmings, clear out the restless mind. This is Project Christmas... and the project is Jesus Christ. (Bridge - Spoken Word over Swelling Music) (The organ swells, building in intensity. A acoustic guitar begins to strum with more passion.) So don't look for Christmas under a pine tree. Look to the rugged tree of Calvary. Because of the crib, we got the cross. And because of the cross, we got an empty grave! That’s where the hope comes from. That’s where the joy breaks through the darkest midnight. It's a mercy so sweet, it covers every mistake you’ve ever made. He didn't just come to give us a holiday. He came to give us life. (Tag - Sung softly, fading out) Hope for the hopeless. Joy for the broken heart. Mercy that flows from the stable to the cross. Jesus... You are our foundation. Project Christmas is You.
