Voices in My Head Podcast – Episode 605: Christmas Cards - A Christmas Sermon by Rick Lee James
Description
Voices in My Head (The Rick Lee James Podcast)
Episode 605: The God Who Lets Us Carry Him
In this special Advent/Christmas episode, chaplain, songwriter, and host Rick Lee James shares a chapel message from Springfield Regional Medical Center titled “The God Who Lets Us Carry Him.”
Drawing from Jeremiah 10:5 and Matthew 2:13 –18, Rick explores the tension between:
Idols that must be carried because they are lifeless
And Jesus, God in the flesh, who chooses to be carried as a vulnerable baby
Rather than the soft, sentimental scenes we see on many Christmas cards, Rick invites us into the real world Jesus was born into—a world of:
A small, ordinary village (Bethlehem)
Roman occupation and political fear
Herod’s brutality and the Massacre of the Innocents
Refugee families fleeing in the night
Grieving mothers and real human sorrow
From there, he proclaims the hope of Christmas:
that God does not wait for a perfect world to show up, but enters the world as it actually is—vulnerable, dependent, “carry-able” in human arms. This is a God who walks at three miles an hour, slowing down to move at human speed, to stop, to touch, to weep, to heal, and even to entrust Himself to us.
Along the way, Rick reflects on:
Jeremiah’s image of idols as “scarecrows in a cucumber field”
How idols only gain “power” when we give them our imagination
Historical background on Herod the Great and Bethlehem’s likely size
The courage and defiant hope of a God who lets Himself be carried by Mary and Joseph
The contrast between Hallmark-style Christmas and the raw honesty of the Gospel
The episode concludes with Rick’s original song “Christmas Cards,” a musical meditation on the parts of the story we don’t usually see on our mantels—the fear, the flight, the soldiers in the streets—and the deeper hope that God is greater than the version of Christmas our cards describe.
Scriptures referenced in this episode:
Jeremiah 10:5 – “Their idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field; they cannot speak; they have to be carried because they cannot walk. Do not be afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, neither is it in them to do good.”
Matthew 2:13 –18 – The flight into Egypt and the Massacre of the Innocents
Highlights:
Why a God who chooses to be carried is the opposite of a powerless idol
How the first Christmas speaks hope into fear, grief, and injustice
“A God small enough to be carried is a God big enough to save the world.”
Closing performance of Rick’s original song “Christmas Cards”
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Rick Lee James
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Don’t forget about our music sale on Bandcamp.
Use the code “10off” on RickLeeJames.Bandcamp.com to get 10% off your purchase.
Blessings,
Rick Lee James
Email: Rick@RickLeeJames.com
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Rick Lee James
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