MIRACLE ON 42ND STREET (1 OF 4)
by Jeff Strite
Scripture: Matthew 1:1-17
This content is part of a series.
Miracle on 42nd Street (1 of 4)
Series: Christmas At The Movies
Jeff Strite
Matthew 1:1-17
(Suggest playing a clip from Miracle On 34th St. - Where the Post office delivers mail for Santa Claus to the Court Room proving Kris Kringle to be Santa Claus)
OPEN: Is there a Santa Claus?
Nearly a century ago or more, there was a newspaper article written to a little girl named Virginia. Do you remember the opening line of that article? That's right… "Yes, Virginia there is a Santa Claus."
That sentiment has been the basis of more than one Hollywood movie… the most memorable of which was "Miracle on 34th St."
However, as tender a sentiment as that be, the very concept seems to defy all logic.
In his book "Still More Hot Illustrations for Youth", Wayne Rice wrote the following observations:
It is truly heartwarming to know that millions of people around the world believe in Santa. Sure, most are under four feet tall, but still it's amazing that so many believe in the big guy in the red suit. Consider the following:
Around the globe, today, live approximately two billion children. Santa doesn't visit all of them, of course. Subtracting the number of Muslim, Hindu, Jewish, or Buddhist children reduces Santa's Christmas Eve workload to 15 percent of the total, or 378 million.
At an average (census) rate of 3.5 children per household, and presuming there is at least 1 good child in each home, Santa must visit about 108 million homes.
Santa has about 31 hours of Christmas to work with, thanks to the different time zones and the rotation of the earth - assuming he travels east to west.
This works out to 967.7 visits per second.
That means that at each household with a good child, Santa has around 1/1000th of a second to park the sleigh, hop out, jump down the chimney, fill the stockings, distribute the remaining presents under the tree, eat whatever snacks have been left for him, get back up the chimney, jump into the sleigh…and get on to the next house ...
Series: Christmas At The Movies
Jeff Strite
Matthew 1:1-17
(Suggest playing a clip from Miracle On 34th St. - Where the Post office delivers mail for Santa Claus to the Court Room proving Kris Kringle to be Santa Claus)
OPEN: Is there a Santa Claus?
Nearly a century ago or more, there was a newspaper article written to a little girl named Virginia. Do you remember the opening line of that article? That's right… "Yes, Virginia there is a Santa Claus."
That sentiment has been the basis of more than one Hollywood movie… the most memorable of which was "Miracle on 34th St."
However, as tender a sentiment as that be, the very concept seems to defy all logic.
In his book "Still More Hot Illustrations for Youth", Wayne Rice wrote the following observations:
It is truly heartwarming to know that millions of people around the world believe in Santa. Sure, most are under four feet tall, but still it's amazing that so many believe in the big guy in the red suit. Consider the following:
Around the globe, today, live approximately two billion children. Santa doesn't visit all of them, of course. Subtracting the number of Muslim, Hindu, Jewish, or Buddhist children reduces Santa's Christmas Eve workload to 15 percent of the total, or 378 million.
At an average (census) rate of 3.5 children per household, and presuming there is at least 1 good child in each home, Santa must visit about 108 million homes.
Santa has about 31 hours of Christmas to work with, thanks to the different time zones and the rotation of the earth - assuming he travels east to west.
This works out to 967.7 visits per second.
That means that at each household with a good child, Santa has around 1/1000th of a second to park the sleigh, hop out, jump down the chimney, fill the stockings, distribute the remaining presents under the tree, eat whatever snacks have been left for him, get back up the chimney, jump into the sleigh…and get on to the next house ...
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