Celebrating and Remembering
the Christ
Child at Christmas
The truth is that there never was any
Christmas before Jesus was born. Year after year, the evergreen trees grew in
the forests, but no one came to get them for decorating their homes. No one
thought of loading them down with ornaments and candy or of lighting them with
candles and lights. Boys and girls grew up to be men and women with never the
thought of a Christmas carol, or a Christmas tree, or a Christmas gift, because,
you see, that was before Christ was born. God looked down from His heaven and
saw upon the earth the greatness of sin, and the sorrow it brought. So God
decided to come down to earth not in royal robes of splendor but as a humble
baby to be born in a stable and cradled in a manger.
The Story of Christmas
(Luke 2: 1)
In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree
that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first
census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone
went to his own town to register. So Joseph also went up from the town of
Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he
belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary,
who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.
While they were there, the time came for
the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped
him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in
the inn. And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping
watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord
appeared to them, and
the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel
said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that
will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born
to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby
wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger. Suddenly a great company of the
heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying "Glory to
God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."
When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one
another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which
the Lord has told us about.
So they hurried off and found Mary and
Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they
spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all
who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured
up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned,
glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which
were just as they had been told."
Listen to "Bernie the
Shepherd" tell his story of being in the Presence of God. (Adapted
from a monologue by Rev. Bruce Goettsche)
