Luke 2: 1-20 (New International Version (NIV)

The Birth of Jesus

2 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. ² (This was the first census that took place while^[a] Quirinius was governor of Syria.) ³ And everyone went to their own town to register.

⁴ 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. ⁵ He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. ⁶ While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, ⁷ and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.
⁸ And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.⁹ An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰ But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. ¹¹ Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah,the Lord. ¹² This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
¹³ Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

¹⁴ “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
    and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

¹⁵ 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.”

¹⁶ So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.¹⁷ When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, ¹⁸ and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. ¹⁹ But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. ²⁰ The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

Merry Christmas!

Mike's Nativity Scene

This nativity scene is from Mike's childhood.  When we were first married his mom gave us a bunch of old Christmas decorations.  They are all precious to Mike.  You know how things that remind you of your childhood are so sweet.

This nativity set originally came with a manger that folded up flat or storage.  It was made from a soft pressed board kind of material, not much stronger than cardboard.  It had straw bits glued to the roof and it was fun to set it up.  Alas, though, it did not outlast our children.   For a few years I taped it to hold it together.  I actually think we still have it; I couldn't bring myself to throw it out, but it was pretty much crushed.

The little figures have been played by Mike and likely his sisters' little fingers when they were children.  They were played with by our children and hopefully our grandchildren will enjoy them for years.

Do you have a nativity set?  Is it vintage or new?  We have quite a few of them but none more precious than this one.

Lessons in the Storage Room

Last Sunday the children in our church put on a delightful Christmas Program.  I took photos but I did not get permission from parents to put the cute faces of their offspring online so I will just tell you about it.  There were cute little angels, shepherds, Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus and all the others.  We had child musicians on drums, clarinet and even a soloist singing "Let There Be Peace on Earth".  It was just adorable.  I love it when little people get a hold of a microphone!

After the program we had a birthday party for Jesus.  The children had games, treats and crafts.  My personal favorite of the games was Pin the Hay on the Manger!

After the party, of course, was the clean-up.   I was helping put away the costumes.  Since moving into our new church building a few years ago we have a wonderful storage area.  Putting away the costumes used to involve packing too many storage containers into too small of a storage shed.  Now, we have ample storage places and we can even hang up all the costumes so that next year no one has to iron them.  We are grateful for this! 

It was up in that storage area that I found the best lesson of the day.

We have bare crosses up through Lent and then the white flowers beautifully decorating this one for Easter Day.  Right now, they are just stored out of sight.  It isn't time to put the emphasis on the cross; it's time to put the emphasis on the joy of the manger.  In the midst of that joy, though, I can't help but think of what was waiting for that cute baby in the manger.  The birth story is lovely and miraculous, but we already know that the baby lying there has a rough road ahead.  While we are celebrating Christmas, maybe it is ok to keep that in the back of our minds.

He was sent for a very specific purpose. 

He was sent as a sacrifice.

He was sent out of love for us.