Month: December 2016

We are all somewhere in the Christmas story. Whether you identify more with the humble, hard-working shepherds, the educated Wise Men, or somewhere below, between or beyond them, may you find Jesus today just as they did, and bring to him your gifts of worship, honor and praise. Whether you see yourself in Mary, amazed that God might visit you, or find your face in Joseph’s quiet obedience and faithful care, may you discover your place in the story of Jesus and welcome him into your own. Having remembered his coming, may the New Year find you more ready to … Read more…

Christmas looms large on our calendars, highlighted in bright red numbers, and even larger in our minds. But Christmas was not the beginning. Before Christmas, there was Christ. John says, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Christ the Word existed before there was a world to save, before there were stars to show the way for Magi from the east, before there were sheep for shepherds to watch. The Word was with God before there were angels to herald the birth, before … Read more…

On Christmas Eve, 1941, seventeen days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, President and Mrs. Roosevelt hosted a state dinner at the White House. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, along with his staff of 60, was the guest of honor. Presents were exchanged. A group of carolers sang Oh Little Town of Bethlehem. The world was at war, but the light of hope still shined in the darkness. That same night, on the other side of the world, Adolf Hitler sat in a log cabin in East Prussia. He had told his generals that the war would be over … Read more…

Jesus’ birth was anticipated by prophets, announced by angels and accompanied by astronomical anomalies. You would think an event that important would first be delivered to the most important people. People like Caesar Augustus, the most powerful man on the planet and in control of much of the world from his palace in Rome. But the word of the Lord did not reach him first. Herod, King of Judea, was not the first to receive the news nor was Quirinius, the ruler of Syria. Not even Caiaphas, the high priest in Jerusalem. The word of the Lord came first to … Read more…