Merry Christmas - it sure is different than the first...

I hope you have all had a wonderful Christmas!

This Christmas, I had an opportunity to reflect a little on what makes Christmas so special. We really enjoy giving gifts, and spending time with family. In our culture today that is what Christmas is to most people. A time to spend with family. A time of giving.

Where does that ft with the story of Bethlehem? The story of Mary and Joseph, and the birth of their first-born? The stay in the stable, because there was no room in the Inn? The Shepherds and the Magi coming to praise the King of Kings, a baby in a manger.

We seem to have gone a long ways from that original story. How did we get here? And is there really anything wrong with where we are? It sure is a far cry from Bethlehem – you can’t get any farther. But as long as people continue to hear the story, as long as they go a midnight mass or a Christmas Eve service, and are reminded of the birth of the Christ child, then are we hurting anybody?

The answer, of course, depends on whether people are still hearing the story. Are parents telling their children of the birth of Jesus? Are kids learning of the babe in the manger. My fear is that many are not. As our nation drifts toward secularism and pluralism, more and more are going without hearing about the shepherds and the Magi. And they have no idea of the meaning of Christmas.

The Christmas story is a story of salvation. The story of a God that loves us so much, he became one of us, so he can save us. But people need to hear the story in order to believe the story. And they won’t hear it if we don’t tell it…