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Hey everybody, Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas everybody. I hope you’re having a great morning with your family. I hope you guys are being blessed and encouraged. Today, I’m going to do something a little bit different, because after all it is Christmas. We’re going to focus on why we really need the miracle of Christmas. Stick around, I think you’re going to be encouraged.

All right you guys, so today’s a really special day. I think this might be the first time in seven years of doing this podcast, that I have had a podcast ready for you on Christmas day. And I’m going to just spend a little bit of time just encouraging you about why we really need Christmas. And Max Lucado wrote something that I thought was really encouraging, and he said,

“Do we really need another Christmas? We sing the same songs, put up the same tree, and we shop for the same socks and sweaters every year. Is the message of peace on earth, goodwill toward men, still relevant? Still possible? Consider the story behind Christmas. Hollywood would recast Christmas. Joseph’s collar is way too blue. Mary is green from inexperience. The couple’s star power just doesn’t match the bill. Too obscure. Too simple. The story warrants some headliners. A square-jawed Joseph. Someone of the Clooney vintage. And Mary needs a beauty mark and glistening teeth. Angelina Jolie-ish. And what about the shepherds? Do they sing? If so, perhaps Bono and U2? Do we really need another Christmas? Yes, we sing the same songs, put up the same trees, shop for the same socks and sweaters every year. Is the message of peace on earth, goodwill toward men still relevant? Still possible?

Hollywood would recast the story. A civilized person would sanitize it. No person, however poor, should be born in a cow stall. Hay on the floor. Animals on the hay. Don’t place the baby in a feed trough; the donkey’s nose has been there. Don’t wrap your newborn in rags. They smell like sheep. Speaking of smells, watch where you step. The good public relations firm would move the birth to a big city. See what Roman palaces they might rent, what Greek villas they could lease. The Son of God deserves a Royal entry. Less peasant, more pizazz. Out with the heads of sheep, in with the heads of state. Shouldn’t we ticker tape this event? Maybe throw in a little Trump Tower escalator entrance.

But we didn’t design the hour. God did. And God was content to enter the world in the presence of sleepy sheep and a wide-eyed carpenter. No spotlights, just candlelight, No crowns, just cows chewing cud. God made so little of His Son’s coming. No hoopla at His birth. Is this a mistake? Or is this the message? Perhaps our world, and your life, resembles a Bethlehem stable. Crude in some spots, smelly in others. Not much glamor. Not always neat. People in your circle remind you of stable animals: grazing like sheep, stubborn little donkeys, and that cow in the corner, looks a lot like the fellow next door.

The moment Mary touched God’s face is the moment God made His case: there is no place he will not go. If he is willing to be born in a barnyard, then expect him to be at work anywhere; bars, bedrooms, boardrooms, and brothels. No place is too common. No person is too hardened. No distance is too far. There is no person He cannot reach. There is no limit to his love. When Christ was born, so was our hope. Actually, I think we need Christmas more than ever this year. We could use a season that is dedicated to giving, not receiving; to caring, not critiquing. Put away our differences. Put up the Christmas tree. Take comfort in the familiar story and the ancient carols. Our world, like that of Bethlehem, is difficult and crowded. 

Our days can feel as cold and uncertain as that midnight manger. Yet in the midst of it all, let’s do what Mary did. Let’s invite the source of peace to enter our world. Let’s find hope, once more, in the infant King. God became one of us so we could become one with Him. That’s the promise of Bethlehem.”

That was written by Max Lucado. I will link back to the complete article in the show notes today. But I’m not going to keep you guys long today. I’ve got family to be with, and a Christmas ham to carve. But I just want to encourage you, that God is still with us. There’s a lot of chaos happening in our world right now, and we talk about it a lot here on the podcast, but today, I really just want to stop and pause and reflect and say thank you Jesus. Thank you that you loved us so much, that you were willing to be born in a manger. That you’re willing to die for us. We are so thankful.

I pray today, that as we celebrate Christmas, that our giving thanks to the Lord, would be at the top of the things that we celebrate. In all of the wonderful things that Christmas represents, it represents so much to us now. As a church, it represents forgiveness. It represents peace. It represents all of the things that were wrapped up in God’s gift of Jesus, and I hope you guys will take time today. Read the Christmas story with your children, gather around and thank the Lord as you sing Christmas carols. We love to sing together as a family, and I’m sure we’ll be doing that quite a bit today in the midst of the noise, because the triplets are coming over.

But I hope that you guys have a wonderful Christmas. Thank you so much for inviting me into your homes three days a week. And for praying for our family, and for loving us by praying for us and supporting this ministry. It really is a blessing to us. And I hope that you guys have a wonderful and blessed Christmas day. Thanks for listening everybody, and I will see you back here on Friday. 

Write to Heidi:
Heidi St. John
c/o Firmly Planted Family
11100 NE 34th Cir, Vancouver, WA 98682

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