Merry Christmas

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*picture taken at Koziar's Christmas Village (Bernsville, PA)

Last week I saw a meme of Mary holding baby Jesus. She was rolling her eyes and the caption said, “Yes, I knew.”, which was referring to the famous Christmas carol “Mary, Did You Know.” Of course I got the humor that was intended, but it didn’t make me laugh. Instead, it made me think about the importance people, me included, give to Mary in the Christmas story. Obviously, she played a very important role in the story of Jesus’ birth. Every person involved played a role of importance. Each person had to have some degree of faith, Joseph, Mary, the shepherds, and wise men. Even the innkeeper had to have some degree of faith to provide strangers with a safe place to stay in his stable.

Not one of these main characters in the Christmas story played a more important role than the other. God orchestrated all of it to work together perfectly to fulfill His plan of redemption for the human soul. Christmas and Easter are the most important holidays to a Christ-follower because we commemorate the three most important events in the life of Jesus, His birth, death and His resurrection. All these events needed to happen for Jesus to become the perfect sacrifice, the once-and-for-all sacrifice, covering our sins, as a way for us to live one day in the presence of God in heaven.

I’m not going to take up a lot of space in today’s blog. Rather, I invite you to read the story of Jesus’ birth in Luke 2 and reflect on the great, almost unbelievable act of love that God planned out for you and me from the moment Adam and Eve committed the first sin. I wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas. May you enjoy the time together in the midst of the presents, excitement and chaos. I pray that you also take advantage of some quiet time to reflect on God’s great love for you.

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