Saturday, December 20, 2014
Luke 2:12 "This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."
THOSE DECORATIONS
A favorite tradition many families have at Christmas time is to decorate. I would guess there are decorations your family has put up around your house. Boxes of ornaments retrieved from the basement or attic have been carefully arranged in the living room or den. When we unpack decorations and put them in their proper place (window embellishments, colorful lights, knick-knacks, candles) we are often inclined to reminisce about people and events from Christmases past. We're reminded of happy times we enjoyed in the company of loved ones the last time the decorations were put out.
As you view the ornaments with which you have decked your halls (and perhaps do a little reminiscing) be reminded of the decorations God put up at the first Christmas. Think about the rough straw, rustic manger, and swaddling clothes through which He pictures the humility and poverty in which your Savior appeared on earth, and by which He reveals that He came to serve you in love. Let the nativity scenes you view on front lawns (or on your fireplace mantel?) be reminders that God's Son descended from heaven to minister to your spiritual needs.
Not all of God's Christmas decorations were of the humble variety. There were spectacular ones too: the angel choir that sang their jubilant song of praise o'er Bethlehem's fields: "Glory be to God on high!" The radiant glory He put on display in view of the shepherds. The star of the east He later used to guide the Magi to the Savior so they might worship Him. Decorations through which God pictured the majesty of His Son who condescended in love to redeem us.
When you look at the Christmas decorations on display around the house, be reminded of the decorations God put on display at the first Christmas and their special meaning for you. Join the Magi in bowing in worshipful reverence before Christ your King. Listen to and rejoice in the message of the Christmas Gospel:
Hark! a voice from yonder manger,
Soft and sweet, Doth entreat: "Flee from woe and danger.
Brethren, from all ills that grieve you
You are freed; All you need I will surely give you."
(The Lutheran Hymnal, 77:7)
