Of course, I would want to receive better gifts than these. What heads my Christmas wish-list, both when I think about it and the rest of the year, is my organic, basic need for Christmas Grace! Yes, the one gift that keeps on giving is the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ which made its advent into the world most dramatically in the coming of Jesus Christ two thousand years ago.

The angel described this gift to a confused first-century Jew by the name of Joseph who was confronted by the fact of his fiancé’s pregnancy by the Holy Spirit. He said:

An angel declared it a few months later to shepherds giving midnight watch over their sheep on those Judean hills.

God says, “I will give you my grace.” What is grace? It’s when God gives you what you need — not what you deserve. Grace is when God says, “I’m going to take your problem and make it my problem.” Grace is God’s Riches given to you At Christ’s Expense.

In other words, you can’t earn your way to heaven. You can’t work your way in. It’s just a gift.

It is the coming of Jesus, Immanuel God with Us, who gives us God’s grace.

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Did you know that’s why we give gifts at Christmas? Because that’s when God gave the gift of his Son to you, by grace. We give gifts because God gave us the greatest gift at Christmas.

We have been given a gift, but all gifts must be accepted. We accept God’s free gift of grace when we accept Jesus into our lives as Savior and Lord. Because he died as a perfect human, Christ became our Savior. Because He is the Son of God the Father, Christ is our Lord.

When Pope Julius I authorized December 25 to be celebrated as the birthday of Jesus in A.D. 353, who would have ever thought that it would become what it is today.

When Professor Charles Follen lit candles on the first Christmas tree in America in 1832, who would have ever thought that the decorations would become as elaborate as they are today.

It is a long time since 1832, longer still from 353, longer still from that dark night brightened by a special star in which Jesus the king was born. Yet, as we approach December 25 again, it gives us yet another opportunity to pause, and in the midst ofduring all the excitement and elaborate decorations and expensive commercialization which surround Christmas today, to consider again the event of Christmas and the person whose birth we celebrate.

There is a stage in a child's life at which it cannot separate the religious from the merely festal character of Christmas or Easter. I have been told of a very small and very devout boy who was heard murmuring to himself on Easter morning a poem of his own composition which began 'Chocolate eggs and Jesus risen.' This seems to me, for his age, both admirable poetry and admirable piety. But of course the time will soon come when such a child can no longer effortlessly and spontaneously enjoy that unity. He will become able to distinguish the spiritual from the ritual and festal aspect of Easter; chocolate eggs will no longer seem sacramental. Once he has distinguished he must put one or the other first. If he puts the spiritual first he can still taste something of Easter in the chocolate eggs; if he puts the eggs first they will soon be no more dithering.

We need to recover the meaning of Christmas. We should be more concerned about celebrating God’s grace in sending his Son than we are about eggnog and presents.

For too many of us, it is easy for materialism to dominate Christmas.

Would you like to accept Christ’s free gift of salvation?

Feel called to join the church?

Feel a calling to grow closer to Christ and return to your first love?

Feel a calling towards a ministry or have questions about your faith?