In the song “A Strange Way to Save the World”, it notes that Joseph and May was just ordinary people and that the birth took place in an ordinary place.  Mary was an innocent girl of sixteen.  Joseph, even though he was a descendant of King David, was a carpenter by trade.  The manger was a place where animals lived.  Yet a miracle happened!  To this young couple a child was born who would save the world.

If God could do such an extra-ordinary thing through the ordinariness of everyday life and the least expected people, imagine what God can do through us.  We are ordinary people, with all kinds of warts and foibles, yet God has the capacity to do extra-ordinary things through us, as well.

The baby born in a manger was a great gift to humanity and in turn, we who believe in that child have the capacity to be a great gift to one another.  These gifts can take many forms.  They can be as simple as greeting someone with a smile and a handshake to caring for someone who is homebound to donating your time, talents and energies to making someone else’s life better.

There is a story that I will be sharing with my congregation on Christmas morning.  The book is entitled A Special Place for Santa: A Legend for Our Time by Jeanne Piper.  It tells the story of how Santa believes that he has become more important to the world than Jesus has.  God assures him that he is appreciated in the way Santa has helped spread the news about Christmas to every corner of the world, God said softly, “Every year you help millions of people, young and old, show how much they love one another.  Because of you people everywhere fill their hearts with joy and love on Jesus’ special day!”

So Santa takes this opportunity to present one more gift to the Christ child.  Over the year, he has collected a list of all the kind and loving things people—young and old—had done for one another during the year.  He put the list in a gift box and laid it at the feet of the newborn baby in the manger.  He has done this every year.

Therefore, if Santa visited your church this Christmas morning what would be in his gift about you?  What have you done over the past year that was kind and loving to another human being?

After all, the giving of ourselves to another human being is the greatest gift of all, because it has the power to change the world, even if it is one person at a time.

I look forward to hearing what you would want Jesus to know.

May you have a blessed Christmas and a most prosperous New Year!

I thank God for you,

Pastor Kathy