Sermon Illustration

“Mommy, what is Christmas?,” asked the three-year-old girl. Her mother carefully explained that Christmas is Jesus’ birthday. “Then why do we not give gifts to Jesus if it’s His birthday?” The mother explained the tradition of exchanging Christmas gifts as expressions of our love for each other, and that seemed to end the matter. It did not come up again until Christmas Eve when a sleepy little girl placed a package under the Christmas tree on her way to bed and explained that it was a birthday gift for Jesus which she was sure He would open during the night while she slept. After she was asleep, the mother not wanting her daughter to be disappointed, opened the clumsily wrapped package and found the box empty. On Christmas morning the little girl was thrilled to find the package had been opened and her gift was gone. “What was in it?” asked the confused mother. “It was a box full of love,” came the answer. How childlike! How Christlike! —Beverly I. White The Christian Reader

While visiting our daughter Andrea and her family at Christmas, we didn’t forsake our tradition of holiday stockings for old and young alike. First our son-in-law Larry and then our daughter exclaimed when they found the $50 bills we had tucked in theirs. When our eight-year-old granddaughter Sara discovered the $5 bill in the toe of her stocking, she couldn’t help but compare. “Oh, dear,” she said, “my zero fell off!” —C. Ellen Watts, “Kids of the Kingdom,” Christian Reader, Vol. 38, no. 6. See: Proverbs 17:9; Matthew 7:9-11; Mark 10:15

The November we moved from Kansas to Texas was cold. The five of us huddled together in a small house purchased with all our funds. When the children asked if Christmas came to Texas like it did in Kansas, we nodded and said, “Just wait.” If only, I thought, if only we had more money and if Christmas wasn’t so soon and we had our friends and church here. We took the children to Kroger’s the weekend before Christmas to pick out their gifts. My husband and I headed toward the trees to check out prices. Even the least expensive seemed like a king’s ransom. “How can we have Christmas without a tree?” asked Nancy. We didn’t know. All we knew was we couldn’t afford to buy one. At home, we opened our box of decorations. There was a creche, a few ornaments the children had made, a silver garland, and some shiny blue balls. After the children went to bed, we got an idea. With safety pins, we hung the blue balls in the form of a cross on the living room curtains. Then we took the garland and pla...

Driving with his uncle Tim one evening before Christmas, my six-year-old grandson Raymond noticed Venus brightly shining in the southern sky. Tim asked if it might be the star that led the wise men to Bethlehem. “Maybe,” Raymond answered, “but we don’t have to go and search for Jesus. They found him already!” —Levi Dueck, Morris, Manitoba. Christian Reader, “Kids of the Kingdom.” See: Matthew 6:33; Mark 10:15; Luke 9:48.

I was proud that my 3-year-old daughter seemed to pick up the Christmas carols I was teaching her. Then, a few days after Christmas, she asked me to sing the “whale song.” When I questioned her, she told me the song was about angels, whales and sheepkeepers. Still confused, I asked her to sing it. In an off-key voice she sang, “The first no whale, the angels did say. Was to certain poor sheepkeeps in fields with the hay!” —Lisa Jachimiec, Muskego, WI. Christian Parenting Today, “Life in Our House.” See: Luke 2:8-20.

A few of us recall tales told by our immigrant grandparents. My grandfather, who was bitter about this to his dying day, described his first Christmas Eve in America. A hired farm hand, he was forced to shovel frozen cow manure out of a barn on a bitter Colorado night, the icy blast off the dry plains chilling his bones and his spirit. He never got over it. It wasn’t the hard, even brutal, and, to his grandchildren, demeaning work that got to him—that was to be his lot for years. By then, he had already learned that. The new country, this America, didn’t have streets paved with gold. His bewildered, poor family had been greeted by no welcoming committee. Those in Nebraska, then Colorado, who worked the immigrants but also derided them (at least some did), mocked his awkward attempts to speak the English language. But it wasn’t that which still rankled decades later. It was that he had to work Christmas Eve. Was nothing holy? —Jean Bethke Elshtain, Books & Culture, Vol. 4, no. 3. Se...

There were only a few shepherds at the first Bethlehem. The ox and the ass understood more of the first Christmas than the high priests in Jerusalem. And it is the same today. —Thomas Merton in The Seven Storey Mountain. Christianity Today, Vol. 39, no. 14. See: Luke 2:8-20; John 1:10; Acts 13:27.

The Christmas tree has taken the place of the altar in too much of our modern Christmas observance. —Earl Riney in Church Management. Christianity Today, Vol. 36, no. 15. See: Isaiah 42:8; Romans 1:22-23.

I realized that songs, good feelings, beautiful liturgies, nice presents, big dinners, and many sweet words do not make Christmas. Christmas is saying “yes” to something beyond all emotions and feelings. Christmas is saying “yes” to a hope based on God’s initiative, which has nothing to do with what I think or feel. Christmas is believeing that the salvation of the world is God’s work, and not mine. —Henri Nouwen in New Oxford Review (Nov. 1986). Christianity Today, Vol. 31, no. 18. See: Romans 8:24; Colossians 1:5; 1 Peter 3:15.

During the Christmas season our large picture window displayed a lighted nativity scene. One day I overheard two small boys discussing it. One tot observed pensively, “I don’t think these guys believe in Santa Claus.” “No, I guess not,” the other conceded, then added generously, “but they’re nice people anyway.” —Fran McMahon, Rochester, WA. Christian Reader, “Lite Fare.” See: Matthew 2:1-12; Luke 2:1-20.

Along with the sheep, cow and donkey, our nativity scene now has a new animal. A plump little teddy bear sits in the hay paying tribute to Baby Jesus. Our children will tell you this addition is quite scriptural. As a beginning reader, Billy was thrilled to be able to read the Christmas story from the Bible for our family advent devotions. Although the verses did not flow from one line to another, we enjoyed listening to him read. One night Billy read: “Behold, a virgin shall be with child and bear...” “A bear?” my 3-year-old Nancy interrupted. “We don’t have a bear in our manger,” 5-year-old Timmy said. “Here, use mine,” offered Nancy, and she plopped her soft stuffed bear in the middle of the scene. Then Billy continued to read: “... a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel.” —Cathie Gebhart, Sioux Falls, SD. Christian Reader, “Lite Fare.” See: Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:23.

Society never actually wanted the Incarnation. “Emmanuel, God-with-Us” does not sell computer games or cologne. Society wanted the cute stuff—rustic stable, adoring shepherds, fluffy sheep, cows, donkey, holy family, infant Jesus, gift-bearing kings, stars, angels, St. Nicholas, reindeer, fir trees, holly, and presents. The pagan stuff they will retain—even if they do dye the trees powder blue and decorate them with miniature hanging appliances and Disney ornaments …. The marketplace will also retain some of the traditional hymnody, but in upbeat arrangements that remove them from the realm of traditional worship. Ancient chants are popular, too. They sound religious and profound and—best of all—nobody understands Latin, so no shoppers are offended. —Maureen Jais-Mick, “Ready or Not: The Return of Christmas” (Cresset, Dec. 1995 ). Christianity Today, Vol. 40, no. 14. See: Isaiah 7:14; John 1:14; 1 Corinthians 1:23; 1 John 4:2.

If Christmas is the anniversary of the appearance of the Lord of the universe in the form of a helpless babe, it is a very important day. It’s a startling idea, of course. My guess is the whole story that a virgin was selected by God to bear his son is a way of showing his love and concern for man. It’s my guess that in spite of all the lip service given to it, it’s not an idea that’s been popular with theologians. —Harry Reasoner, quoted by Vic Pentz, “On Beyond Zebra,” Preaching Today, Tape No. 63. See: Isaiah 7:14; Isaiah 9:6; Romans 8:3; Philippians 2:7; 1 Timothy 3:16.

Emmanuel. God with us. He who resided in Heaven, co-equal and co-eternal with the Father and the Spirit, willingly descended into our world. He breathed our air, felt our pain, knew our sorrows, and died for our sins. He didn’t come to frighten us, but to show us the way to warmth and safety. —Charles Swindoll in The Finishing Touch. Christianity Today, Vol. 40, no. 14. See: Isaiah 9:6; John 1:14; John 14:6; Romans 8:3.

“Little one, who straight hast come Down the heavenly stair, Tell us all about your home, And the father there.” “He is such a one as I, Like as like can be. Do his will, and, by and by, Home and him you’ll see.” —George MacDonald in Discovering the Character of God. Christianity Today, Vol. 40, no. 14. See: John 1:14; Romans 8:3; Philippians 2:7; 1 Timothy 3:16.

The spirit of Christmas needs to be superseded by the Spirit of Christ. The spirit of Christmas is annual; the Spirit of Christ is eternal. The spirit of Christmas is sentimental; the Spirit of Christ is supernatural. The spirit of Christmas is a human product; the Spirit of Christ is a divine person. That makes all the difference in the world. —Stuart Briscoe in Meet Him at the Manger. Christianity Today, Vol. 41, no. 14. See: Isaiah 9:6; John 1:14; 1 Timothy 3:16.

Sever Christmas from Good Friday and the result would be to doom Christmas as nothing more than a time to be merry and gay based on Lore. —Hulda C. Miller in The Creche and the Cross. Christianity Today, Vol. 36, no. 15. See: John 1:14; Romans 8:3; 2 Corinthians 5:15.

On that first Christmas morning, the world must have seemed a hard place to Mary At the end of a weary journey there was “no room at the inn.” The only shelter offered to her was the “lowly cattle shed.” I find this a great mystery and a great wonder. Every day science discovers more and more of the complex wisdom of God. Anyone who uses his mind has a much bigger idea of God than our grandfathers, or even our fathers ever had. Yet God has been here on the planet in person. What we are celebrating ... is not the feast of jolly old Father Christmas or good King Wenceslaus, or a beautiful fairy-tale. We are celebrating the visit of God. How marvelous! —J.B. Phillips in For This Day. Christianity Today, Vol. 36, no. 15. See: Luke 2:1-7; John 1:14; 1 Timothy 3:16.

A pageant whose core is an infant and a mother, can’t help but call up a nation’s, even a world’s primal longing and remembrance around its own early childhood experience. It isn’t surprising that the world is drawn to this season with such passion and ritual. [But] have we created a [Christmas] myth to cover the reality; a myth to satisfy our own needs? A myth so powerful that the mystery and wonder of the Incarnation is all but lost and as a result, we are depressed. —Karen Hoyt in Eternity (Jan. 1988). Christianity Today, Vol. 32, no. 18. See: Isaiah 7:14; Luke 2:1-20; John 1:14; 1 Timothy 3:16.

One Christmas season, I was teaching a group of first graders in public school. We were studying Christmas customs from around the world. It was an ideal opportunity to share the Christmas story. I explained that Mary and Joseph had gone to Bethlehem to pay taxes. It was time for the baby Jesus to be born and they needed somewhere to spend the night. I told my students that when they went to the inn, there were no empty rooms. I compared the inn to a modern-day hotel or motel. I was leading up to the stable when I asked, “What do you suppose they had behind the inn?” One little guy, who had been listening intently, began to frantically wave his hand. His face was alight with knowledge. “A swimming pool.” —Janet S. Teitsort, Westport, Ind. Christian Reader, “Lite Fare.” See: Luke 2:1-7.