Once again we have worshipped the Christ-Child together and benefited from the inspired account of the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem.  It has been a blessing to us! 

It's now four days since Christmas.  Have you ever wondered about those first days after Jesus was born?  How long, do you suppose before everyone in Bethlehem heard the astonishing eyewitness testimony of the shepherds?  It couldn't have been very long.  The shepherds made it "widely" known the Bible says. 

Nor was theirs a vague report.  Since they would have told in detail of the birth of the Savior who is the Christ, and reported what they had heard and seen from the angels, this would have been startling news --- long-awaited and glad news to all faithful Israelites.

I know how quickly news can spread in a congregation.  It must have been like that.  Not a few in Bethlehem, I suppose, must have moseyed over to the manger to check out this blessed child who was actually a relative to most of them.  The overcrowded visitors to Bethlehem were like a big family reunion, all descendents of King David.  Many, like Mary and Joseph, had returned to this their ancestral home. 

But unlike most of us who can't trace more than one or maybe two lines of our family back a hundred years, these folks could trace their noble ancestry back a full millennium and more.  There was something that connected them not only to each other but now, wondrously, to this little baby.

They had roots, and Jesus did too, royal roots.  The point is that Jesus is not a foreigner to us.  He's not a human version of E.T.  He is our own flesh and blood.  And that's the way I hope you consider our Grace congregation -- our own flesh and blood.

Sadly, many people are rootless these days, impacted by the tragedy of broken families or following a kind of itinerant relocating again and again.  We all need anchorage -- and the Child of Bethlehem and the miracle of His birth is that. 

There is peace, hope, and real security in that little boy, Jesus.  This virgin-born child is our connection both to God and to one another. 

I lament a sad trend these days of regarding church more like a supermarket than a family.  At supermarkets people come for a few minutes, get what they want, and then leave.  That's the kind of Christmas that happens among some folks.

But a family, especially our church family has blood ties, a shared name, and unity.  Ernie Weiss once mentioned that his older brothers sometimes roughed him up as brothers do until someone else tried to do it.  Then they would all provide a united front in defense of their kid brother.  He might be a punching bag, but he's our punching bag. 

Let us pray that the Lord strengthen our appreciation of and our expression of the unity we have with Jesus, our brother, and with each other as a family this Christmas and New Year.  It's easy to be punched around by circumstances in life and sometimes even by those in our own family.  No congregation is perfect.  But we have the uniting grace of God, our shared confession, a common service born out of centuries of the faithful celebrating Word and Sacrament, and best of all, one Lord and Redeemer, Jesus Christ.

May your continued Christmas celebration and the New Year be strong in the bonds of faith and love through Him.  Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year.