Often, when the miracle of birth eventually occurs after that long 35-40 weeks of pregnancy and the unpredictability of labor, it feels like you’ve made it. FINALLY! It’s over. But it’s really just beginning. Hour by hour, and day by day, you will grow with the child born to you.  

The same is true when it comes to the Christ child born at Christmas. The angels say to the shepherds in the Luke 2 Christmas story, “…To you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.”  

The angels don’t say that the Christ child is born to all of us. They don’t say that the newborn Savior was born to the world. Though we understand that to be true. But the angels were specific. They were direct. They meant this birth is personal, saying this child is born to YOU, shepherds! And if you heard Pastor Rob’s Christmas Eve sermon (WATCH HERE), then you know that the shepherds represent everyday people like you and me.  

The Christ child is born to you and me. That’s the message. And now that a Savior is born to us, Christmas is just beginning. Hour by hour, day by day, how will we grow with the Christ child born to us? I think Rev. Howard Thurman, describes it in his poem, The Work of Christmas: 

When the song of the angels is stilled, 

When the star in the sky is gone, 

When the kings and princes are home, 

When the shepherds are back with their flock, 

The work of Christmas begins: 

To find the lost, 

To heal the broken, 

To feed the hungry,

To release the prisoner, 

To rebuild the nations, 

To bring peace among others, 

To make music in the heart. 

May Christmas last all year long.  

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