Christmas time! The spirit of giving, singing, making joyful melody in the heart. Warm and fuzzy commercials on TV. Like I remember the Folgers commercial where the young man comes home from college and sneaks in the house and wakes everybody up with the aroma of fresh coffee. The trouble with all the sentimentality and commercialism is we lose sight of the real reason for Christmas. We run the risk of making the holiday, the holy day, an unholy day, without the true focus being on God. We the church, must never forget the real story of Christmas. It is amazing to think that God would become man so that he would die as a man in order to save the lives of man. There are two birth narratives in the gospels, one is Luke’s account, but this morning we consider Matthew’s account. This amazing news of Jesus’ birth is at first unsettling, especially to Joseph. But as God reveals his plan, Joseph not only comes to accept the news, but it becomes the best news ever, because his salvation is evidenced by his obedience.
