The days and weeks preceding Christmas are full of hustle and bustle for many. Between parties and shopping, cooking and baking, wrapping and card writing, along with many more things, we are occupied and busy as we anticipate this night and the assured joy to come celebrating the Savior born for us. Over two thousand years ago, though, that wasn’t the case. Nobody was prepared for what was to take place. Yet everything soon changed in that little town of Bethlehem. Quietly, unexpectedly, even “like a thief in the night” was born in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ, our Lord. Tonight we gather amid the
busyness to reflect, rejoice, and ponder anew the joy of our Savior born and to prepare our hearts to receive the greatest gifts ever given and received by and through Him—hope, forgiveness, newness, and an assured promise of eternal life through faith in Him.