The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
A father tells about the manger scene he and his family passed on the way to and from church in the Advent season just prior to Christmas. On the Sunday following Christmas, the family drove by the same church and noticed the manger scene was taken down. A preschool son offered the insightful comment: "They have put Jesus away for another year." Do we "put Jesus away" after Christmas day? Christmas is so much more than one day out of the year. Christmas is a way of life; it is why we are Christians living Christian lives. Christmas is a time to celebrate the wonderful, awe inspiring gift of God's love. A gift of love that was revealed to us in the form of a vulnerable, dependent baby. A gift of love that grew; that grew to be a man whose whole life was an expression of love. A gift of love that reaches out and touches every man, woman and child in life changing ways. A gift of love that heals and restores those whose lives are broken or in pain. A gift of love that is never "put away"; never withheld from anyone. A gift of love that willingly walked to the place of the Skull and there, on a cross, gave up his life. A gift of love that gives us life, freedom, wholeness. A gift of love that is too vast, too amazing to be lived and celebrated only once a year. A gift of love that overflows and demands to be shared every moment of our lives. A gift of love revealed in a babe, wrapped in swaddling cloths; a baby to whom we belong, in whom we have life and through whom we are empowered to play an active part in salvation history. May this gift of love, that came to Bethlehem, fill your hearts and lives with joy, at Christmas and always.
