Celebrating Jesus

Christmas is this week, and I'm reminded of the challenge it sometimes is to keep the emphasis on Jesus.

He is the reason for the season after all.

I think about that first Christmas when Mary and her new husband Joseph were called to make the journey to Bethlehem to be counted in the census. They found no place to stay other than a lowly stable. There were no decorated trees, no silver bells, no shiny packages tied up in ribbons and bows, no carolers or any of the other things that make up our modern Christmas traditions.

And yet they participated in God's best gift ever to the World – Jesus,...