A young man in kindergarten had a part in his school’s “Winter Pageant.” The mother had to work the evening of the pageant, but found out there would be a dress rehearsal the morning of the presentation. All the parents unable to attend that evening were welcome to attend the dress rehearsal.
Each class, accompanied by their teacher, sat cross-legged on the floor. Then, each group, one by one, rose to perform their song. Because the public school system had long stopped referring to the holiday as “Christmas”, the mother didn’t expect anything other than fun and secular entertainment — songs of reindeer, Santa Claus, snowflakes and good cheer. So, when her son’s class rose to sing, “Christmas Love“, she was surprised by its title.
Her son was excited, as were all of his classmates, wearing fuzzy mittens, red sweaters, and bright snowcaps upon their heads. Those in the front row — center stage — held up large letters, one by one, to spell out the title of the song. As the class would sing “C is for Christmas”, a child would hold up the letter C. Then, “H is for Happy”, and on and on, until each child holding up his portion had presented the complete message, “Christmas Love”.
The performance was going smoothly, until suddenly, they noticed the small, quiet, girl in the front row holding the letter “M” upside down — totally unaware her letter “M” appeared as a “W”. The audience of 1st through 6th graders snickered at her mistake. But she had no idea they were laughing at her, so she stood tall, proudly holding her “W”. The teachers tried to shush the children, but the laughter continued until the last letter was raised, and everyone saw it together. A hush came over the audience and eyes began to widen. In that instant, they understood — the reason they were there, the reason for the holiday in the first place. They understood because when the last letter was held high, instead of saying Christmas Love, the message read loud and clear: CHRIST WAS LOVE.
And He still is. That’s what our Father gave to me, and to you, on Christmas
- Love that would not let us die in sin.
- Love that provides us with an escape, a rescue, a hope and a future.
- Love incarnate, born as one of us
- Love that will not let us go.
- Love that took our place in punishment so that we could have forgiveness and life everlasting.
- Love that rose from the dead to defeat death for us.
Love came down at Christmas,
Love all lovely, Love Divine;
Love was born at Christmas,
Star and angels gave the sign.
(Lutheran Worship #46, 1)
The love of God appeared in human form in Bethlehem’s most famous Son.
