Martin Luther loved Christmas. He preached extensively about it, wrote two Christmas hymns, and is even credited with inventing the Christmas tree. As the story goes, the 16th-century reformer was walking home one winter evening and was so captivated by the brilliance of stars shining through evergreen trees that he wanted to recreate the scene for his family. He put up a tree in the main room, gathered the kids around, and attached lighted candles to the branches with wires. I can only imagine what his wife, Katie, thought about the fire hazard!

Luther’s joy over Christmas rested in his conviction that this holiday uniquely demonstrates God’s extravagant love and radical grace. In a sermon Luther preached in 1530 on the afternoon of Christmas Day, the reformer stressed the fact that the big truths we celebrate at Christmas—that the Christ child, the God-man, was born of a virgin to be our Lord and Savior—are not merely facts but they must be received personally.  Even “the godless among the Christians” and the devil himself can believe the facts of Christmas, but the facts alone do them little good. The more radical gospel of Christmas is that Jesus not only came in human flesh in Bethlehem but that he came for us.

We find the good news of this message in the angelic announcement recorded in Luke 2:11: “Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.” With Luther’s help, let’s explore that simple sentence from Luke 2 and think about the implications for our families…

Read the rest of this post at the New Growth Press blog.