We have a little photo album we get out only at this time of the year. It’s a time machine. The photo album contains pictures of our family. They go back to the very first Christmas that Tammy and I celebrated together as a married couple. We can page through the book and relive the memories that go back more than thirty years.
But it doesn’t take a picture book to do that. Do you find, like I do, that every Christmas season brings back a flood of memories that go back to your earliest years? It’s like a time machine. Every year I think about our little house on Tacoma Street in Milwaukee. The tree sat in front of the big picture window. I remember the year there was a red wagon sitting under that tree.
My memory goes back to those years we lived in Wauwatosa. The tree sat right next to the wonderful fireplace that roared with flames each Christmas morning. My dad would set up the logs the night before so that all we had to do was strike the match. One of my favorite gifts ever came under that tree. Some way, some how, my mom knew I wanted some hip, black, high top shoes. More than that, when I put them on they fit perfectly. I’ll never forget what a perfect gift that was. It completely surprised me.
I can still remember almost every single year our own little family lived on 58th Street. No matter how old they were, our kids came running upstairs on Christmas morning. Even in their high school years they jumped on our bed and riled us from deep sleep. But they couldn’t enter the living room until we started the Christmas music.
But the ultimate time machine comes from Luke chapter 2. And it came to pass… Mary gave birth to a son. She placed Him in a manger. Angels sang. Shepherds ran. Many wondered. Mary treasured.
We hear it every single year. There is no Christmas without it. It compacts every Christmas together. The gifts mean nothing without The Gift. From the time I was less than a year old I have heard the story. I’m certain that at my last Christmas I will hear the story once again.
It transcends time. Luke 2 is like a time machine. It takes the sin of Eden and wipes it away. It throws forward to the end times and brings hope. And it takes your time, all of it, the good and the bad, and redeems it once and for all.
A Baby was born 2000 years ago. He entered time and space to bring you the gift of grace.
Celebrate.
How is Luke 2 a time machine for you?
I remember vividly Christmases when we lived on the corner of Teutonia Ave. and Meinecke St in Milwaukee, with Immanuel Luth church across the street to the south, and a Jewish temple across the street to the east. there was always something interesting going on in that neighborhood! My Dad had a coal business, and the office was in our house, and at Christmas time my parents would close it off with a big sliding door; we were told that some of Santa’s elves were preparing our gifts in the office. How exciting that was – my twin sister and I would listen at the door, try to see under it, and whisper our excitement to each other. Then, on Christmas eve, after our school program at church, we could slide open the door and run in to get at our presents while our parents beamed in the background. What great memories (I remember especially getting a ten foot toboggan one year – wow!) Christmas holds many great memories, but the greatest of all is of the birth of our Savior and the angels singing in celebration. “Hark, the herald angels sing. . . GLORY to the newborn king. . .”
This is awesome!