But how many of us really consider what it meant to the baby that was born in a feeding trough that first Christmas Day?

We are taught by the holiest of volumes that the baby was the Eternal Son of God, who in order to be a shining light to mankind, was born of a woman as all men are. That he lived a sinless mortal life which he, some thirty-three years later, forfeited on a cruel Roman cross. That on the third day afterwards "He burst the bands of death, thiumphed over the grave, and in due time ascended with transcendent majesty into heaven, where he now sits at the right hand of our Heavenly Father, a mediator and intercessor for all those who have faith in him."

What a message for mankind to remember at Christmas! Several years ago your Grand Prelate and his lady decided to convey that message in our outside Christmas decorations. We placed a lighted cross near the nativity scene and propped up the Baby Jesus in His manger to have Him look directly at the cross. In prior years we had received many compliments on our displays, but that year we had none. People driving by would stop, look at it for a few minutes, shake their heads and drive on. We were not looking for compliments, but thought surely someone would recognize the message, and make some comment about it. Maybe the arrangement was too subtle. Whatever the case, it seemed that nobody got the message that Jesus was born that first Christmas Day looking to ultimately die on the cross as a sacrifice for mankind's sins.

That baby was the First Christmas Gift, and what a wonderful gift He was; the greatest gift mankind could ever receive from a loving, compassionate God.

Wouldn't it be great if our first thoughts of Christmas were about Him who was born that day, and what he faced on our behalf as he lay there in the manger?

Have a very merry Christmas, ever remembering to thank God for His precious gift, and the purpose for which that dear baby came.

Howard M. McFarland
Grand Prelate