Christmas 2025

Luke 2:12: “And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.”   

This morning for my pastor’s corner I want to talk to you about value of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. When the Lord taught us in the sermon on the mount in Matthew 6:19: “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal.” I believe that the Lord was showing to us what we should value and I believe that it is demonstrated in the birth of the Lord. 

So many of us today rush to find gifts that would be appropriate for the person that we care about, we are concerned with value. It is awful to think, but there are those who if you don’t give the right kind of gift to they would be insulted. Many of us in raising up our children have produced that kind of child, if it is not expensive or the latest thing, they throw a fit.   

I remember my Dad telling me that when he was a kid, for Christmas he got a banana and, on another Christmas, he got an orange. If you gave a kid today a banana or orange for Christmas they would be wanting to know where to plug it in.   

When my children were born, they were in sterile conditions in a hospital. Our Lord, was born in a cave with soot hanging down from the ceiling from previous fires. There were animals looking on and I guarantee there were smells that were not so pleasant. 

When a baby is born today, they are immediately taken care of and wrapped in a nice blanket to keep them warm. Our Lord was wrapped in swaddling cloth, and if you didn’t know, swaddling clothes were primarily used to bury the dead. When the Lord told the people to unwrap Lazarus he was wrapped in swaddling clothes.   

He was laid in a manger, and it was not one of those nice wooden framed up that we see in most nativity scenes. No, it was a huge stone carved out a place to put grain and feed for animals.   

This was the environment that God, the Father, wanted His Son to be born in and I believe the reason was this is all about His Son Jesus. Just a few miles away was Herod’s temple and the Lord who can do anything could have had His son born there and no one could have stopped Him. But, this was all about Jesus. 

In this Christmas season it is my hope that we don’t forget the true reason for the season which is our Lord, Jesus Christ. I pray that for our Church that we too will remember that it is not about the preacher, or the choir, or the building, but it is all about Jesus. 

And the reason He was wrapped in swaddling clothes was because that was the reason that He came to die for our sins. He did it according to what the Bible tells us, “For the Joy that was set before Him”.   

Pastor Lee Cruse hoping that even if you get a banana for Christmas, that ugly tie, or you guys that try being romantic so you give your wife a vacuum cleaner, bless your heart, just remember that the real reason for Christmas is Him and not you.   

Pastor Lee Cruse and Crickett are wishing you and your family a Merry Christmas!