Do we remember Jesus at all on Christmas?

The story of a birthday baby who was forgotten and got killed under so many over coats during the merry making party. A vulnerable baby Jesus, not a mighty all powerful.. The story of the saving mantra Guru and disciples lot of powers with the Guru a dedicated disciple never aspired for them Guru gives him a choice keep mantra for yourself and live 1000 years or if you tell others, you will die on the spot you are greater than me. You are ready to sacrifice your life for the life of the people. Why did he become human? He could have saved us in many other ways the story of people who are afraid of pumpkins. The story of the beautiful scars a son who loves his mother but is ashamed of introducing her to his friends because she has scars on her face in childhood, she saves his life in cradle when the house was on fire. Coming down as a person is never a burden for God Tom and Harry brothers harry disabled tom loves and carries him to school is he not heavy for you? No he is my brother. A celebration of sharing God shared his love, peace, joy, our life, our burdens, and his son with us The divine becomes human to make human divine (father and son son asking father how people get into a flying plane? The plane comes down and picks them up) The characters that helped the birth of Jesus donkey, the shepherds, the magi, Mary, Joseph, angels (positive roles); inn keeper, Herod, (negative roles) Christ as light light shines in darkness and darkness could not overcome it.epitaph on a childs tombstone there is not enough darkness in the world to extinguish the light of a little candle. Gods preference for the marginalized..outside the borders..All our celebrations would come

to nothing if we do not cultivate an attitude of compassion and sharing towards the poor, weak, and the marginalized. St. Jerome said, What is the use of adorning the walls of the church when Christ is dying in the poor.

To begin with, Rudolf was a misfit. Compared to the image of the ideal reindeer we can say that something was definitely wrong with him. What is more, he was not in any position to help himself. So are we all, misfits, as the Bible tells us. "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). "All we like sheep have gone astray" (Isaiah 53:6). Like lost sheep we are not in a position to help ourselves. Rudolf could not help himself. All that his fellow reindeer did was to makes things worse for him. Only one person could help him, Santa, the messenger from heaven. What makes the reindeer gospel so poignant is that Santa does not use his magic wand to heal Rudolf of his red nose defect. He

let him go on with the red nose even as his chosen reindeer. Certainly Rudolf would have wanted nothing so much as to be a normal reindeer like all the rest. Similarly Jesus does not simply make us good men and women, rather he makes us into people who can use all their strengths and defects to the service and the glory of God. This is the proof to us that it is not by our own will power that we are able to become children of God. It is by God's grace, by God's unmerited and unconditional love of us. As God tells St Paul, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness" (2 Corinthians 12:9). How does the grace of God achieve this transformation in us? God's grace works two things in us: enlightenment and empowerment. "For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ" (John 1:17). God's truth enlightens us and God grace empowers us. God's truth enlightens us to see ourselves and our world in a new light. It is a word that brings reassurance, affirmation and hope. You can imagine how Rudolf felt when he heard the words of Santa, "Rudolf with your nose so bright, won't you guide my sleigh tonight?" That is why we call it the Good News. It is news that is liberating and empowering. It empowers us by changing our former disposition of insecurity, despair and hopelessness into that of blessed assurance, new hope and enthusiasm in the Lord's service. "For to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God" (John 1:12). Christmas rings out "joy to the world," yes, but how do I make this joy my own? This is an important question, for, even though God has declared joy to the whole world, there are still many among us who do not flow in this joy, many among us who do not know how to claim this joy and make it their own personally. Story of a missionary in Africa water problem, borewell dug next when he goes, all have water but in a house an old woman no water because her grandson does not fetch water from the borewell. He just runs around and plays.How do we do that? Well, that is rather easy to explain but pretty hard to practice, so I'll explain. Look at the word JOY. You see that it is made up of three letters: first J, then O, and lastly Y. J stands for Jesus, O for Others, and Y for You. Joy therefore is: Jesus, Others, before You. To know joy in our lives we need to place Jesus first in everything. Secondly, we need to try to please others before trying to please yourself. That is the recipe for joy. That is how we can convert the Christmas "joy to the world" into a personal "joy in my life" now and always. And what I want us to see is how the coming of Jesus to this world immediately began to change the lives of those around him. Jesus birth brought transformation. Christmas is a love story of Jesus for his people Responses from different people around the xmas story..what is our response?