Children's Programme [Christmas Eve]

 Grace to you all and Peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus, the Christ.
 
What to do with a child? They can’t fend for themselves, They can’t pay the bills.
 
Yet, everyone understands being pregnant and having a baby. No end of money and energy is spent on celebrations, gender reveals, and showers even before the baby gets here. The excitement sits on all family and friends alike as the time approaches. The child in the womb is spoiling his parents even before he can take part. 
 
The great and awesome day of delivery comes. The phone calls pile up, the cards rush in, the FaceBook likes near monetization levels. 
 
The baby is born.
The phone lines go dead. The mail halts. Facebook turns away. 
 
You see, everyone understands having a baby, but the world doesn’t understand having a baby. It doesn’t understand the diapers, and the lost hours, and the constant investment with no return. Sure, you will get a pat on the head and a “it’ll be ok”, but too bad. The baby is a burden a drain, unwanted.
 
This is evident in our country as to how we treat our infants. they are toys. they are dolls. We dress them up, show them off, and throw them to the wolves of the public sector who have nothing better to do than program them against us.
 
It is unfortunate that the darkness of the world closes around us so closely, for such were some of us, says 1 Cor 6:11), aligned that way, thinking that way. Sinful you were. But where the darkness surrounds, Christ’s light abounds.
 
“But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Cor 6:11). No longer are we children of the night, but sons of the day. No longer are our bodies for sin and death, but for the Lord only, 1 Cor. 6 continues. 
 
For this night, of all nights, our bodies have been sanctified by His body. Our every step of life, gestation and maturation, have been touched by eternity. From conception to the grave, we are the Lord’s. And now that He has come into our world, we will be with Him even beyond the grave.
 
The world might not know what to do with babies, but the Lord does. He knows exactly how to create them, to care for them, and to love them. He knows exactly how to honor motherhood and infancy, by becoming an infant Himself and daring the world to lift one little finger against Him.
 
They dared and we dared, in our sin. that is why His cross will always come after His birth. But it is at this point that the mystery begins. The mystery of God made man. The mystery of the Lord serving us. the mystery of how can a body do such great things such as die and come back to life, never to die again.
 
This is the washing that our Infant Lord gives to all infants in baptism. this is the holiness freely given by God to all who believe the Word of the Cross. This is the justification Christ declares as He holds out His Body and Blood with nail, imprinted palms.
 
The Lord of all has found it important to do all this with an infant. It behooves us to follow His example and so we do. We cherish our children as He told us. We teach them and make them dress up funny, year after year, so that this Word of God imprints Himself forever on their hearts.
 
So we are given a clean heart, and the Body and Blood of our Savior. We are given God’s Body in our own baptism, which saves and gives faith, so that we believe in God being born and that the Christ Child will work His wonder of salvation among us.