Emmanuel – A Name Given To Jesus Meaning “God With Us” One of the church words we use throughout the Advent and Christmas season is Emmanuel – a name given to Jesus meaning “God with us” (Matthew 1:22, NIV). What a deceptively simple word to carry a shockingly beautiful and devastatingly powerful truth.

One thing my family loves to do around Christmas time is to go from one neighborhood to the next and view the Christmas lights. We enjoy seeing how creative people get when they set up the decorations. My children’s favorite decorated houses are the ones where the lights are attuned to music. You can listen to the music through your own car speakers by turning to the right radio station. While the music is playing you can watch the lights dance around and sometimes you can see figurines be created by the lights.

As I consider the Christmas story, I am amazed at the love that the God has shown the world by sending His Son Jesus Christ into this world. When I ponder what Jesus left behind when He came to rescue us from this fallen word, it inspires thankfulness and worship.

This time of year, we hear so much about the Christmas season, it is time for us to celebrate Christmas and all the things that are wrapped around Christmas. We have lights, and trees, and tinsel, we buy gifts for friends and family, we go out of our way to share with others, and there seems to be a sense of joy in the air. Then Christmas Eve and Christmas day come and quickly they are gone. We take down the tree, we put the lights and tinsel away, family goes home, and life just returns to normal. We are left waiting a whole year until its Christmas season all over again. This is the way it is or what it becomes when Christmas is just about a season. But wait, Christmas should not be about the season; but it should be about the Savior; Christ the Lord.

If the study of history is important so that we learn from it, perhaps a step back in time to the Christmas Truce of 1914 warrants our attention. Christmas Eve, 1914.

Christmas at Grace What a Story! is a service that explores the details of the story of salvation and reminds us that it is more than just a story—it is historic fact, the details of which are the basis of our sure and certain hope through faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus is the only hope we have for peace and a future.