Meaningful Christmas by Stephanie Hopkins

Christmas has always been a special time of year for my family. Not just because of the usual traditions of putting up the Christmas tree, decorations, parties and shopping for gifts. But what we believe to be the meaning of Christmas. Christmas is about celebrating Christ’s birth. It is a time of joy, hope, love, peace, worship, singing songs that praise His name and reflecting on what our savior’s birth meant.

The Birth of Christ

While Mary was living in Galilee of Nazareth and was engaged to Joseph, an angel appeared and told Mary she would conceive a son by the power of the Holy Spirit. She would call him Jesus. Mary became miraculously with child through the Holy Spirit, as foretold by the angel. When Mary told Joseph she was pregnant, he became upset. Joseph wanted to break the engagement but out of kindness to Mary he decided to act quietly. Then God sent an angel who appeared to him in a dream and reassure him of Mary’s story. When Joseph awoke from his dream, he obeyed God and took Mary as his wife.

 During this time, Caesar Augustus decreed that a census be taken. Every person in the Roman Empire had to go to their own town to register. Joseph, a descendant of the house of David, was required to go to Bethlehem to register with Mary. When they arrived to Bethlehem, the town was crowded and there was no inn available. So Mary gave birth to Jesus in a stable.

Meanwhile, an angel of the Lord appeared to shepherds who were tending their flocks in a field. The angel told them that the Savior had been born in the town of David. The shepherds decided to travel to Bethlehem and see the baby Jesus. When they arrived they found Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus in a stable. After the shepherds left, they began to spread the good news about Jesus’s birth and everything the angel told them.

(If you would like to know more about the birth of Christ, the books of Matthew and Luke in the Bible tell the story.)

We would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from all of us at The Review.

Silent Night
sung by Faith Hill